Pyrolysis of used automobile tires and residual char utilization A.A. Zabaniotou *, G. Stavropoulos Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Univ. Box 455, GR-54006 Thessaloniki, Greece Accepted 3 March 2003 Abstract In the present study the rubber portion of used car tires was transformed by atmospheric pyrolysis into oil, gas and char. The experiments have been performed in a captive sample reactor at atmospheric pressure, under helium atmosphere. The effect of temperature on the products yield was investigated. In a second step, alternative uses of pyrolysis char such as combustion, gasification and active carbons preparation were examined, in order to produce fuels and high added value materials. First, pyrolysis char was burned and its reactivity was measured in function with pyrolysis temperature. Second, char was gasified with Steam and CO 2 to produce fuel gases, in a tubular stainless steel reactor. It was also activated to produce high added value materials. It was shown that tire chars present higher reactivity with steam than with CO 2 and also active carbons produced from tire chars possess surface areas, comparable with those of commercially available active carbons. # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Used car tires; Pyrolysis; Char gasification; Activated carbon 1. Introduction The disposal of used automotive tires is becoming an ever more pressing problem, as it is causing many environmental and economical problems to most countries. Their continuing accumulation is one of the worst solid waste problems facing developed countries. Official reports (2001) estimate annual accumulations of post- * Corresponding author. Tel.:  /30-310-99-6274; fax:  /30-310-99-6209. E-mail address: sonia@vergina.eng.auth.gr (A.A. Zabaniotou). J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 70 (2003) 711  /722 www.elsevier.com/locate/jaap 0165-2370/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0165-2370(03)00042-1