Economic, Environmental and Social Benefits of Adoption of Pyrolysis Process of Tires: A Feasible and Ecofriendly Mode to Reduce the Impacts of Scrap Tires in Brazil

Abstract

This study addressed the development of a pilot plant for pyrolysis of scrap tires to obtain carbon black and other byproducts. The work was motivated by the goal of contributing to the development and dissemination of knowledge about existing technologies that allow modern economies to transform waste into valuable products, by documenting and discussing an empirical application in Brazil. Thispaper describes the development of a market for steel scrap, pyrolytic oil and carbon black products obtained from a vacuum pyrolysis process. The research work was conducted in Brazil, and was guided by the twofold purpose of reducing the environmental impacts, while gaining economical sustainability. Modern economies increasingly need to devise strategies to address energy generation while preserving natural ecosystems. These strategies include leveraging the use of renewable energy sources. Acknowledging that scrap tires hold an enormous potential as a sustainable energy option, this study aimed to contribute to the development and maturity of eco-friendly processing approaches to realize its full potential. The work involved a preliminary phase concerned with the operation of vacuum pyrolysis of scrap tires at a laboratorial scale, followed by the design of the pilot plant that operated for 10 years, at the time of the study, with a 100 kg/h batch flow. Results show that the yield of the pyrolysis process was 41% pyrolytic oil, 38% carbon black, 12% gas, and 8.9% steel scrap, with a calorific value of 36 MJ/kg per tire. The carbon black was composed of 90% carbon, and the pyrolytic oil was composed of 66% gasoline and 33% other oils, which have higher quality and can be commercialized with a potential profit over 3 million dollars/year.

Current Status and Potential of Tire Pyrolysis Oil Production as an Alternative Fuel in Developing Countries

“…The reuse of waste tires by pyrolysis is a good option for eliminating waste from the atmosphere and securing high-energy items such as pyrolysis fuel, gas, and coal [40,41]. It is noted that tire pyrolysis is an effective and sustainable method, provides neat production that is economically feasible, and a possible solution regarding waste tire handling [42]. A combination of several compounds is used in the design of the tires which includes rubber 60-65 wt.%, carbon black 25-35 wt.%, filler 3 wt.%, and also accelerators [35].…”

Economic, Environmental and Social Gains of the Implementation of Artificial Intelligence at Dam Operations toward Industry 4.0 Principles

“…The method suggested by Ritthoff et al [59] considers the use of material intensity factors chart (MIF, Material Intensity Factor). This method is useful to evaluate environmental changes caused by extraction and uses of natural resources in four elements: abiotic, biotic, water, and air [60][61][62][63][64]. The ecosystem consists of biotic and abiotic elements; biotic elements are living organisms and abiotic are non-living ones [65].…”

“…The Intensity Factors of drinking water and truck transport are shown in Table 1. The Material Intensity Factor (MIF) analysis associates the mass balance (M) with the intensity factor (IF) of a substance to calculate the environmental impact at the ecosystem [62]. MIF calculation is shown in Equation 3.…”

Incorporation of Recycled Tire Products in Pavement-Grade Concrete: An Experimental Study

“…Recently, great effort has been directed toward finding alternate ways to use waste materials emerging in the world [11][12][13]. Researchers have found that the recycling of waste rubber tires has several environmental and economic advantages [11,[14][15][16]. Nowadays, the recycled rubber is considered as a suitable and useful material in civil engineering applications [7,17,18].…”