Low-Temperature Pyrolysis Characteristics of Tire Rubber

Abstract

Over the past decade, vehicles have become popular as a means of transportation, and the demand for vehicles is steadily increasing. Along with this growth is the demand for tires essential for vehicles. Tires are made up of natural rubber (NR), synthetic rubber, carbon black (CB), and steel, and that complexity makes reuse and recycling of them difficult. Pyrolysis is a promising method that converts tire rubber into useful resources such as isoprene, and other hydrocarbons. this method involves breaking the bonds of the tire rubber and reducing its molecular weight by applying heat in an inert atmosphere. We have reported a novel multi-step pyrolysis techniique starting with a low-temperature pyrolysis step that reduces the molecular weight of the rubber while retaining the isoprene skeleton. this work investigated the low-temperature pyrolysis characteristics of tire rubber by evaluating the yield of liquid rubber (lower molecular weight tire rubber) and its isoprene skeleton retention rate.