Pyrolysis of automobile shredder residue: An analysis of the products of a commercial screw kiln process

The products from the pyrolysis of automobile shredder residue, the waste produced in the recycling of old automobiles, have been studied. The pyrolysis process employed in the study was a commercial screw kiln unit. The chemical composition of the gas, liquid and solid fractions have been analyzed using a variety of techniques. The results of these analyses suggest that, while pyrolysis may represent a viable process for separating the organic materials from the inorganics, a full commercialization of the process must await a more detailed evaluation of the marketability of the products and their acceptance as feeds for full resource recovery.