Abstract
Tyres shredded into chips represent a practicable alternative fuel for cement kilns. The devolatilisation and final burnout of tyre chips in a combusting environment in a refractory lined, uniform temperature, radiative furnace have been investigated. The weight losses of tyre chips suspended in the furnace for temperatures of 700, 800, 900 and 1000°C were monitored. As expected, the devolatilisation time is greatly influenced by the furnace temperature and by the thickness of the tyre chip. The tyre chips burn with a vigorous flame during devolatilisation. The results also showed that, although the chips fragment on the surface during devolatilisation the cord fibres of the tyre structure tend to maintain the integrity of the chip until devolatilisation is complete when the chip disintegrate resulting in a wide range of char particle sizes. Upon burnout of the volatiles, the residual char burns to extinction in a low intensity flame. A simple heat transfer controlled model to simulate the devolatilisation of tyre chips is proposed.
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