Abstract
MCM-48 (Mobil Composition of Matter number 48) is a cubic-structured mesoporous silica material widely used in many applications such as separation and catalysis. The addition of alumina atoms into the framework of MCM-48 can generate the acid sites suitable for cracking reaction. This work investigated the waste tyre pyrolysis by using Al-MCM-48 synthesised via a hydrothermal method as a catalyst. The pyrolysis of waste tyre was conducted in a bench-scale reactor. The catalyst was characterised by using small-angle XRD, BET, XRF and TGA. In addition, the products were analysed by using GC-FID and S analyser, while a GC×GC-TOF/MS was used to analyse the species in oils. The components in pyrolytic oil were classified into 7 groups; that are, paraffins (p), olefins (ole), naphthenes (nap), mono-aromatics (mono), di-aromatics (di), poly-aromatics (poly) and polar-aromatics (polar). The results showed that Al- MCM-48 decreased the concentration of naphthene and di-aromatics in the oil. It indicates that Al-MCM-48 promoted ring-opening of di-aromatics and aromatisation of naphthenes. In addition, Al-MCM-48 catalyst gave 5 percent sulphur reduction in oil. Moreover, sulphur species can be devided into groups of thiophenes (Th), benzothiophenes (BT), dibenzothiophenes (DBT), benzothiazoles (BTz), and isothiocyanates (ITC). An outstanding result Al-MCM-48 can reduce all groups of sulphur-containing compounds, except BTs.
