Waste Management 69 (2017) 110–116

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Nano-carbons from waste tyre rubber: An insight into structure and

morphology
Samane Maroufi ⇑, Mohannad Mayyas, Veena Sahajwalla
Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT), School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study reports on the novel and sustainable synthesis of high value carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) from
Received 8 March 2017 waste tyre rubber (WTR), using an innovative high temperature approach. As waste tyres are composed,
Revised 9 June 2017 primarily, of carbon – accounting for some 81.2 wt% – they represent a promising source of carbon for
Accepted 8 August 2017
many potential applications. However, cost-effective options for their processing are limited and, conse-
Available online 14 August 2017
quently, billions of waste tyres have accumulated in landfills and stockpiles, posing a serious global envi-
ronmental threat. The rapid, high temperature transformation of low value WTR to produce valuable
Keywords:
CNPs, reported here, addresses this challenge. In this study, the transformation of WTRs was carried
Waste tyre rubber
Carbon nano-particle
out at 1550 °C over different reaction times (5 s to 20 min). The structure and morphology of the resulting
High temperature CNPs were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photon spectroscopy
Characterisation (XPS), N2 isothermal adsorption method and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation of
CNPs with diameters of 30 and 40 nm was confirmed by Field Emission Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM).
Longer heating times also resulted in CNPs with regular and uniform spherical shapes and a specific sur-
face area of up to 117.7 m2/g, after 20 min. A mechanism that describes the formation of CNPs through
mesophase nuclei intermediate is suggested.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction applicable processes for the cost-effective recycling of waste tyres

Worldwide, over 1.2 billion used tyres are thrown away annu-
ally and at least four billion or so have accumulated in landfills
and stockpiles. Such vast volumes of waste tyres not only pose a
risk to human health and the environment but represent a signifi-
cant waste of a potentially valuable carbon-rich resource. The envi-
ronmental, health and economic imperatives for better
management of waste tyres – and the need to recover the value
embedded within them -- is well recognised by governments,
industries and researchers. In landfills, waste tyres are not readily
biodegradable and risk leaching toxic chemicals into the surround-
ing environment. Waste tyre stockpiles are also significant fire
risks, as they are long burning and emit hazardous fumes. And,
although waste tyres are a complex and technically challenging
waste stream, their composition and its high calorific value – a typ-
ical tyre has a carbon content of
81.2 wt% (Zhang and Williams,
2016) and a hydrogen content of
7.2% – means they are of consid-
erable interest for resource and/or energy recovery. Yet, despite
considerable research and numerous technological developments,
does not exist. New approaches are urgently needed, as the ever
the increasing mountains of waste tyres worldwide continue to
outstrip gains in recycling. In the US, for example, some 40% of
the approximately 300 million tyres discarded last year were pro-
cessed,1 a significant improvement in the total volume of waste
tyres recovered over previous years, but still a shortfall of some
180 million waste tyres. In the European Union, where more than
two decades of regulations, targets and extended producer responsi-
bility schemes have likewise greatly increased recycling rates (Landi
et al., 2016), almost a third of waste tyres in some EU nations (EU13)
continue to go to landfills. In Australia some 20 million passenger
tyre require disposal annually, of which only 23% are recycled, 64%
go to landfills and the remainder are dumped illegally, despite bans
on illegal disposal in landfills in some Australian states due to
toxicity.
Although the composition of various tyre types differs accord-
ing to their application (Sahajwalla et al., 2005a), all tyres are pri-
marily made up of carbon black, steel, natural rubber (NR) and
synthetic rubber (SR). Due to their high calorific value (CV)
(
32 MJ kg1), waste tyres have been traditionally used as fuel

⇑ Corresponding author.
1
E-mail address: s.maroufi@unsw.edu.au (S. Maroufi). https://cld.bz/Sk9SJhe#60 P.55.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.08.020
0956-053X/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S. Maroufi et al. / Waste Management 69 (2017) 110–116
(Sahajwalla et al., 2005b; Rahman et al., 2005; Li et al., 2009; Liu
et al., 2010). Energy recovery options (Zhang et al., 2015) include
using waste tyres as an energy source for power stations and
cement kilns and co-incineration with other waste streams. In
the EU, for example, approximately 38% of waste tyres diverted
from landfill are absorbed in energy recovery (Kordoghli et al.,
2016). Current incineration methods, however, require sophisti-
cated filters to prevent the emission of harmful pollutants and
other cleaner pathways and processes are being intensely investi-
gated (Kordoghli et al., 2016). Materials re-processing options
include rubber crumbing and shredding for use in road surfacing,
flooring, sports fields and other outdoor surfaces, roofing, etc.
