Liquefaction of autofluffs with product oils recycling

The resource recovery of autofluff (auto shredder residue) is of increasing importance as incineration and land filling become much more expensive and the acceptance of these methods is decreasing. Thus, the main purpose of this work was to investigate the feasibility of the autofluff liquefaction. The liquefaction process involves contacting the autofluff wastes with hot motor oil to recover valuable oil products. Experimentally, liquefaction of autofluff in hot used motor oil generated approximately 70.9% of oils, and 2.0% of noncondensible gases and 27.1% of nonliquefible solid residues. Proton NMR and FTIR spectroscopic data reveal the structural changes of oils that occur during autofluff liquefaction. The cuts of the condensate produced from the autofluff liquefaction into weighted boiling fraction are primarily light naphtha and heavy gas oil. Light naphtha is the main constituents of gasoline. Heavy gas oil may be re-refined into lighter products or sold as a low grade fuel oil.