In this work, the steam gasification of scrap tires was investigated as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to tire landfill disposal. Steam activation of the char derived from the tire residues of the gasification process was carried out at constant temperature and feeding ratio between gasifying agent and char, using different activation times (180 and 300 min). The complete characterization of all intermediate products of the processes, namely, raw material (tire), gasification products (char and syngas) and activation products (adsorbents, named Tirecarb), was performed. The adsorbents obtained from tire gasification were used to remove cadmium ions from aqueous solutions at 25 C and pH 7. The experimental results showed that the higher the activation time, the higher the cadmium adsorption capacity. Experiments were carried out under the same conditions using a conventional activated carbon, and additional comparisons with other experimental results on Cd(II) adsorption on low-cost sorbents available in the relevant literature are also reported. In both cases, Tirecarb was found to show the highest cadmium adsorption capacity. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

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