Direct answer
What percent oil, char and gas do you get?
On a dry basis, sorted polyolefins at 450–550 °C are an oil process (often 70%+ in clean lab feeds, 40–75% in plants). Tires are a three-product plant (~45 / 35 / 15 plus steel). Slow biomass and sludge are char-heavy. Batteries and asbestos are not oil processes — the “char” column is black mass or silicate residue.
| Feedstock | Technique | Temperature | Oil % | Char % | Gas % | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woody biomass | Slow | 400–600 °C | 20–35 | 30–40 | 25–40 | Char is the product |
| Woody biomass | Intermediate | 400–550 °C | 40–50 | 20–35 | 20–35 | Between slow and fast |
| Woody biomass | Fast | 450–550 °C | 50–75 | 10–20 | 10–25 | Small particles, short vapour |
| Woody biomass | Flash (lab) | 600–1000 °C | 60–80 | 5–15 | 10–20 | Not plant-typical |
| Untreated waste wood | Inventory mean | mixed | 41 ± 13 | 26 ± 10 | 33 ± 16 | 67 datasets, ACS 2024 |
| Wood-based composites | Inventory | mixed | higher N, ash 2.65% | — | — | 31 datasets; dirtier than UW |
| HDPE | Thermal | 450–550 °C | 70–93 | 0–10 | 5–20 | Random scission |
| LDPE | Thermal | 450–550 °C | 70–85 | 0–10 | 10–25 | Similar to HDPE |
| PP | Thermal | 450–550 °C | 70–92 | 0–10 | 5–20 | Often best oil among PO |
| PS / EPS | Thermal | 400–500 °C | 65–97 | 0–12 | 3–20 | Styrene-rich |
| PS microwave + KOH (lab) | MAP | rapid | up to 95 | ~1–7 | ~3–9 | Not a plant number |
| PET | Thermal | 400–510 °C | 25–40 | 15–40 | 25–52 | Prefer mechanical recycle |
| PVC | Thermal | 300–500 °C | 5–15 | 10–25 | 50–80 | HCl. Do not co-feed raw |
| Mixed PE/PP plant feed | Thermal | ~500 °C | 40–75 | 5–20 | 10–30 | Contamination cuts oil |
| Mixed PE/PP/PS/PET/PVC lab | Batch | 450 °C | ~79 | ~3 | ~18 | 500 °C: oil falls, gas rises |
| ELTs steel-free (typical) | Auger / kiln | 450–600 °C | 40–50 | 30–40 | 10–20 | TSA 2024 |
| Whole tyre (with steel) | Auger / kiln | 450–600 °C | 35–45 | 25–35 + 15% steel | 8–17 | Steel is a fourth stream |
| Truck tires, 4 vs 400 kg/h auger | Auger profile 450/550/775 | 15 min solids, 30 s vapour | 41.5–43.7 | 40.5–41.5 | 16.2–17.6 | Energy & Fuels 2024 |
| Pyrum industrial | Moving bed, electric | 500–750 °C | ~35 | ~45 rCB | ~20 | Green Chem. 2025 |
| Vacuum tires | Vacuum | 350–400 °C | 45–55 | 30–35 | 10–15 | +10–15% steel |
| ELT literature span | Many | various | 29–66 | 24–46 | 4–21 | Why “typical” is a band |
| Biosolids | Continuous bench | 500 °C | ~40 | ~40 | ~20 | Bamdad 2022 |
| Biosolids | Continuous bench | 700 °C | ~33 | ~30 | ~37 | Gas doubles vs 500 °C |
| PYREG / Pyrolis class | Auger carboniser | ~600 °C + gas ≥950 °C | oil usually oxidised | biochar ~25–40 of DS | process heat | Autothermal after dry |
| LIB electrolyte | Vacuum / low-T | 100–300 °C | solvents recovered or flared | cells remain | VOC | Avoid HF via vacuum |
| PVDF binder | N2 pyrolysis | 450–700 °C | fluorinated organics peak ~500 | black mass | HF, CxFy | Scrub to CaF2 |
| NCA cells → water leach Li | Ar pyrolysis | 600 °C, 120 min | n/a | black mass | organics | 63.6% Li water-leach |
| NMC black mass carbothermal | N2, inherent C | 550–630 °C, 60 min | n/a | reduced BM | CO/CO2 | ~63% Li at pH ~7 |
| Cement-asbestos | Calcination | 900–1100 °C | 0 | ~75 residue | ~25 H2O/CO2 | Not pyrolysis oil |
What moves a number
- Moisture is not oil. Dry the feed or you will count water in the liquid bucket.
- Ash and steel report to solids. Tires without a steel line will look “high char”.
- Vapour residence time is the silent oil killer. A hot freeboard after 500 °C solids will crack oil to gas.
- Heating rate — slow favours char; fast favours liquid if you quench.
- Catalysts (ZSM-5, FCC, CaO) usually raise gas and cut oil while improving oil quality (more aromatics, less wax).
- Co-pyrolysis (tire+PP, biomass+plastic) is not a linear blend. Hydrogen from polyolefins can lift biomass oil quality; PP in tires can raise char in some reports.