Utilization of waste tires in the process of thermal cracking of vacuum gas oil

Abstract

The process of thermal cracking of vacuum gas oil (VGO) with the addition of 10% tire crumb at a temperature of 500 °C and feed rate of 1 h- ¹ was studied. In the course of the study experiments were carried out, which showed that the introduction of tire crumb into the composition of VG promotes the acceleration of conversion of the heavy fraction of VG. Addition of 10% of tire crumb has a positive effect on the cracking process, which is expressed in the increase in the yield of diesel fraction by weight by 2%. Analysis of the material balance of the thermal cracking process of crushed tire crumb shows that under these conditions tire crumb was poorly subjected to thermal transformation. The yield of gasoline fraction and light gas oil fraction in the catalyst composition was only 1% and 7.4% by weight, respectively. The conversion of tire crumb into light fractions including gas oil reached 20.5%. Addition of 10% by weight of tire crumb to the composition of vacuum gas oil increases the yield of gasoline and diesel fractions (light gas oil fractions), while reducing the amount of heavy gas oil. The increase in the yield of diesel fraction is 4% by weight, and the total conversion of blended feedstock reaches 59.5%. Thus, the addition of tire crumb to the composition of vacuum gas oil practically does not affect the total conversion, but increases the yield of light gas oil. This allows us to conclude that the introduction of tire crumb contributes to a more efficient conversion of heavy fractions of vacuum gas oil. After hydrotreating process the obtained diesel and gasoline fractions can be successfully used as components of automotive fuels. Thus, the addition of tire crumb to the thermal cracking process of vacuum gas oil not only improves the conversion of heavy fractions, but also increases the yield of valuable products such as diesel fuel, which is important for the refining industry.