Fuel production based on catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires as an optimized model

Abstract

Recently, the pyrolysis of wastes has been considered as a promising alternative for dealing with this issue. In this study, pyrolysis of waste tire was conducted using MgCl2 as catalyst in a batch reactor under atmosphere of argon. The experiments of pyrolysis were designed by response surface modeling of process parameters, including particle size of waste tire slices, flow rate of argon gas, amount of catalyst, and time and temperature of pyrolysis, related to the corresponding yields of oil, gas, and char. As objectives of this work, influences of parameters and their interactions were examined to maximize oil, and minimize gas and char. The oil product was maximized using the conditions, including pyrolysis temperature of 407.3°C, pyrolysis time of 1800s, flow rate of 133.7mLmin−1, particle size of 12.5mm, and 11.5wt% of catalyst. Additionally, the highest gaseous product was also obtained when the temperature of pyrolysis, feed size, flow rate of argon, amount of catalyst, and pyrolysis time were 475.0°C, 5.0mm, 250.0mLmin−1, 0.1wt%, and 5009 s, respectively. Moreover, the pyrolytic char was converted to activated one with the specific surface area and activating yield of 1296m2g−1 and 16.3 wt%, respectively, using steam activation unit. Furthermore, the physical properties of the final oil product, including cetane number, density, viscosity, and flash point were compared with other commercial diesel fuels. These quality factors were obtained 47, 847kgm−3, 2.4mm2s−1, and 48°C, respectively. At last, using of MgCl2 declined the sulfur content of final oil to 0.38wt%.