2 replies to this topic

[mellotango]

I'm curious about the possibility of using gekgasifiers or bek biochar maker to pyrolyse shredded tires. What would be outcome of this process? Thx in advance for your thoughts.

[David MacIsaac]

I am interested in this as well as used tires are highly available in my area.  I have been looking for chemical analysis work on them but have not found much, I have found that carbon is added to the rubber to strengthen it and this may provide a better carbon to volatiles ratio so there is a more balanced reduction stage without tar being produced.   As far as shredding tires I don’t know if that is a solution that would work well with a downdraft gasifier.  The void spaces with shredded tires as the feed stock melts would cause loss of the flow of gas through the unit.  I am considering having an catalytic exhaust system in the form of a pillar inside of a tank the tires would be placed in from the top like a ring on a finger and the high temps of the exhaust gas from the generator passing through the catalytic element fully combusting any hydrocarbons left in the exhaust and will drive the work.  The tire pyrolysis unit would work as an end process that would use any of the heat left in the system after passing the heat reclamation system in the initial gasifier unit.  On a side note as to having balanced volatiles to carbon in the process I am looking to water filtration systems waste streams.  There are a lot of industrial processes that use activated carbon to filter chemicals from water for various purposes.  While there are companies that clean activated carbon for reuse there seems to be a lot of waste materials that are considered contaminated and are costly to disposes of and this may be an avenue to having balanced biomass.

Has anyone else experience with this?

Dave

[Antibubba]

The EPA regs would be a nightmare.  I'm also concerned about the amount of inorganic solids (such as steel belts), as well as aramid belts.  It would seem to require you to hand separate biochar from unusable solids.