TIRE LIQUEFACTION AND ITS EFFECT ON COAL-LIQUEFACTION

Liquefaction experiments were run using ground tire rubber and ground coal, individually and in combination. The runs, in a batch tubing-bomb reactor, were carried out in the presence and absence of tetralin as a solvent, and at high hydrogen pressures. The tire conversion is temperature dependent. At 400-degrees-C in 30 min, almost all of the organic matter in the tire is converted to hexane-soluble material, in the absence of solvent and H-2. The conversion of the tire-coal mixture is greater than the combination of the individual conversions. The incremental conversion, i.e., the difference between the conversion of the mixture and the combination of the individual conversions, increases with the tire/coal ratio. The incremental yield of hexane-solubles, defined analogously, shows trends that are similar but smaller in magnitude. The effect of the tire appears similar to that of the solvent tetralin, even though the tetralin is more effective in converting coal. The differences between the two may be due to the different radical-stabilizing capabilities between tire products and tetralin.