Published December 2022
Energy crises and environmental degradation are among the main problems that humanity is facing today. These two problems owe their origin to a growing population, rapid industrialization, and the huge amounts of solid waste generated daily and the disposal of these solid wastes is a big environmental concern for modern society, especially in developing countries. To improve the environmental degradation situation, it has become imperative to make use of appropriate technologies for the possible recovery of resources from nonconventional organic solid wastes, like municipal and/or industrial wastes, refused plastics, scrap tires etc. Scrap tires are one of the very common and most important hazardous solid wastes all over the world [1, 2].
Widely differing chemical compositions in tires and the cross-linked structures of rubber make tires highly resistant to biodegradation, photochemical decomposition, chemical reagents, and high temperatures. Developed countries have made progress in waste tire management by implementing more efficient and innovative recovery and recycling methods, and with restrictive regulations regarding the management of used tires. However, in many developing countries, the management of waste tires has not received much attention and the processing, treatment, and disposal of waste tires are still in a nascent stage.
Waste tires can be utilized in various rubber applications, such as engineering and construction, environmental protection, and agriculture. Energy and material recoveries may be achieved through thermal and thermochemical processes, such as incineration and pyrolysis, and gasification and liquefaction, respectively. This report will discuss waste tire management and utilization routes, the cost-benefit analysis, environmental impact, feasibility and technology readiness status and will present the product economics (IHS Markit conceptual design) for
- Tire recycling to produce micronized rubber powder (MRP) using the mechanical grinding process
- Tire recycling to produce carbon black and fuel oil using the pyrolysis process
- Tire recycling to produce MRP using the cryogenic grinding process
This report covers the techno-economic comparison of the three processes and their production economics for a 100 kilotons per annum (KTA) plant at a US Gulf Coast location. An iPEP Navigator tool is also attached with the electronic version of this report. The interactive iPEP Navigator module provides an economic snapshot for each process, allowing the user to select and compare the processes, units, and regions of interest.