PRODUCTION OF FUEL PRODUCTS FROM WASTE RUBBER MATERIAL

Abstract

A process for extracting fuel products from waste rubber, comprising the steps of subjecting the waste rubber to pyrolysis to produce a pyrolysis vapour, subjecting the pyrolysis vapour to a condensation step to produce a pyrolytic oil having a boiling point range of 45-400° C. and a flash point below 25° C., and then subjecting the pyrolytic oil to a vacuum steam stripping step so as to recover a fraction having a first composition having a flash point above 55° C., a boiling point range starting at 140° C. or higher, a density at 15° C. of less than 990 kg/m.sup.3, a total acid number TAN of up to 12, a styrene content of less than 3000 ppm, and an organic halogen (as Cl) content of less than 50 ppm, and a second composition having an initial boiling point not exceeding 75° C. under atmospheric pressure, a density at 15° C. of greater than 790 kg/m.sup.3, a benzene content of at least 1.25 vol %, an existent gum (washed) content greater than 10 mg/100 ml, an organic halogen (as Cl) content of less than 50 mg/kg, and a colour Raw oil of less than 5.0.

Claims

1-11. (canceled)

12. A process for extracting fuel products from waste rubber, comprising the steps of: (a) subjecting waste rubber to pyrolysis to produce a pyrolysis vapour; (b) subjecting the pyrolysis vapour to a condensation step to produce a pyrolytic oil having a boiling point range of 45-400° C. and a flash point below 25° C.; and (c) subjecting the pyrolytic oil to a vacuum steam stripping step at a pressure of less than 0.85 bar a and with a temperature of less than 140° C. at the top of the column, and recovering a first component having a boiling point range starting from 140° C. under atmospheric pressure or higher and possessing the following properties: a density at 15° C. of less than 990 kg/m.sup.3 determined according to ASTM D4052, a total acid number (TAN) of up to 12 determined according to ASTM D664, a styrene content of less than 3000 ppm determined according to gas chromatography, and an organic halogen (as CI) content of less than 50 mg/kg determined according to IP510; and a second component having an initial boiling point not exceeding 75° C. under atmospheric pressure and possessing the following properties: a density at 15° C. of greater than 790 kg/m.sup.3 determined according to ASTM D4502, a benzene content of at least 1.25 vol % determined according to ASTM D6839, an existent gum (washed) content greater than 10 mg/100 ml determined according to ASTM D381, an organic halogen (as CI) content of less than 50 mg/kg determined according to IP510, and a colour of no more than 5.0 determined according to ASTM D1500.

13. The process according to claim 12, wherein said first and second components together comprise at least 98 vol % of the total product obtained from the vacuum steam stripping step (c).

14. The process according to claim 12, wherein prior to the vacuum steam stripping step (c) the condensed pyrolytic oil is passed through a solids removal stage in order to reduce its solids content.

15. The process according to claim 12, wherein prior to the vacuum steam stripping step (c) the condensed pyrolytic oil is passed through a solids removal stage in order to reduce its solids content to less than 0.5 wt %.

16. The process according to claim 12 wherein the pyrolytic oil produced in (b) has a flash point below 18° C.

17. The process according to claim 12, wherein the waste rubber comprises waste tyres.

18. The process according to claim 12, wherein the first component has a biogenic carbon content of at least 15%, as determined according to ASTM D6866 Method B (AMS),

19. The process according to claim 12, wherein the second component has a biogenic carbon content of at least 15%, as determined according to ASTM D6866 Method B (AMS),

Description

EXAMPLE

[0059] A composition according to the invention was obtained by performing pyrolysis of a feedstock of chipped tyres followed by condensation, solids removal and vacuum steam stripping as described above. In this case the naphtha product collected had a boiling point range starting at 48.5° C. whilst the fluxant product had a boiling point range starting at 175° C.

[0060] The collected products were subjected to a distillation according to ASTM D86. The results are shown in the Table below, together with corresponding data for the pyrolysis oil before and after centrifugation, and for comparison a standard commercial automotive diesel product and a standard commercial marine gasoil product.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Distillation test according to ASTM D86 Oil pre- Oil post- Auto Marine centrif. centrif. Naphtha Fluxant Diesel Gasoil REC REC EVAP REC REC REC Initial boiling pt ° C. 59.5 59.0 48.5 175.0 180.1 165.9  5% ° C. 120.5 111.0 77.5 196.5 216.7 194.1 10% ° C. 141.0 128.0 90.5 210.0 231.0 206.1 30% ° C. 194.0 189.0 113.5 272.0 260.9 240.9 50% ° C. 274.5 270.5 129.5 320.0 283.6 269.5 70% ° C. 361.5 — 143.5 — 307.9 299.6 90% ° C. — — 167.5 — 338.7 339.7 95% ° C. — — 182.9 — 352.4 358.6 Final boiling pt ° C. 379.0 349.0 193.0 320.0 361.2 366.9 Recovery vol % 76.0 69.0 98.2 50.0 97.8 97.3 Residue vol % 23.0 30.0 1.2 49.0 1.4 1.4 Loss vol % 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.0 0.8 1.3 Density at 15° C. kg/m.sup.3 939.0 924.6 820.1 962.3 838.6 833.2 REC = recovered EVAP = evaporated Density was determined according to ASTM D4052.

[0061] It can be seen that the fluxant product had a percent recovery of just 50 vol % in this test. By contrast the standard automotive and marine diesel products, which are middle distillates, had a percent recovery exceeding 97 vol %.

[0062] The recovered fluxant product (first aspect of the invention) was found to have the following properties: [0063] Flash Point (ASTM D93B)—76° C. [0064] TAN (ASTM D664)—4.61 mg KOH/kg [0065] Styrene content (gas chromatography method)—1086 ppm [0066] Organic halogen as CI (IP510)—13 mg/kg [0067] Density at 15° C. (ASTM D4052)—962.3 kg/Biogenic [0068] carbon content (ASTM D6866B)—50% [0069] Total aromatic content (IP 391)—47.2 vol %

[0070] The recovered naphtha product (second aspect of the invention) found to have the following additional properties: [0071] Benzene content (ASTM D6839)—1.74 vol % [0072] Existent gum (washed) content (ASTM D381) 50 g 00 ml [0073] Organic halogen as Cl (IP510)—9 mg/kg [0074] Colour (ASTM D1500-12)—1.0 [0075] Biogenic carbon content (ASTM D6866B)—59% [0076] Total aromatic content (ASTM D6839)—47.1 vol %

[0077] The above data shows that the fluxant product recovered has properties which permit its use as a component of marine fuels, as well as having a flash point high enough to permit its transportation without additional safety restrictions. Furthermore it makes use of high boiling point black components, which otherwise need to be further processed or disposed of separately, as they are regarded as being of little commercial value, since black colouration is incompatible with most transportation fuel products. The naphtha product recovered has properties which permit its use as a component in gasoline fuels.