Utilization of Synthesized Zeolite for Improved Properties of Pyrolytic Oil Derived from Used Tire

Abstract

This paper reports the investigation of zeolite NaY synthesized from kaolin, a locally abundant soil material found in the Benin City metropolis, Nigeria, as a suitable catalyst and its effect on the properties of pyrolytic oil produced from used tires. The pyrolysis process was conducted from a range of 1 to 10 wt.% of catalyst concentration to the used tire at an operating temperature of 600°C, heating rate of 15°C/min, and particle size of 6 mm. An increase in the catalyst weight gave a maximum yield of catalytic pyrolytic oil (CPO) of 21.3 wt.% at a catalyst-to-tire ratio of 7.5 wt.%. Although this was lower than the noncatalyzed pyrolytic oil yield (34.40 wt.%), the quality in terms of chemical composition and hydrocarbon fuel range varied from that of the noncatalyzed pyrolytic oil, as indicated by the FT-IR, NMR, and GC-MS analyses. From the GC-MS result, the CPO gave a benzene yield higher than that of noncatalyzed pyrolytic oil. The CPO benzene yield can be ranked as CPO (5 wt.%) > CPO (1 wt.%) > CPO (10 wt.%) > CPO (7.5 wt.%) > noncatalyzed pyrolytic oil. The catalyst also improved the yield of other valuable chemicals such as ethylbenzene, o- and p-xylene, styrene, toluene, quinoline, pyrene, thiophene, P-cresol, phenol, and limonene in the pyrolytic oil. For hydrocarbon range, the catalyst displayed the potential to increase the yield of carbon range (C6-C15), which is similar to gasoline (C6-C12) and kerosene (C11-C14), with a lower yield of diesel and fuel oils (C11-C20) when compared to the noncatalyzed pyrolytic oil.