Local Waste Tyre Conversion for Standarding Hydrocarbon Fuels

CHAPTER ONE

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Background

As a result of the nations dismay with the poor service provided by the public transportation system in Trinidad and Tobago, many are pushed to either upgrading their personal vehicle or obtaining a brand new vehicle. The main consumers here are the working class especially young professionals. By means of the various avenues through which financial assistance can be obtained, whether by the banks or credit unions, many now have access to funding to aid with attainment of their own vehicle. In countries such as Japan where you cannot own a vehicle for more than two (2) years or so, these vehicles are then exported to developing countries like Trinidad and Tobago at reduced prices. This culminates in an increase in the number of motor vehicles on the nations roads each year. This increase in number of motor vehicles leads to a further increase in wastes associated with motor vehicles. These wastes include scrap metal and debris from the car body, electronic wastes, such as cables and other connections, and also tyres. Tyres, due to their large volumes of production, are listed as some of the largest and poorly disposed sources of waste. Due to the absence of proper disposal techniques, the durability of tyre and their cheap availability, there has been an increase in the amount of waste tyre present.

Companies and Governments have come up with a couple of techniques to handle the disposal of this waste. Some countries are shredding tyres and using them as landfills. This is however undesirable since the tyre can trap methane (among other gases) causing them to come to the surface thus posing greater environmental hazards. Others have employed recovery technologies and made use of waste tyre in asphalt to be used in roofing materials, in the manufacture of new pneumatic tyres, to make rubber products such as railroad crossings, as raw materials for frictions breaks and also incineration for energy recovery.

Tyres are made up of organic matter and have the ability to produce excellent calorific fuel. They are composed of synthetic and natural rubber both which can undergo pyrolysis to produce an oily fuel. They typically contain 1.2 - 1.5 percent sulphur, 1.5 percent (by weight) zinc, less than one percent moisture, 2.5 pounds of high grade steel per tyre and a couple of trace metals. Tyres are also very low in nitrogen concentration, relative to other fossil fuels. The USA has accepted the use of shredded or whole tyre as alternate resource to produce electricity. Germany, which is one of the largest tyre manufacturers, has the highest tyre treatment rates for energetic recovery. According to the table below, the calorific value of tyres is almost at per with that of coal and crude oil.

Calorific value of several combustible materials (Optimization of pyrolysis conditions.J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 2004)

Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 1: Calorific value of several combustible materialsSource kJ/kg

Municipal Wastes 5800

Mixed Biomass 15,100

Paper 17,400

Textiles 18,600

Bituminous Coal 26,200

Anthracite 28,000

Scrap Tyres31,400

Crude oil 39,500

Aims and Objectives

The proposed project seeks to determine the technical and economic feasibility of the conversion of local waste tyre to standard hydrocarbon fuels to be used in standard equipment and machines. This will provide a new disposal method for local waste tyre which will result in a reduction of local waste tyre and will result in a reduction of the associated hazards of disposed tyre on the environment such as breeding sites for vectors of dengue and chikungunya viruses.

Objectives of the project are as follows:

To convert local waste tyre to standard hydrocarbon fuels.

To provide a new disposal method for waste tyre.

The project will first consist of an initial technical study where research will be conducted in order to determine the possibility of the tyre conversion process. Secondly, an economic study will be conducted to determine if the process is self-sustaining or requires government support.

ScopeThe research will look at the various avenues through which other countries utilize waste tyre as an alternative form of energy. Analysis will detail the methodology and process involved with the conversion of the tyre into energy as well as the required equipment and machinery. An in-depth look at the introduction of these techniques and technologies into the markets of Trinidad and Tobago and the corresponding positive outputs that will be produced as a result of this implementation. Emphasis will be placed primarily on the impacts on the environmental side as well as the economic impacts.

The project will first consist of an initial technical study where research will be conducted in order to determine the possibility of the tyre conversion process. Secondly, an economic study will be conducted to determine if the process is self-sustaining or requires government support.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

Tyres, due to their large volumes of production, are listed as some of the largest and poorly disposed sources of waste (Poushay 2008). It is approximated that 259 million tyres are disposed of per year worldwide. More than half of these waste tyres are simply incinerated for energy recovery. For instance, 55% are estimated to be burnt for their calorific fuels in Germany (Rojas-Mayorga et al. 2004). Py...