Production of hydrogen-rich gases in the recycling process of residual carbon fiber reinforced polymers by pyrolysis

•H2 rich gases are produced in the pyrolysis of waste carbon composites.•The resin’s material value is recovered by thermal treatment of pyrolysis vapors.•Clean carbon fibers are obtained by optimized oxidation.•H2 rich gas generation improves on the current pyrolysis process. In this work, a novel method to valorize the polymeric matrix of residual carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) in the recycling process of carbon fibers by pyrolysis is presented. The experiments have been carried out with an expired epoxy-based pre-preg and in a lab-scale installation composed of two reactors. In the first one, pyrolysis and oxidation have been carried out, while in the second one, the gases and vapors resulting from the thermal decomposition of the polymeric resin have been thermally treated. The following operating parameters have been studied in the pyrolysis step: dwell time, the use of N2 (N2 flow, no N2 flow and not even to inert the reaction medium) and the solid bed material of the second reactor. In the oxidation step, temperature and time have been optimized by using the theory of experiments based on 2 k factorial design was used. It has been demonstrated that clean carbon fibers and a gaseous fraction with 75% by volume of H2 can be obtained. This is possible through a combined process of (1) CFRP thermal decomposition at 500 °C, (2) thermal treatment of gases and vapors at 900 °C in a solid bed tubular reactor filled with a waste refractory material and (3) oxidation of pyrolysis solid at 500 °C during 165 min in presence of 1.3 L air min−1.