Integrated Assessment of Waste Tire Pyrolysis and Upgrading Pathways for Production of High-Value Products

Abstract

Waste tire pyrolysis has received increasing attention as a promising technology recently due to the shortage of fossil resources and the severity of environmental impact. In this study, the process of waste tire pyrolysis and upgrading to obtain high-value products was simulated by Aspen Plus. Also, based on life cycle assessment, the indexes of energy, environmental, economic, and comprehensive performance were proposed to evaluate different high-value pathways. Results demonstrate that the integrated system of waste tire pyrolysis, pyrolytic oil (TPO) refining, and pyrolytic carbon black (CBp) modification has higher energy efficiency than the independent system of TPO refining, with an improvement rate of 2.6%. Meanwhile, the resource-environmental performance of the integrated system is better. However, combined with the economic benefit, the independent system is more comprehensively beneficial, with the index of comprehensive performance (BEECR) of 0.94, which increases by 3.3% compared with the integrated system. Furthermore, the comparisons of different improved high-value paths based on the independent system as the benchmark indicate that the pathway of promoting sulfur conversion during pyrolysis to reduce the sulfur content in TPO can increase the BEECR from 0.94 to 1.064, with the growth of 13.2%. Also, the physical modification of CBp to reduce the production cost and environmental impact has better performance of BEECR, increasing by 20.2%. The final sensitivity analyses show that the combined improved high-value case established by the abovementioned two paths can achieve a favorable benefit in a wide range of crude oil and waste tire prices and the environmental tax.

Streamlining the biodesulfurization process: development of an integrated continuous system prototype using Gordonia alkanivorans strain 1B

“…The differences between fuels could be explained in a similar manner, since Iranian light sour oil is known to be richer in more complex molecules, 60 being more difficult to treat by conventional methods. Tire pyrolysis oils are also known to be abundant in DBT and organosulfur molecules, 61 but since scrap tires only represented 30% of the original material blend, most of the sulfur compounds present could be simpler molecules originated from the plastic, and therefore easier to treat. Sweet crude oil is typically the simplest to treat, containing fewer complex organosulfur molecules, 62 which explains the greater reduction within a single cycle.…”

Recycling of Low-Quality Carbon Black Produced by Tire Pyrolysis

“…While it is theoretically feasible to regenerate raw rCB into a form suitable for the rubber industry, this process is deemed impractical due to its high energy intensity, necessitating reheating to at least 600-700 • C and releasing significant sulfurous gases [32,33]. Alternatively, rCB can be chemically modified using either acids or alkaline agents.…”