Pretreatment of automobile shredder residue (ASR) for fuel utilization

Abstract

Automobile shredder residue (ASR) was pretreated to improve its quality for fuel utilization. Composition analysis revealed that ASR components could be classified into four groups: (1) urethane and textile-light fraction and combustibles containing low levels of ash and Cl; (2) plastics and rubber-light or heavy fraction and combustibles containing high levels of Cl; (3) metals and electrical wire-heavy fraction and incombustibles, and (4) particles smaller under 5.6 mm with high ash contents.Based on these results, we successively performed sieving to remove particles smaller than 5.6 mm, float and sink separations to reject the heavy fraction and plastics and rubber containing Cl, thermal treatment under an inert atmosphere to remove Cl derived from PVC, and char washing to remove soluble chlorides.This series of pretreatments enabled removal of 78% of the ash and 91% of the Cl from ASR. Sieving using a 5.6-mm mesh removed a considerable amount of ash.Product quality was markedly improved after the float and sink method. Specifically, the sink process using a 1.1 g cm -3 medium fluid rejected almost all rubber containingCl and a large amount of PVC. The remaining Cl in char after heating at 300 o C under an inert atmosphere and washing was considered to be present as insoluble chlorides that volatilized at temperatures above 300 o C. Based on a tradeoff relationship between product quality and treatment cost, ASR may be utilized as a form of refuse plastic fuel or char.

Jig separation of crushed automobile shredded residue and its evaluation by float and sink analysis

“…Chloride content was measured according to the procedure of Hwang et al [6], where an incineration method with a tubular quartz reactor and absorption bottles [15], and absorption spectrophotometry at 460 nm with mercuric thiocyanate [16] were used. Approximately 1 g of the sample was loaded into the tubular reactor on a boat at 800°C, then incinerated in the reactor for 20 min.…”

“…Many physical separation and thermal treatments [2][3][4][5][6] have been applied to remove chloride components from ASR, but a good method to decrease the chloride content and processing costs has yet to be developed. In general, separation efficiency with dry-type methods is lower than that of wet separation methods.…”

Evaluation of entanglement properties of crushed automobile shredded residue and detachment of entrapped particles

“…Chlorine content was measured according to the procedure of Hwang et al [7], where an incineration method with a tubular quartz reactor and absorption bottles [8], in addition to absorption spectrophotometry at 460 nm with mercuric thiocyanate [9] were used. Approximately 1 g of the sample on a boat was loaded into the tubular reactor at 800°C, then incinerated in the reactor for 20 min.…”

“…Many physical separation and thermal treatments [2][3][4][5][6] have been applied to remove chlorine-containing components from ASR, but no better methods to decrease the chlorine content and processing costs have been developed. In general, thermal treatments need a large amount of energy, and the operating cost of physical separation treatments is lower than those of thermal treatments.…”

Sustainable valorization of plastic wastes for energy with environmental safety via High-Temperature Pyrolysis (HTP) and High-Temperature Steam Gasification (HTSG)

“…As far plastics mixtures are concerned automobile shredder residue (ASR) is gaining the lion's share of research. Studies on pretreatment, emissions during thermal treatment and potential uses [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] of ASR have been carried out because the disposal of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) has become a very important issue. Little is known as far as electric cable shredder residue is concerned even though residues of electric and electronic devices are increasing dramatically.…”