For material recycling of used tires, liquid- phase cracking of tires was studied using various kinds of solvent under H2 or N2 pressure. Experiments were carried out using a 200 ml autoclave with magnetic stirrer at 300-440°, initial H2 or N2 pressure of 2.0-8.5 MPa, reaction time of 20-60 min with solvent to tire weight ratio of 1-2.5. When hydrogen donating solvent such as tetralin was used for cracking, almost all organic matter could be converted to light oil with very low sulfur content of 0.5 wt% by the reaction under low nitrogen pressure. Reaction residue can also be reused as carbon black for rubber manufacturing.
