Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Tire Pyrolysis And Recycling Potential

By Yesenia Velez


All over the world waste disposal is an increasing problem. Landfills are rapidly filling up and causing all kinds of space and environmental problems. Scrap tires make up a significant portion of the junk going into landfills. Tire pyrolysis is a potential solution to this problem.

In the last century automobiles have moved from a rare sight to something that most of us see on a daily basis. Most modern western households own at least one car and they are even a common sight in developing nations. All of these vehicles have to be fitted with tires so as the amount of vehicles on the roads increases, the manufacturing of tires follows suit.

Approximately 2 million tires are manufactured every day around the world. These tires are used for cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles and other types of vehicles. Due to the way in which they are used tires naturally wear out and have to be replaced regularly, and the old tires have to be disposed of.

The main raw material used in the manufacture of tires is synthetic rubber that is derived from petroleum, also called crude oil in some places. Synthetic rubber is not biodegradable and untreated tires could easily take more than a hundred years to decay in a land fill. To make matters worse some people just dump their used tires in public places and they are a common site in many rivers, lakes and fields.

Landfills have a major negative impact in areas with a high population density as they occupy vast amounts of scarce and expensive land as well as sometimes being the cause of health and environmental problems. For these reasons and others, reducing the amount of junk going into landfills makes logical sense. One way to reduce the size of this problem is to recycle used tires rather than dump them.

Unfortunately tires are not easy to recycle in their basic form. They can in some cases be shredded or ground down into chips or beads. These shreds, chips or beads are then used to make things like rubber matting, athletic tracks and other surfaces for different sporting codes.

At first glance recycling in this manner seems sensible however it is not always practical as a result of the substantial costs that must be incurred to transport old tires to the plant and then process them. This leads to very high input costs. These high costs have to be reflected in the price of the resulting products and this can limit sales and therefore the financial viability of the process.

A possible better solution for recycling used tires is pyrolysis. This process subjects old tires to high heat in and oxygen starved environment. As a result the tire material breaks down into gas, oils and carbon char. Usable products, like carbon black for example, can be extracted and re-used in the manufacture of other products.

The processes and technology used in pyrolysis are still being developed and improved all the time but even so this type of recycling has huge potential as a strategy to drastically reduce the contribution used tires make to the overall waste problem. A lot of effort is being put in by various role players to improve the effectiveness of the process. With time the methods should become a lot cheaper, cleaner and more efficient.




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2 comments:

  1. Not only should you reduce energy use, you should try to produce your own energy. You cut down on your energy bills, reduce the pollution generated for your home, and allows you to control your own energy.

    Manufacturer Of Tyre Pyrolysis Plants

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  2. All of those vehicles ought to be fitted with tires therefore because the quantity of vehicles on the roads will increase, the producing of tires follows suit.

    Scrap Tyre Pyrolysis Plants

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