Pyrolysis processes are used in the field of the thermal treatment of waste e.g. as a process unit in combination with a gasification or combustion unit realized in the RT21 process in Japan from Mitsui. Furthermore, pyrolysis processes are used for specially prepared waste fractions as a thermal pre-treatment unit, e.g. before a power station in the Con-Therm process in Germany or in the steel and cement industry. In principle there is also the possibility to use pyrolysis for the direct recycling of materials such as Plexiglass or plastics reinforced with carbon fibres. Rotary kilns are often used in the field of pyrolysis. The lumpy starting material is mixed due to the rotation of the rotary kiln. The energy for the pyrolysis can be given to the starting material indirectly, e.g. through radiant tubes from an external heater, to the rotary kiln wall or directly through a hot gas flow. The starting material is converted through the steps of drying, release and conversion of volatile components to a pyrolysis coke and pyrolysis gas. To optimize existing plants or to design new ones, mathematical models are important tools to minimize the experimental effort. In order to be able to describe the pyrolysis process in a rotary kiln using a mathematical model, the transport of the solid and the specific conversion processes dependent upon the construction parameters such as diameter and length of the rotary kiln as well as operating parameters such as angle of inclination, rotational frequency, throughput and course of the temperature over the length in the rotary kiln must be described. For process models which describe such processes in a reactor, it can usually be distinguished between a reactor model and a so-called basic model. The behavior of the solid in the reactor (residence time behavior) is described using the reactor model and the material and heat transfer as well as the conversion process with the help of the basic model. In the following, a mathematical model which considers on the one hand, the residence time behaviour and on the other hand the heat and material transfer mechanisms (basic model), including unsteady behaviour, is presented. This paper shows a mathematical model and its validation for an homogenous material, such as sand, without and with solid conversion of polyethylene and substitute fuels including the evaporation and drying process.
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