(40% in the EU) and the use of whole or shredded waste tyres in
civil engineering applications such as the construction of highway
shoulders and barriers (8% in the EU). Some waste tyres can also be
recovered for re-treading and reuse (10% in the EU). The use of
WTR as a resource in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking has
been investigated in other works (Sahajwalla et al., 2005a,b;
Rahman et al., 2005; Gupta et al., 2006; Zaharia et al., 2009a,b;
Sahajwalla et al., 2010), leading to a new commercialized technol-
ogy (i.e. Polymer Injection Technology, PIT).
Recently, research interest has re-focused on pyrolysis.
Although the pyrolysis of waste tyres has long been technically
established, its commercial implementation has been hampered
by challenges in finding viable markets for its products. New inter-
est, however, has been sparked by the potential for the production
of value added products, such as carbon nanoparticles, the subject
of this study. In established waste tyre pyrolysis processes, WTRs
are heated, typically, to between 400 and 600° C in an oxygen free
(or oxygen poor) environment and undergo thermal cracking, or
thermal degradation, to produce three potentially useful products,
an oil, gas and char (Kordoghli et al., 2016). The oil can be used
directly or added to petroleum refinery stock, upgraded using cat-
alysts to a premium fuel or used as a chemical feedstock. The gas
has sufficient energy to fuel the pyrolysis process itself and the
char typically consists of carbon black filler and the tyre rubber
char. The char can be used as a solid fuel, carbon black or upgraded
to produce activated carbon (Williams, 2013).
The diversity, physical and chemical characteristics and abun-
dance of carbon materials has attracted significant research interest
and effort over recent years. These materials have unique structures
which result in superior properties such as excellent electrical con-
ductivity and good mechanical resilience and they exhibit remark-
able performances as insulating or semiconducting cathode
materials. As such, they are widely used as electrode materials for
renewable and green energy technologies (Lou et al., 2014; Wang
et al., 2013). This group of materials, including activated carbon,
nano-porous carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene sheets and many
other forms, have also been widely used in supercapacitors
Fig. 1. The general feature of the a) WRT and b) the carbon residue after heat treatment.
111
(Frackowiak, 2007; Nishihara and Kyotani, 2012; Ghosh and Lee,
2012), lithium ion batteries (LIB) (anode materials) (Kaskhedikar
and Maier, 2009; Cheng et al., 2011), and lithium-air/oxygen batter-
ies (gas diffusion cathodes) (Christensen et al., 2012). Specifically,
CNPs have exhibited superior electrochemical performance in LIBs
and supercapacitors. High-surface-area and porosity are key factors
that determine the suitability of carbons for use as electrode mate-
rials. The pores in electrode materials facilitate ion (i.e., charge)
mobility, while the high-surface-area provides greater space (i.e.,
interface) for charge separation between the electrode surface
and ions in the liquid electrolyte (Luo et al., 2016). The synthesis
of carbon nanoparticles has been achieved through different tech-
niques including the pyrolysis method (Ding and Olesik, 2004),
microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition using iron and nickel
as catalysts (Yu et al., 2002), electrolysis in molten alkali halide salts
using carbon electrode (Hsu et al., 1996); microemulsion polymer-
ization at low temperature (Jang et al., 2002).
In this study, we investigate rapid, high temperature (1550 °C)
transformation of WTR to synthesise high value carbon. Although
considerable research has been carried out on pyrolysis of WTR
at temperatures below 900 °C over lengthy processing times
(Jang et al., 2002, Cuesta et al., 1998, Sing et al., 1985, Brooks and
Taylor, 1965, Cormia et al., 1962, Mileva et al., 2012, Nieto-
Marquez et al., 2011, 2009a, 2009b, 2010, Sobkowicz et al.,
2008), there is no data, to the best of our knowledge, on the rapid
thermal transformation of WTR at high temperatures over short
times periods (<5 min), nor has the characterization of the carbon
residue obtained from such conditions previously been reported.
