It may be the solution to the world's used tire problem.

Hello dear friends of Ecotrain, I hope you are very well, today I want to talk briefly about a technology that although it is not based on a new concept, with new innovations in materials processing and carbon emissions capture is becoming an excellent alternative to solve two current problems, how to dispose of used tires and the growing need for fuel of humanity.

Worldwide, 2 billion tires are discarded annually, in the United States alone 300 million tires are discarded annually, this means that all over the world there are huge mountains of used tires, and where there are not those mountains, tires end up in landfills or worse, polluting large sections of land, in dumps on the streets or in water channels, rivers, etc...

Tires do not degrade over time, simply being exposed to the sun causes them to release harmful chemicals into the air such as Methane gas, burying them does not eliminate the problem, as the chemicals in the tires leach into soils and waterways, which can greatly harm beneficial life sustaining bacteria, can kill plants, and even affect wildlife.

Burning the tires is not an option, as it would mean releasing these chemicals into the environment by air, and extinguishing a burning tire is difficult, dangerous, and would carry the chemicals into the soil.
In fact, in the United States, for example, many states prohibit the disposal of tires in landfills, and some may even charge for doing so.

In tropical climates, used tires are the perfect breeding ground for insects such as the white-footed mosquito, which transmits diseases such as dengue fever and chikungunya.

But there is something else about tires that makes throwing them in a landfill is a total waste, tires are made mostly of rubber, rubber is extracted from rubber trees, which are grown mainly in Southeast Asia, these trees take 5 to 6 years to mature after being planted, or produce rubber for a maximum of 25 years, ie, throwing away a tire is throwing away a precious natural resource.

But in this very fact of the nature of the tires is where the key to take advantage of its potential as a resource to the maximum, you see, the rubber of the tires, when transformed into tires worth the redundancy, happens to become something very similar to solid oil, when heated to certain temperatures avoiding combustion, this rubber becomes something very similar to crude oil, and that is when through a process of channeling, this 'crude' can be converted into other fossil fuels.

TDF

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In the past, tire-derived fuels were something used by large industries such as functions or concrete plants, because the fuels that could be produced from tires required specialized equipment to be used.

But with the advances in technology every day it is possible to produce more and better types of fuels that are adapted to the needs of consumers. Technological advances also make it possible to convert tires and fuels with smaller, cheaper and more efficient equipment that is accessible to remote or resource-poor countries. An example of all this is this magnificent project in Zambia, in which gasoline, diesel and liquefied gas are produced using tires mixed with some catalysts.

the process involves 2 important steps, the processing of the tires by either shredding or cutting them into small pieces, then these pieces are placed inside a Pyrolysis reactor, in this machine, the rubber is heated to temperatures of about 700 degrees Celsius, This causes the rubber particles to split into smaller molecules that travel in the form of steam, this steam is taken out of the reactor and condensed into a kind of oil called pyrolysis oil, which can be used as fuel or refined together with other additives to produce different fuels such as gasoline or diesel.

The different procedures and uses of the equipment of course produce different results, operating the pyrolysis reactor at lower temperatures, close to 450 degrees Celsius produces a mixture known as Hydrocarbon. Which has other utilities.

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Of course, as you may have already considered, this process has its flaws, since burning tires is not exactly good for the environment, but considering all the factors, such as the new technologies for capturing pollutants in industrial processes, the fact that tires are already a pollutant that is being eliminated from the environment and that tires as a whole produce more energy than elements such as coal and pollute less than some types of coal, it can be said that the TDF is a good alternative to solve two problems of humanity.

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Additionally, the fuel produced by pyrolysis reactors is cheaper to produce than traditional gasoline or diesel, which involves exploitation, transfer of crude oil, refining, then transfer of the gasoline or diesel to the customer, and final distribution. A pyrolysis reactor can convert a tire into gasoline in as little as 5 hours. The economic impact of this should not be underestimated, nor the environmental impact, the oil industry in its exploitation, processing and transportation phases is one of the world's major pollutants and responsible for catastrophic oil spills for example, reducing these elements is a victory for the environment.

Ashes and other elements derived from tire processing can be used in the plastics industry. This is another plus.

Studies show that although tire-derived fuels are not a perfect solution, they are a good solution to the problem of used tires, and at the same time there is a gain in environmental protection.

Currently, tires are being recycled worldwide to produce fuel at an increasing rate, with more than half of the world's tires currently being recycled, which is a good thing considering that even if electric cars make up the bulk of transportation in the future, they will still use tires. Although there is still a lot of catching up to do with the huge mountains of discarded tires around the world. There is no doubt that this technology is promising.

You will find more information on the TDF and the different associated technologies in the literature, along with some very detailed feasibility studies on the subject.