Synergetic effects during co-pyrolysis of biomass and waste tire: A study on product distribution and reaction kinetics

The synergetic effects during co-pyrolysis of biomass and waste tire (WT) were investigated concerning the product distribution and reaction kinetics. Two biomass feedstocks were separately mixed with WT at different effective hydrogen/carbon ratio (H/Ceff), and analytical co-pyrolysis of mixtures was conducted using pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy at 500 °C. Product distributions were similar between different biomass feedstocks but varied significantly at different H/Ceff values. The percentage of hydrocarbons increased significantly when increasing H/Ceff, and the optimal H/Ceff was determined considering the correspondingly higher yield of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and char residuals at higher percentage of WT. The experimental derivative thermogravimetric curves of mixtures at the optimal H/Ceff were compared with the calculated results based on kinetic analysis of three individual components using the distributed activation energy model. Significant synergetic effects were observed at the initial and final stages of the pyrolysis process.