This study introduces a clean, sustainable process for the thermal
transformation of WTRs to form nano-carbon particles (CNPs) of
30–40 nm; a product with considerable technical and commercial
potential for many applications. Although the process involves
high temperatures, the overall energy consumption for the process
is reasonable as the decomposition of WTR and the formation of
CNPs occurs rapidly, and completely. At the same time, this rapid
process minimizes the generation of toxic gases. Within five min-
utes, all the impurities, such as sulphur, zinc, and oxygen, have
been eliminated. The CNPs synthesized using this new approach,
and the possible mechanism of their formation, is discussed.
2. Materials and experimental procedure
The WTR samples of 1–2 mm rubber shreds from waste passen-
ger tyre were supplied by OneSteel, Australia, as shown in Fig. 1a.
Their composition is detailed in Table 1. To get rubber powder
from waste tyres, several steps are involved (This process is per-
formed by industry). The first step is shredding and separating
(steel and iron made) wires and mesh from tyre and breaking them
into small pieces using a machine. The Granulators are used in the
112 S. Maroufi et al. / Waste Management 69 (2017) 110–116
Table 1
a) Ultimate, b) proximate of rubber and c) chemical analysis of ash in rubber.
(a) Ultimate analysis of rubber
Carbon Hydrogen
83.8 7.13
(b) Proximate analysis of rubber
Volatile matter Fixed carbon
63.2 30.2
(c) Chemical analysis of ash in rubber
SiO2 Fe2O3 Al2O3 CaO MgO
27.9 0.14 3.1 8.4 1.3
next step in which pieces of waste tyres are grinded in the large
sized granulators to produce large quantity of granules. The last
step is converting the granulated materials into fine powder
through pulverization.
The CNPs were synthesized by carbonizing WTR isothermally
at 1550 °C under Ar purge for 5 s in a horizontal tube furnace.
The resulting char was then milled and pulverized using a ring
mill, followed by 30 min of mixing in a roll mill for better homo-
geneity. A steel die was utilized to press the char, with a
hydraulic pressure of 150 MPa, without a binder to produce disk
shaped briquettes with a diameter of 20 mm and thickness of
3–4 mm.
The as-prepared pellets were again carbonized at 1550 °C over a
range of difference time, from 5 s to 20 min. Once the allotted time
had elapsed, samples were pulled back into the cold zone where
they were kept for a further 15 min to prevent thermal cracking.
The final products, as shown in Fig. 1b, were characterized. An
X’pert PRO Multi-purpose XRD (MPD system), operating at 40 kV
and 40 mA with a measurement recording in the range 2h ¼ 0 to
100°, was used to analyze the crystalline components of samples.
A FEI Nova-SEM 230 (FE-SEM) was used to study the physical
structure and morphology of the resulting product. All specimens
were coated with Pt for better resolution. Raman analysis was per-
formed using a Renishaw Invia Raman Microscope to determine
the molecular structure of the carbonaceous materials. The laser
was focused through the microscope with a 50X objective. Each
Raman spectra presented in this study corresponds to the accumu-
lation of 10 spectra’s recorded from 200 to 400 cm1. Specific sur-
face areas and pore size distributions were determined using N2
physisorption on a Micromeritics Tristar II Plus absorption anal-
yser. Prior to analysis, the samples were dried at 110 °C in oven
and then degassed for at least 3 h at 150 °C under vacuum. Surface
area and pore size distributions were determined using the
Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and BJH model, respectively.
Fig. 2. a) General XPS spectra of carbon reside of rubber b) high-resolution XPS spectra of carbon region.
Nitrogen Sulphur Oxygen
0.37 2 6.8
Moisture Ash
0.9 5.7
Na2O K2O P2O5 SO3 TiO2 ZnO
1.4 0.05 – 7.58 – 40.8
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterization of carbon residue of rubber after thermal
transformation at 1550 °C
XPS analysis was carried out to identify the chemical bonding of
carbon. Fig. 2 displays the general XPS spectra of the carbon residue
of rubber obtained at different residence times. A sharp peak of C1s
was observed in all samples, while the oxygen peak, O1s, disap-
peared after 20 min heat treatment, implying more oxygen has been
removed from the sample with increasing time. For all samples, the
major component observed at 284.81 eV belonged to the CAC bond.
The high resolution XPS spectrum of the carbon region for the sam-
ple after 20 min heat treatment is also illustrated in Fig. 2.
