RE: [GreenYes] Fw: QUERY: What to do with used tires? [Q from Brazil]

[Jay Donnaway <jdonnawa@dca.state.ga.us>]

Exactly, Mike

Burning whole tires in a cement kiln is a much better option than mining
coal to fuel the kiln.  The Bavarian State Institute for Environmental
Protection (Germany)agrees, and concluded that the best means of disposing
of waste tires is to use them to tuel cement kilns.  In order to make good
cement, kilns much reach 1500 to 1600 degrees Centigrade, which is much
hotter than required for adequate breakdown of hazardous chemicals.
Hazwaste incinerators, on the other hand, know that higher temperatures make
for shorter equipment life, so they are incentivized to burn at the lowest
temp they can get away with.  This is a great example that sometimes, energy
recovery from waste is most appropriate.

Jay Donnaway



> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Mike Morrow [SMTP:mmorrow@together.net]
> Sent:	Thursday, February 28, 2002 9:30 AM
> To:	muna@iafrica.com; mfurtado@dialb.greenpeace.org; Doug Koplow
> Cc:	greenyes@grrn.org; zerowaste@grrn.org
> Subject:	Re: [GreenYes] Fw: QUERY: What to do with used tires? [Q
> from Brazil]
> 
> You seem to have missed  the guys point here.  Making cement is a chemical
> process where "contaminants" are incorporated in the final product.  We
> have
> lots of examples here of fly ash and some bottom ash being easily
> incorporated in cement because of the properties of ash.
> 
> Seems to me that using tires as part of cements fuel mix is a better
> option
> than mining more coal to make the same cement.
> 
> Mike
> 
> From: <muna@iafrica.com>
> 
> 
> 
> > On 26 Feb 2002 at 14:36, Doug Koplow wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Marcelo,
> > >
> > > Your inquiry regarding tires was posted to the Green Yes Listserve, of
> > > which I am a member.  I looked at waste tires in relation to work I
> > > did for the US EPA on hazardous waste combustion in cement kilns some
> > > years ago.  Based on this work, I concluded that disposal of whole
> > > waste tires (which are not considered hazardous waste) in cement kilns
> > > is actually a very good solution.
> > >
> > > The extremely high temperatures in the kiln, combined with long
> > > retention times in the burner, lead to very clean combustion, and
> > > nearly every region of the world has them.  Combustion in kilns does
> > > not generate the black smoke that one sees when tires are burned in
> > > open pits.  The metals found in the waste tires (either through steel
> > > belts or through additives to improve braking, wear, etc.) are mostly
> > > entrained in the cement clinker, and generally not released to the
> > > air.
> > >
> > Sorry to say, that I do not agree with Doug - we have found that waste
> incineration
> > has no positive spinoffs at all, and simply transfers the problem from
> solid waste to
> > mainly air pollution, the creation of highly toxic bottom ash, and the
> actual loss of the
> > resource and energy used in its manufacture - a simple energy balance
> will
> show that
> > "energy from waste" is simply another way of avoiding the issue in the
> first place -
> > that of re-use or avoidance...
> >
> > the chemicals that are liberated in burning, as well as the heavy
> metals,
> etc. cause a
> > much more serious problem than the one Marcello is trying to solve - we
> are very
> > sensitive here regarding eco-justice, and can say very clearly that the
> burning of ANY
> > waste is no solution, especially not for the people in our country... or
> indeed,
> > anywhere else...
> >
> > regards
> > Muna
> >
> 
> ******************************************
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