Case History: Upgrading and Economic Market Uses for Pyrolysed By-Products from Scrap Tires and Automotive Shredder Residue

Pyrolysis is the process of breaking organic chemical bonds by heating. Extensive processing attempts to commercially pyrolyse scrap rubber tires and automotive shredder residue (ASR) have not been able to produce marketable by-products from the resulting raw pyrosates; pyro-char, pyro-oil, and pyro-gas.

Recent developments have shown the feasibility of further processing of these raw pyrosates to be competitive with current materials. This paper will review some of the findings from various laboratory and large pilot production tests of combining the primary thermal pyrolysis into raw materials and then the processing into up-graded “wide-spec” products. The potential markets and economics are discussed.