XRD and Raman spectra of carbon residue of rubber after ther-
mal transformation at 1550 °C for a range of reaction times from
5 s to 20 min are shown in Fig. 3.
The X-ray diffraction spectra of the WTR residue after thermal
transformation at 1550 °C showed sharp peaks at 2h around 25°,
which correspond to the (0 0 2) diffraction of graphitic carbon.
Other secondary peaks can be seen at around 43° which could be
assigned to the (0 0 1) graphite plane. As the pyrolysis residence
time increased from 5 s to 20 min, the background intensities of
the spectra of the WTR residue became weaker and the (0 0 2)
peaks become more symmetrical and sharper.
The received WTR samples contained about 5.7 wt% mineral
ash, which consisted of SiO2 (27.9 wt%) and ZnO (40.8 wt%).
Derived phases of these oxides (i.e., SiC and ZnS) were evident in
the residue obtained after heat treatment for 5 s. With increasing
time, ZnS decomposed and evolved off the sample. Weak SiC peaks
observed in other diffraction patterns indicated that the carbother-
mal reduction of SiO2 also took place.
According to the XRD analysis and using Bragg’s law, Eq. (1), the
interlayer spacing (d002) of each sample was calculated and listed
 S. Maroufi et al. / Waste Management 69 (2017) 110–116
Fig. 3. a) XRD and b) Raman spectra of rubber after carbonization in argon at 1550 °C.
Table 2
Crystallographic data of graphite structure in C, R and CR.
2theta d-spacing (Angstrom)
5s 24.9 3.6
5 min 25.3 3.5
10 min 25.3 3.5
20 min 25.4 3.5
in Table 2. The rubber carbon residue after heat treatment for 5 s,
showed the highest interlayer spacing value with approximately
3.6 Å. Heat treatment for longer periods of time resulted in slightly
decreasing values of interlayer spacing (d002) to 3.5, for residence
times up to 20 min.
The crystallite size (Lc) is another important factor that determi-
nes the crystallinity of the graphitic structure. The Lc value of each
sample (Lc) was calculated using Scherrer’s formula, Eq. (2). As
shown in Table 2, under the influence of longer residence times,
the crystallite in the carbon residue of rubber samples grew grad-
ually, while Lc value increased from 2.7 to 4.7 nm in carbon residue
of rubber after pyrolysis for 5 and 20 min, respectively.
0:1542
dhkl ¼ p

ð1Þ
2 sin h  180
0:1449 p
Lc ¼   cosðh Þ ð2Þ
FWHM 180
where h is the Bragg’s angle and FWHM is the peak broadening at
2h .
Various parameters have been suggested as indicative of the
degree of graphitization. Among which the most commonly used
index is the relative intensities of the G band (1585 cm1) and
the D band (1360 cm1), detected using Raman spectroscopy. The
D-band is associated with the vibration of the carbon atoms with
dangling bonds for the in-plane terminations of disordered gra-
phite. The G-band, however, corresponds to the E2g mode of gra-
phite and is related to the vibration of sp2 bonded carbon atoms
in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. As can be seen from
Raman spectra of carbon residue of rubber after heat treatment
for 5 s and 5 min (Fig. 3), the intensity of the G band is slightly
higher that the intensity of the D band. With increasing residence
time, the intensity of the D band increased, indicating that heat
treatment for a longer period of time resulted in a more defected
graphitic structure.
It is believed that the general trend of disorder and defect in the
structure is reflected in the increased value of interlayer spacing
obtained from XRD and the ratio of the D/G band intensities, as
per the Raman spectra. However, it should be noted that the
113
FWHM Crystallite size (Lc, nm)
5.2 2.7
3.4 4.1
3.1 4.6
3 4.7
weight of the different causes for disorder in both parameters is
significantly different, to the extent that some disorder factors
are reflected only on the interlayer spacing value d002, not on the
D/G band and some factors are reflected on the D/G band. It was
shown (Cheng et al., 2011) in some activated carbon that the D/G
value exhibits an increasing disorder in the structure, while no sig-
nificant change in d002 value is observed. In this study, with
increasing residence time, the interlayer spacing value changed
slightly, showing that disorder factors reflected only on D/G band
in Raman spectra, not on interlayer spacing value d002.
