Thermochemical Conversion Processes as a Path for Sustainability of the Tire Industry: Carbon Black Recovery Potential in a Circular Economy Approach

Leonel J. R. Nunes, Laura Guimarães, Miguel Oliveira, Peter Kille and Nuno G. C. Ferreira
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Leonel J. R. Nunes: PROMETHEUS, Unidade de Investigação em Materiais, Energia e Ambiente para a Sustentabilidade, Escola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua da Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Alvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Laura Guimarães: CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões/Av. General Norton de Matos s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
Miguel Oliveira: CESAM, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Peter Kille: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
Nuno G. C. Ferreira: CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões/Av. General Norton de Matos s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal

Clean Technol., 2022, vol. 4, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The common use of tires is responsible for the production of large quantities of waste worldwide, which are landfilled or energetically recovered, with higher economical cost and known environmentally harmful consequences. This type of problem must be studied, and all efforts must be conducted to eliminate, or at least mitigate, such high costs. The use of thermochemical conversion processes, such as pyrolysis, can allow the recycling and the reuse of raw materials for the tire industry, namely, in the production of carbon black, usually produced using the controlled combustion of fossil fuels. This article reports the production of torrefied and carbonized waste tire samples using a laboratorial procedure, and their subsequent laboratory characterization, specifically the elemental and proximate analysis. This preliminary approach found that carbon concentration in the produced rubber char reached values higher than 75%, indicating the possibility of its reuse in the production of carbon black to in turn be used in the production of new tires or other industrial rubber materials. The possibility of using this rubber char for other uses, such as energy recovery, is still depending on further studies, namely, the evaluation of the amount of sulfur present in the final product.

Keywords: rubber char; thermochemical conversion processes; circular economy; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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