Kinetics of tire derived fuel (TDF) char oxidation and accompanying changes in surface area

The oxidation behavior of tire-derived fuel (TDF) char has recently been studied by several groups. In the present study, TDF char oxidation has been examined between 670 and 825 K, at oxygen partial pressures ranging from 2 to 19.8 kPa. The order of reaction with respect to oxygen varied with burnoff, and was in the range 0.72–0.86. The activation energy of reaction ranged with burnoff from 138 to 150 kJ/mol. The reaction rate does not correlate well with BET surface area, but did correlate well with the surface area in pores ranging in size from 1.2 to roughly 7 nm in width. Pores smaller than 1.2 nm exist in the char, but appear not to be used or developed by the oxidation reaction. Results for chars that have been acid washed to remove some inorganic matter show lowered reactivity, and a distinctly different pattern of pore development with burnoff. This is, in turn, reflected in a very different pattern of reactivity change with burnoff for such materials.