3.2. Morphology and physical structure
3.2.1. FE-SEM/EDS analysis
The morphology and physical structure of carbon are significant
factors and play key roles in determining the potential application
of these materials. The influence of heat treatment residence time
on the morphology of the carbon residue of rubber was studied
using FE-SEM. Fig. 4a–d shows the nano-structural features of
the carbon residue after pyrolysis for 5 s, 5, 10, and 20 min. As it
can be seen from Fig. 4, after thermal transformation at 1550 °C,
nano-spherical shaped carbons with diameters of approximately
30–40 nm were formed. With shorter pyrolysis times, bulk carbon
was still present, as shown in Fig. 4a. However, increasing the res-
idence time to 20 min resulted in a well homogenized nano-
spherical morphology of carbon residue, with less bulk carbon.
Although the size of CNPs did not vary significantly with increasing
time, more uniformity was observed in the nano-structural mor-
phology of the carbon residue. It should be noted that CNPs pre-
sented as a conglomeration and coalescence of spheres, which
could be attributed to the presence of reactive dangling bonds on
their surfaces which resulted in higher surface reactivity. The
extent of residence time, and the cooling rate, from synthesis to
room temperature were the parameters which affected this
phenomenon.
Fig. 5 shows TEM image of the synthesis CNPs. The observation
exhibits nanoparticles with diameter of 20–50 nm. An HR TEM
image and SAED (selective area electron diffraction) pattern of a
single particle is also shown in Fig. 5. As could be seen in the SAED
114 S. Maroufi et al. / Waste Management 69 (2017) 110–116

Fig. 4. FE-SEM image of rubber sample after heat treatment in argon at 1550 °C for a) 5 s, b) 5 min, c) 10 min, d) 20 min.

Fig. 5. a) TEM image of CNPs and b) HRTEM image/electron diffraction pattern (right side) of a single particle.

pattern, 3 rings are present from which the d-spacing values of
3.6 Å, 2.5 Å and 1.9 Å, corresponding to (0 0 15), (0 0 21) and
(0 1 8) plans of carbon were measured.
3.2.2. Surface area measurement
The nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms and BET surface
area of rubber carbon residue after thermal transformation at dif-
ferent reaction times is presented in Fig. 6. As it can be seen, as the
heat treatment time increased from 5 s to 20 min, the specific sur-
face area increased from 78.6 m2/g to 117.7 m2/g. The high surface
area obtained with the longer time, is attributed to the release of
oxygen-containing functional groups in the form of CO2 which in
turn attacks (i.e., oxidizes) the carbon to form CO according to
Boudouard reaction; this reaction favour the formation of higher
internal porosity. The porous structure of the carbon residue of
rubber after thermal transformation and its high surface matches
the requirements of many applications. Adsorption-desorption
pore diameter of the sample is in the range (5.9–6.6 nm) and the
resulting CNPs is considered a mesoporous material according to
the IUPAC classification of pores (Sing et al., 1985).
In all samples there were noticeable hysteresis loops, but they
were observed at high relative pressures (P/P0 above 0.9). At vapor
pressure, desorption isotherms steeply increased. By increasing the
residence time to 20 min, the volume of nitrogen adsorption
increased to almost 400 cm3/g.
3.3. Possible mechanism of nano-carbon particles formation
WTR contains a significant quantity of carbon black. The formed
nanoparticles are primarily believed to be carbonized carbon black
particles. However, the WTR also consists of other polymeric mate-
rials such as natural or synthetic rubber and styrene-butadiene co-
polymer. These polymeric materials also contribute to the forma-
tion of the carbon nanoparticles; they, like any other petroleum
product such as coal tar or synthetic pitch, consists primarily of
carbon and its processing by heat treatment in an inert
 S. Maroufi et al. / Waste Management 69 (2017) 110–116
Fig. 6. a) The nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms (left side) and b) BET surface area (right side) of rubber carbon residue obtained at different reaction time.
atmosphere, i.e., carbonization, usually results in a carbon with a
defined structure. In a general description of the carbonization of
rubber, the depolymerisation (or thermal cracking) of weak bonds
results in radicals and intermediates that react with the non-
volatile matter and with each other to form a complex mixture
of compounds with a wide range of molecular weight species.
