Scrap Tire Pyrolysis As a Potential Strategy for Waste Management Pathway: A Review

Abstract

Currently, the rapid rise of population and industrialization has resulted in a release of a large amount of solid waste into the environment and a huge consumption of energy. Therefore, solving these two urgent problems relating to the environment and energy simultaneously needs paying much attention to. Among the solid waste sources, the scrap tire (ST) is considered as the most common in the world, the recovery and utilization of this ST source for the purpose of energy production should be thus believed as a good initiative because this advanced solution has a significant contribution to the partial reduction of the energy crisis and environmental pollution. The scrap tire pyrolysis (STP) technology is known as an effective solution for decomposing rubber materials at high temperatures without the involvement of oxygen. This article focuses on an overview of the pyrolysis technology to produce STPbased products such as gas, char, and liquid fraction. The STP-based products are analyzed and assessed to clarify their valuable properties and to use these products for various applications. As a result, gas fraction with 29.9–42.1 MJ/m3 of calorific value could be used for commercial purpose, while the char fraction is suggested as a potential composition for active carbon production due to carbon fraction higher than 80%. The physicochemical properties of liquid such as approximately 1.5 for H/C ratio and around 40 MJ/kg of calorific value are demonstrated to be suitable and potential fuels for the areas of the industry, the construction, and for diesel engines.