A Norwegian company is recycling used tires to produce energy.

emonseo23

Americans throw away about million tires annually, about one per person. Most of these tires end up in landfills. We also disposed of million gallons of used oil, about gallons per person.

About % of this goes to landfills, soil or sewers. In addition to harming the environment, this is a massive waste of resources. For example, a standard tire has the same amount of energy in British thermal units (Btu) as two and a half gallons of gasoline. Through the tire liquefaction process, waste tires and used oil are converted into energy sources for use.

The process of energy production with used tires
In Texaco's tire liquefaction process, shredded tire pieces are mixed with hot oil in a liquefaction reactor. Since the temperature is not too high (less than °F), this method is more like a mild cracking process than pyrolysis, which is another way to recycle tires. Two liquids are manufactured: a light condensed oil and a heavy tire oil similar to fuel oil. Condensed light oils can be refined into gasoline, diesel, heating oil and other chemicals.

The process produces a small amount of Btu gas, which is used to heat the process heaters in the reactor. A mesh keeps the steel and fiberglass belts out of the oil from the used tires. After a high-temperatur  Special Data  e firing unit removes any oil layer, the steel is sent to a metal reclaimer. When carbon black is mixed with tire oil, it can be used as fuel or as part of asphalt manufacturing.



Uses of used tire oils
Used tire oil can be used for different things, depending on the market. It can be distilled in the same way that waste oils are now used to make stocks of base lubricating oil and fuel for ships or heaters.

The rest of the parts can be used to make asphalt, or if none of the other options are profitable, most tire oil can be converted directly into asphalt. Tire oil can also be cleaned like crude oil. But there is a question about metals in tire oil that could damage equipment at refineries.

Texaco could also feed Texaco's gasification process with a mixture of water and oil from old tires. In the s, the Company manufactured gasification technology to make chemicals and fertilizers. Since then, the number of uses has grown and together with the licenses sold, Texaco now has gasifiers in use.

The gasifier is a cylinder lined with refractory materials to prevent the steel casing from becoming too hot during the gasification process, which occurs at °F. In the form of sludge, the gasifier is fed raw materials such as coal, industrial waste, refinery tank sludge, plastics, contaminated soil, hazardous waste, orimulsion (Orinoco tar deposits) and tar oils.

Oxygen is also sent to the gasifier. The gasifier produces synthesis gas. It is mainly hydrogen and carbon monoxide, with some carbon dioxide and methane. Synthesis gas is very clean, similar to natural gas, since all particles have been removed.

During gasification, sulfur is recovered as a byproduct and high temperatures destroy all organic compounds. After the syngas is converted to slag, the metals are trapped in the slag.

Syngas can be used in place of natural gas in a combined cycle system to generate electricity. The system has a gas turbine that works like a jet engine and a steam turbine that works like a steam engine. Both are connected to their electrical generators. First, the gas turbine burns syngas to produce hot exhaust gases. The hot exhaust gases then boil the water to produce steam, which spins the turbine.

Company production capacity
Texaco can build Texaco tire liquefaction systems in modular units that can handle , tires per day and take up less than an acre of space. This system will cost around $ million. Although a unit of , tires per day is the smallest size that can make money, it could be scaled up in steps of , tires, up to a maximum of , tires, with an incremental investment cost of to percent. Ten people would work on a unit of , tires; A tanker truck could remove the tire oil made daily.