Cyclization and aromatization are the most important reactions
that take place during carbonization, in which aliphatic com-
pounds form cyclic compounds that undergo dehydrogenation
reactions and form elementary aromatic compounds such as ben-
zene, toluene, and pyrrole. The de-alkylation and polycondensation
of these aromatics results in the formation of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and, eventually, in larger matrices of
graphene-like nano-sheets (GNs). These processes of depolymeri-
sation, cyclization, aromatization and polycondensation depend
predominantly on the nature of the precursor and heat treatment
conditions, such as temperature, heating rate, atmosphere, etc. In
most carbon precursors, all these processes occur between 300
and 500 °C. At temperatures below 500 °C, rubber melts instantly
and provides a liquid media for planar aromatic molecules to
arrange themselves and stack together forming nuclei (crystal
seeds).
In most carbon precursors such as petroleum and coal tar
pitches or synthetic resins, residual small molecular weight species
facilitate the growth of these seeds that reduce the viscosity of the
liquid media and, so, form more GNs. The subsequent build up on
the seeds forms large spheres called mesophase spherulites. The
mesophase is a liquid crystal phase that forms from highly oriented
GNs. The orientation of GNs in the mesophase makes them opti-
cally anisotropic materials when it is solid at room temperature.
As the orientation of GNs and the anisotropy of the mesophase is
retained even as a liquid, at melting point temperature, it is inter-
changeably called the ‘‘liquid crystal phase”. The mesophase was
first described by Brooks and Taylor (1965). Brooks and Taylor
summarized the phenomena saying; ‘‘Initially, the mesophase,
consisting of planar aromatic compounds of high molecular
weight, separates in the isotropic liquid as spherical droplets hav-
ing a considerable degree of molecular order, with the aromatic
sheets stacked in parallel array”.
The nucleation and formation of mesophase spherules from
plastics such as polypropylene and polyethylene have been inves-
tigated and confirmed (Cormia et al., 1962; Mileva et al., 2012).
Although rubber is structurally different, it is chemically similar
to these plastics and mesophase spherulites are believed to form
similarly in rubber. However, the high temperature and the fast
decomposition of rubber at 1550 °C limit the growth of mesophase
nuclei. As rubber comprises some oxygen-containing functional
115
groups, CO2 gas keeps evolving at high temperatures over a specific
period of time, which, in turn, oxidizes carbon and causes more
destruction of its structure (disorder in the structure of carbon
residue after heat treatment for the longer time periods could be
observed from Raman spectra (Fig. 3b)). The isotropic matrix (i.e.,
non-oriented molecules and GNs) is less stable in oxidizing atmo-
spheres, while mesophase-based anisotropic nuclei are relatively
more stable. As the reaction proceeds, the isotropic matrix decom-
poses and evolves completely leaving behind carbonized anisotro-
pic nuclei (i.e. carbon nanoparticles).
In the nucleation of mesophase spherules, the GNs which
formed such structures were most probably enclosed shells with
waving flakes that followed the curvature of the spherules nuclei,
creating many open edges at the surface (Nieto-Marquez et al.,
2011). It has been reported in the literature that this structures cre-
ates reactive ‘‘dangling bonds” that give the spheres a high chem-
ical activity, which would make them suitable candidates as
catalyst supports (Nieto-Marquez et al., 2009a,b, 2010), in nano-
composite materials (Sobkowicz et al., 2008), in energy storage
or for electrochemical applications (Electrical double layer capaci-
tors and an alternative energy storage device to secondary batter-
ies) (Yuan et al., 2008; Portet et al., 2007).
4. Conclusions
Nano-sphere carbon was synthesized via thermal transforma-
tion of WTR at 1550 °C. A special emphasis was paid on the struc-
ture and morphology of the resulting nano-carbons. The reaction
time increased from 5 s to 20 min, was found to result in more
defects in the structure of carbon which is attributed to the further
oxidation of carbon residues by CO2. Nano-spherical shaped car-
bons with diameters of approximately 30–40 nm were formed
which were present as accretion of spheres, not as discrete entities.
With increasing time, more uniformity was observed in the nano-
structural morphology of the carbon residue. With increasing res-
idence times, from 5 s to 20 min, the specific surface area increases
from 78.6 m2/g to 117.7 m2/g. This study generally lays the founda-
tions for the high temperature transformation of a waste tyre rub-
ber into value-added carbon nanomaterials; potentially a
technically and economically viable new solution for the growing
burden of waste tyres, worldwide.
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