Vacuum pyrolysis of electric cable wastes

Metal-free electric cable waste was pyrolyzed at a reduced total pressure of 20 kPa and at a temperature of 450 degrees C. The two main products were wax (71 wt.%) and pyrolytic carbon black (CBp, 21 wt.%). Pyrolytic wax and CBp were compared with commercial grade materials using FT-IR, ESCA, SIMS and XRD. Similarly to commercial wax, the pyrolytic wax consists mostly of alkyl chains. However, it contains more olefinic groups and the alkyl chains are less branched than commercial wax. The CBp has a high BET surface area (60 m(2) g(-1)), higher than commercial carbon blacks of the N500 series. It contained less than 5 wt.% g CaCO3, the only inorganic component detected. The surface chemistry of the organic CBp portion was found to be very close to commercial carbon black N539.