Solar-powered pyrolysis of scrap rubber from mining truck end-of-life tires – A case study for the mining industry in the Atacama Desert, Chile Free

It is urgent for the mining industry located in Chile to manage waste tires in a better way than burying or landfilling them. There are several managing alternatives which allow recovering value from used tires, and it is possible to rank them in terms of their environmental impact performance. In this sense, solar energy is available and offers an environmental impact reduction. In this study, the global warming potential of three different alternatives to treat mining trucks’ end-of-life (EOL) tires is calculated through Life Cycle Assessment methodology: mechanical pulverization at ambient temperature, conventionally powered pyrolysis and solar-powered pyrolysis. The results show that the best alternative in terms of carbon dioxide-equivalent reduction potential is mechanical pulverization, followed by solar-powered pyrolysis. However, the big outputs of diesel, petrol and gas from solar-powered pyrolysis suggest a substantial advantage for the mining industry, which highly relies on these products for its operations. Processing the annual production of EOL tires from all Chilean mining activities may supply 0.77% of the fossil fuel demand from Chilean copper industry. Besides, 5,100 Mg of steel and 10,120 Mg of carbon black could be gained from EOL tires when processed via solar-powered pyrolysis.