This work was aimed at improving the pyrolysis oil quality of waste rubber by adding larch sawdust.
Using a 1 kg/h stainless pyrolysis reactor, the contents of sawdust in rubber were gradually increased
from 0%, 50%, 100% and 200% (wt%) during the pyrolysis process. Using a thermo-gravimetric (TG) analyzer
coupled with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of evolving products (TG–FTIR), the weight
loss characteristics of the heat under different mixtures of sawdust/rubber were observed. Using the
pyrolysis–gas chromatography (GC)–mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS), the vapors from the pyrolysis processes
were collected and the compositions of the vapors were examined. During the pyrolysis process,
the recovery of the pyrolysis gas and its composition were measured in-situ at a reaction temperature of
450 C and a retaining time of 1.2 s. The results indicated that the efficiency of pyrolysis was increased
and the residual carbon was reduced as the percentage of sawdust increased. The adding of sawdust significantly
improved the pyrolysis oil quality by reducing the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
and nitrogen and sulfur compounds contents, resulting in an improvement in the combustion efficiency
of the pyrolysis oil.