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Now fuel from waste rubber:- Coimbatore | March 28, 2005 6:17:16 PM IST A scientist from a university in Coimbatore has come up with a research for extracting fuel from waste rubber through the process of flash pyrolysis. It is part of the project aimed at developing a process for getting liquid fuel out of waste material. The Ministry of Non Conventional Energy Resources of Government of India is funding the project. This process involves the use of agro based, industrial or municipal waste. However, for their research, the scientists used spent tyres, the material most readily available in large quantities in and near Coimbatore. "To start with we have taken waste tyres. In fact it is a problem in many countries how to dispose it. In India we have made a survey. It is available at the rate of two tonnes per day near Coimbatore. So we have taken this material and subjecting it to a process called Pyrolysis, which is nothing but heating at a high temperature in the absence of air or oxygen. So during the process the organic material present decomposes to Hydrocarbons," said Dr. B C Billai, Director, Centre for Biomass energy, Karunya deemed university. The tyres consist of three components namely the organic rubber, which constitutes 70 percent of the tyre mass, the filler carbon black, which accounts for 25 percent of the tyre and a number of additives, which comprise the remaining five percent. In the Flash Pyrolysis process, the granulated tyre is fed into a fluidised bed, which is maintained at 500 degrees Centigrade. In the absence of oxygen, the organic material undergoes the pyrolysis process during, which a number of hydrocarbons are evolved. The light hydrocarbons escape as gas whereas the majority of the heavy hydrocarbons are condensed to form a liquid. The remaining char after grinding would be very close to carbon black in its properties and hence could be used as filler for various rubber based products. Researchers say that about 60 to 65 percent of liquid fuel can be realized through this process. The technological challenge in this process lies in the optimisation of three process variables namely temperature, particle size and residence time of the raw material, in such a way that the liquid yield will be maximum. Researchers are of the opinion that the resulting oil would be close to furnace oil derived from petroleum and therefore could be used in industry. They further add that the process is highly energy efficient, self-sustaining and economically viable. (ANI) -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England