Kinetics of tyre char oxidation under combustion conditions

Combustion of tyre char particles with diameters between 102 and 212 μm was performed in an experimental laboratory reactor, at temperatures between 750 and 850 °C, in an oxidative atmosphere with up to 10 vol.% O2 at 1 bar. The observed char combustion time varied from about 9 s at 750 °C to about 4 s at 850 °C. Under these conditions the experimental data indicated increasing mass transfer resistance with temperature. A diffusion reaction model was employed to study the effects of simultaneous mass transfer and kinetics in the experiments. An intrinsic reaction rate for tyre char combustion was estimated and comparison with literature data revealed good agreement.