Catalytic pyrolysis and composition evaluation of tire pyrolysis oil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the catalytic effect of sodium carbonate on tire pyrolysis oil (TPO) yield and composition when increasing the concentration of a catalyst in the feed material. The collected tire pyrolysis oil samples were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and compared to diesel fuel. When the catalyst was introduced, the yield increased from 35 percent to 43 percent for the 10 percent catalyst. It was found from FTIR and GC-MS analyses that the TPO samples produced by both catalytic and thermal pyrolysis were complex mixtures of aliphatic, aromatic, nitrogen, and oxygen-containing compounds with carbon content ranging between C₄ and C₄₅ and there was an increase in branching with an increase in the catalyst. The TPO was found to contain aliphatic compounds that were similar to the ones contained in diesel fuel, indicating that the TPO contained some diesel.

Keywords:

• Tire pyrolysis oil
• GC-MS
• FTIR
• oil yield
• catalyst
• sodium carbonate

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank The University of Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology for availing of the experimental facilities.

Competing interests

The authors declare that there is no competing interest.

Funding

The research work was funded by the corresponding author.