Some of our previous posts documented how coal and used auto tires can be co-liquefied to produce raw materials that could be converted into liquid fuels. And, we noted there were "synergies" - the researchers' word, not ours - generated in the process by combining those feed stocks.
Herein is more documentation attesting to that fact.
The excerpt:
"Titre du document / Document title
An effective coal liquefaction solvent obtained from the vacuum pyrolysis of waste rubber tiresAuteur(s) / Author(s)
ORR E. C. (1) ; SHI Y. (1) ; JI Q. (1) ; SHAO L. (1) ; VILLANUEVA M. (1) ; EYRING E. M. (1) ;Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Department of Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, ETATS-UNISRésumé / Abstract
Oil derived from vacuum pyrolysis of waste rubber tires was used as a coal liquefaction solvent with a high-volatile A bituminous coal and a Mo catalyst. The vacuum-pyrolyzed tire oil along with the Mo catalyst was found to convert over 90% (daf) of the coal to gas, oil, and asphaltenes. Reactions were carried out in tubing reactors heated to 430 °C under 1000 psig (cold) of hydrogen gas. The vacuum-pyrolyzed tire oil (PTO) obtained from waste rubber tires contained various polyaromatic molecules which have been shown to be beneficial in coal liquefaction. Coal conversion was found to be hydrogen pressure dependent for reactions where coal and PTO were coprocessed together. Conversion results show that most of the coal reacted within the first 10 min of coprocessing. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) detected the presence of Mo inside coal particles after 20 min of coprocessing coal and PTO."As we understand this, old tires will help convert more than 90% of our coal to petroleum products. In other words, for every ton of coal, we would get the equivalent of more than 3 barrels of, essentially, crude petroleum. That, we would suspect, in terms of chemical engineering, is more than "pretty good".