Tire-derived fuel

If tdf is only slightly cheaper, it is hard to justify any capital costs for new equipment that might be necessary to burn tdf. Obviously tdf becomes more attractive if energy prices rise. 

With a profit per tire of 0.45, his gross annual profit is 0.45 x 1 million tires = 450,000. Then the payback period on the 1 million facility is 

This payback period is fairly attractive for a commercial facility, since it is less than three years. However, it is dependent on a relatively high tipping fee and a continuing demand for tdf at 20 per ton. If either of these decreased significantly, the venture would not be financially feasible. 

The tire profit equation can also be used to look at the economic feasibility of burning tdf from the point of view of a cement kiln operator. For the cement plant there is no incremental operating cost in labor for feeding the kiln with tdf instead of coal. There is no disposal cost since the steel wire in the tdf becomes iron oxide, which is incorporated into the cement product. If the tdf is trucked to his plant by the tdf processor, then four terms of the equation can be set equal to zero F =0, C = 0, T = 0, and D = 0. Thus, for the cement kiln operator, the profit per tire he receives equals the revenue, which in this case is a fuel cost savings. If coal costs 50 per ton and he can get the same Btu value with 20 per ton tdf, then his savings is 30 per ton for using tdf. With the rule of thumb of 100 tires to the ton, R = 0.30. 

If the cement operator bums 65 tons of tdf per day, he will bum the equivalent of about 2.4 million tires per year. His annual fuel cost savings from burning tdf is 0.30 x 2.4 million = 700,000. If he has to make capital investments of 1.5 million to set up the feed system for tdf, then the payback period is 

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Tire cords Tire-derived fuel Tire-derived fuel (PDF)... 

Ironically, scrap tires make good fuel, either whole or as shredded chips, commonly called tire-derived fuel (IDE). Each tire has the heat energy of 3.2 X 10 kJ (300,000 Btu), or about the amount of energy in 13.6 kg (30 lbs) of coal or 9.4 L (2.5 gal) of oil. Also, tires are moderate in both sulfur and ash compared with bituminous coal and do not adversely affect emissions quaUty. 

Electrical equipment code, 27 841-842 Electrical flow resistivity, 23 824 Electrical generation, use of tire-derived fuel in, 21 465 Electrical hazards... 

Tire compounds, aged and fatigued properties of, 21 811-812 Tire cord, 2 643-644 Tire-derived fuel (TDF), 21 463—464 industrial uses for, 21 465 use in electrical generation, 21 465 use in pulp and paper mills, 21 464 Tire pulverizing, cryogenic, 21 469-470 Tire retreading, 21 479 Tires... 

Hower, J. C., Robertson, J. D. Roberts, J. M. 2001. Petrology and minor element chemistry of combustion by-products from the co-combustion of coal, tire-derived fuel, and petroleum coke at a western Kentucky cyclone-fired unit. Fuel Processing Technology, 74, 125-142. 

Hutchinson, W., Eirschele, G. Newell, R. 1991. Experience with tire-derived fuel in a cyclone-fired... 

Jones, R. M., Kennedy, J. M. Heberer, N. L. 1990. Supplementary firing of tire-derived fuel (TDF) in a combination fuel boiler. Tappi Journal, 73, 107-113. 

Karell, M. A. Blumenthal, M. H. 2001. Air regulatory impacts of the use of tire-derived fuel. Environmental Progress, 20, 80-86. 

LEMlEUX, P. M. 1994. Pilot-Scale Evaluation of the Potential for Emissions of Hazardous Air Pollutants from Combustion of Tire-Derived Fuel. US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA-600/ R-94-070. 

Levendis, Y. A., Atal, A., Courtemanche, B. Carlson, J. B. 19986. Burning characteristics and gaseous/solid emissions of blends of pulverized coal with waste tire-derived fuel. Combustion Science and Technology, 131, 147-185. 

Miller, C. A., Lemieux, P. M. Touati, A. 1998. Evaluation of tire-derived fuel for use in nitrogen oxide reduction by rebuming. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, 48, 729-735. 

In 1991, Goodyear began working with Cadence Environmental Energy (Indiana) to market a whole tire feed system to supplement fuel for cement kilns. The system is used by several cement manufacturers. In 1992, Goodyear furnished tires for a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) test bum at a Memphis power plant. The electric utility used tire-derived fuel (TDF) to supplement coal fuel in a cyclone boiler. These tests were successful. 

Non-biogenic municipal solid waste, batteries, chemicals, hydrogen, pitch, purchased steam, sulfur, tire-derived fuel, and miscellaneous technologies. 

Includes energy from wood and wood-derived fuels municipal solid waste from biogenic sources, landfill gas, sludge waste, agricultural byproducts and other biomass (through 2000, also includes non-renewable waste such as municipal solid waste from non-biogenic sources, and tire-derived fuels) and fuel ethanol and biodiesel consumption, plus losses and co-products from the production of fuel ethanol and biodiesel. 

Many furnaces designed to burn wood chips at pulp and paper plants are suitable for burning tire-derived-fuel without major modifications. Frequently, only wire-free tdf can be used in these boilers, thus increasing the tire processing costs. An estimated 12 million tires per year are currently being consumed by the pulp and paper industry. 

Burning tires in existing pulp and paper mills and certain types of cement kilns requires much less capital investment than the dedicated power plants mentioned above. Pulp and paper mills often bum hog-fuel (chipped wood), thus requiring very little modification for tire chips. The main economic variable is the price of the competing fuel. Tire-derived fuel must often compete with low cost coal or petroleum coke, a waste product from the petroleum refining process. If tdf is only slightly cheaper than the alternate fuel, then plant modification cannot be justified. 

The replacement of coal by tire-derived-fuel appears economically feasible for cement kilns. Seven such kilns are currently operating in the U.S., consuming the equivalent of about 6 million tires per year between them. There is potential for this use to expand further, particularly for those cement kilns whose feed systems are compatible with the use of TDF. 

Most of the plants currently burning tires for fuel do not have the capability to burn whole tires. Instead they must burn tires that have been shredded into chunks. In this form it is known as tire-derived fuel (tdf). The size of the pieces can vary from 2 inches to 6 inches, depending on the shredding operation. Typically,... 

Tire-Derived Fuel Supply. At present there are probably about a dozen pulp and paper plants burning tdf, with several of them in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Wisconsin. The companies marketing over a million tires per year of tdf to the pulp and paper plants are ... 

Noneconomic barriers to scrap tire combustion include problems in siting new facilities and environmental concerns. These two types of noneconomic barriers are related since objections to siting are usually due to perceived environmental problems. These noneconomic barriers are discussed below for power plants and tire derived fuel usage. 

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