Systematic Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Activation of Waste Tire by Factorial Design

In this study, waste tire was used as raw material for the production of activated carbons through pyrolysis. Tire char was first produced by carbonization at 550°C under nitrogen. A two factorial design was used to optimize the production of activated carbon from tire char. The effects of several factors controlling the activation process, such as temperature (850–950 °C), time (2–6 h) and percentage of carbon dioxide (70%–100%) were investigated. The production was described mathematically as a function of these three factors. First order modeling equations were developed for surface area, yield and mesopore volume. It was concluded that the yield, BET surface area and mesopore volume of activated carbon were most sensitive to activation temperature and time while percentage of carbon dioxide in the activation gas was a less significant factor.