The Effect of Temperature and Particle Size on the Pyrolysis Products of Waste Tires and the Formation Mechanism of Limonene

Abstract

The rapid development of the automotive industry has led to the accumulation of a large number of waste tires that contain a lot of reusable energy. Macromolecular organics in waste tires can be crack small molecule organics via pyrolysis. In this experiment, thermogravimetry (TG) and pyrolizer-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (PY-GC/MS) were used to study the pyrolysis behavior of waste tires with different particle sizes, and the effect of temperature and particle size on the pyrolysis products of waste tires under low-temperature pyrolysis conditions, respectively. The volatile substances in waste tires decomposed intensively at 300-500�C and were completely pyrolyzed at 500�C. The content of limonene in the pyrolysis product was significant, and the yield of limonene could reach 27.73% when the waste tire particles were 0.180-0.250 mm and the pyrolysis temperature was 380�C. The mechanism of limonene formation from waste tires was discussed. This study indicated that raw material particle sizes and pyrolysis temperature could change the components and content of pyrolysis products.