The development of a gasification process for automobile shredder residues

The automobile manufacturing has been one of the leading industries in Korea and the number of the end of life vehicles (ELVs) produced annually was about 550,000 in 2006. While handling ELVs, Automobile Shredder Residue (ASR) is generated from shredding facilities, whose recycling rate must be increased up to 95% of a new vehicle by upcoming regulation soon. In recent attempts to survey and compare various techniques to treat ASR with better recycling rate and public image, thermal methods such as pyrolysis, gasification and melting were suggested. Gasification and melting technology are operated at high temperatures with high destruction of hazardous components and the production of gases, mainly CO and H₂, which can be utilized as fuel gas or raw chemicals after cleaning. After studying on the characteristics of gasification for ASR in lab-scale furnaces, the pilot-scale plant of vertical furnace type with a capacity of 5 tons per day was designed and constructed, and some preliminary data are under collection. Gasification-melting technology are operated in high temperature more than 1000°C. This presentation will include some basic characteristics of ASR including thermal properties, some results from lab-scale experiment, and the brief introduction to pilot scale plant including main features and design considerations. The development team will utilize this developed technology to scale up to a commercial plant at either a shredding factory or an automobile manufacturing company with other dismantling and sorting processes as the next stage of project.