An exploration of deriving fuel from end-of-life vehicle automotive shredder residue

Approximately, 500,000 end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are dismantled every year in Taiwan. The remaining 40-60 thousand tons of automotive shredder residue (ASR) that cannot be broken down or recycled are incinerated. To increase the percentage of ELV reuse and effectively recycle ASR, this study explored the production process of converting ASR into automotive shredder residue derived fuel (ASRDF). Results suggest that 190 degrees C heat and 160 kg/cm(2) compression are most effective. Four different combinations of pre-processing and additives were tested; all treatments effectively formed small, cylindrical products that had high density, low water content, and low moisture regain, which are all good qualities for storage and transport. During production, heat value reduced about 223-610 kcal/kg, and ash content increased about 1.41-12.01%. The products retained at least 5000 kcal/kg of heat value. Heavy metal leaching was significantly lower than local regulations. Ten tons of ASRDF was produced during this study, demonstrating the process that was developed in this study could be implemented and used as a reference for future mass production.