Waste Tire Pyrolysis Product: An Alternative to Petrochemical Feedstock

Aim: The amount of waste tire generated constantly in the modern society is on a rapid increase due to the world’s urbanization, industrialization and population increase. This research was conducted to recover useful products from waste tyre and harness the possibility of using these products as a petrochemical feedstock alternative.

Study Design: Conventional pyrolysis was used to produce bio char, bio-oil and bio-gas

Place and Duration of Study: The research was carried out in the department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering Nnamdi Azikiwe University between January 2020 and march 2020

Methodology: Waste tyre was pyrolyzed using a conventional pyrolysis over three different temperature 400,550 and 750oC. The yield of the oil and char was determined by weight measurement, while that of gas was determined by mass balancing. The oil produced was characterized using GC/MS (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry)

Results: The percentage yield of char, oil and gas at 400oC, 550oC and 750oC respectively are 62, 24, 14; 48, 36.2, 15.8 and 42, 40, 18. The statistical analysis of yield gave a p-value of 0.785211 this showed that there is no significant change across the three samples statistically. The GC/MS analyses of the oil showed that the oil contains more than 35 compounds of which 6 accounted for more than 50% of the oil, these six include d-limonene with 12.83%, 1-2- benzene dicarboxylic acid with 10.48%, benzene, 1-ethyl-3methyl with 8.89%, benzene 1-methyl-3-(1-methylethyl) with 8.6%, benzene 1-ethenyl-4-methyl with 6.13% and hexadecenoic acid at 5.27%,while another six accounted for less than 5% of the oil, they includes (1-methylenebut-2-enyl)benzene with 0.89%, 1-methylbut-1,3-dienyl)benzene with 0.71%, naphthalene-2,7-dimethyl with 0.71%, quinoline with 0.96%, Spiro[4,5]dec-7-ene,1,8-dimethyl-4-(1-methylethenyl) with 0.74%, phenol 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl).

Conclusion: The composition of tire derived oil are very important petrochemicals derivatives which can be separated or can be used as feedstocks for petrochemical industries.