Patent ID: 8888961

Claim:
A method of pyrolysis to recover the carbon black in steel-free tire shreds, comprising: introducing a carbonaceous feedstock consisting of steel-free tire shreds into a top portion of a vertical tray pyrolysis processor maintained at a generally neutral pressure, the processor comprising: a plurality of trays aligned with and supported by a rotating drive shaft; and a heating element providing radiative heat; heating the tire shreds to a temperature above about 790 ° F. to pyrolyze the tire shreds and form a plurality of solids and pyrolysis gasses; rotating the plurality of trays around the drive shaft; circulating pyrolysis gasses in the pyrolysis processor, the circulating pyrolysis gasses providing convective heat transfer to the solids to contribute to the maintenance in the solids of a generally uniform temperature, the pyrolysis gasses formed at trays positioned lower in the pyrolysis processor circulating upward to trays positioned higher in the pyrolysis processor; moving the solids from the top portion of the pyrolysis processor to a bottom portion thereof including dropping the solids from trays positioned higher in the pyrolysis processor to trays positioned lower in the pyrolysis processor, the dropping including contacting the solids with the pyrolysis gasses; removing carbon black from the bottom portion of the pyrolysis processor; and removing the pyrolysis gasses from the top portion of the pyrolysis processor.