Formation behavior of PAHs during pyrolysis of waste tires

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formation from the pyrolysis of waste tires is inevitable because of the complexity of tire formulations and the addition of certain chemicals. In this study, the formation behavior and distribution of PAHs in three-phases were investigated from waste tires under pyrolysis conditions. The influencing factors including the temperature, heating rate, holding time, particle size, catalyzer, and atmosphere, were systematically evaluated. The results showed that PAHs were mainly concentrated in pyrolysis oil (94.59-99.03%), followed by the gas phase (0.96-5.34%), and their content was very low in the solid phase (0.01-0.99%). A higher temperature and slower heating rate lead to partial PAHs decomposition, thus reducing their emissions. The overall formation of PAHs can be inhibited when pyrolyzing coarse-grained tire powder. Furthermore, the PAHs formation mechanisms in waste tires were determined through reaction molecular dynamics, electron paramagnetic resonance, and intermediate products. Tires were mainly decomposed into benzene series, *C₂H₃, and *CH₃; therefore, it was determined that PAHs were formed by the joint action of the hydrogen abstraction, and vinyl radical addition and methyl addition cyclization mechanisms. Among them, low and middle-ring PAHs were formed more easily, particularly naphthalene. The generation of PAHs can be inhibited by reducing the concentration of hydrocarbons and monocyclic benzene series. Regarding the distribution law and generation pathways of PAHs, our results provide guidance for reducing PAHs formation and emissions.

Gas products generation mechanism during co-pyrolysis of styrene-butadiene rubber and natural rubber

In this study, reaction molecular dynamics were combined with experiments to gain in-depth understanding of the gaseous pyrolysis products generation mechanism and optimal paths during natural rubber (NR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and mixed rubbers (NR-SBR) for effective recovery of waste rubber. The results show that the pyrolysis temperature of NR increases gradually with SBR addition. The monomers produced during the initial stage of SBR pyrolysis are mainly 1,3-butadiene and styrene, in which the energy barriers of the formed H and CH₂=CH in styrene are higher than those in 1,3-butadiene, and during further pyrolysis the main gas products are H₂ and CH₄. During co-pyrolysis of NR-SBR, the reaction paths show that increasing H₂ yield and decreasing CH₄ yield take place easily as SBR content rises. By contrast to pyrolysis of NR, the path of generating CH₂=CH in SBR is more difficult while that of CH₂=CH abstracting H occurred easily, leading to first enhancement in produced CH₂=CH₂ followed by a decline. Fixed bed experiments and gas chromatography (GC) analysis identify the main gas products of the three rubbers (NR, SBR, NR-SBR)as H₂, CH₄ and CH₂=CH₂ and the change of yield caused by the increase of SBR content are consistent with the simulation results.