Reaction Pyrocalorimeter

We have designed and are building this facility to better understand and control the conversion of waste organic materials by pyrolysis into useful materials.  These wastes would include used tires, organic refuse, woody materials, and sewage sludge.

The RPC can monitor the formation of reaction products and their thermodynamic heats of reaction during pyrolysis at temperatures up to 800C (1,470F).  Materials can be stirred and/or sheared and the reaction carried out in vacuum or in adjusted atmospheres.

To our best knowledge, no such facility exists elsewhere.  There is outside interest in this instrument.  In our opinion, the selection of pyrolysis reaction conditions by others has been hit and miss.  Pick the wrong conditions and you can find yourself out-of-business due to impracticalities and cost of operation.  By adjusting reaction conditions, reaction products can be modified for particular purposes, e.g., more combustible gases.

RPC data lays out the operating conditions and the expectations for the various pyrolyzers built and tested at AER.  It is now being completed and should be operational this August.

Figure 1: Sectional Drawing

Figure 2: Photo of Partially Completed Instrument