The co-combustion of rubber waste with LPG fuel in a fluidised bed reactor

This paper presents experimental results relevant to the thermal utilisation of rubber wastes. The investigation employed a laboratory-scale bubbling fluidised bed combustor, (BFBC) running on liquefied petroleum gas with quartz sand as the inert bed material. When rubber samples (tyre fragments) were added, the reactor temperature and flue gas concentrations of CO, VOC, SO₂, NO_x and HCl were monitored. Tests were performed with bed temperatures of 800-1000°C and two different masses of the bed. It has been found that the emitted quantities of NO_x and CO were dependent not only on the sample mass but also on the mass (depth) and temperature of the fluidised bed and dropped whilst the bed depth was increased and its temperature was raised.