Characterisation and effect of using waste plastic oil and diesel fuel blends in compression ignition engine

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2010.10.049

Energy

Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 212-219

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.10.049 Get rights and content

Abstract

Plastics have now become indispensable materials in the modern world and application in the industrial field is continually increasing. The properties of the oil derived from waste plastics were analyzed and found that it has properties similar to that of diesel. Waste plastic oil (WPO) was tested as a fuel in a D.I. diesel engine and its performance characteristics were analysed and compared with diesel fuel (DF) operation. It is observed that the engine could operate with 100% waste plastic oil and can be used as fuel in diesel engines. Oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) was higher by about 25% and carbon monoxide (CO) increased by 5% for waste plastic oil operation compared to diesel fuel (DF) operation. Hydrocarbon was higher by about 15%. Smoke increased by 40% at full load with waste plastic oil compared to DF. Engine fueled with waste plastic oil exhibits higher thermal efficiency upto 80% of the full load and the exhaust gas temperature was higher at all loads compared to DF operation.

Research highlights

►This research work deals application of waste plastic oil in diesel engine. ►This research work deals replacement of diesel fuel for nation economy. ►From research work, waste plastic oil shows reduced emission characteristics. ►This research work deals replacement of waste plastics and reduced environmental pollution.

Introduction

Use of efficient diesel engines needs encouragement in future since they consume less fuel and significantly reduce potent green house gases like carbon dioxide. Ever increasing diesel consumption, large outflow of foreign exchange and concern for environment have prompted developing countries like India to search for a suitable environmental friendly alternative to diesel fuel. The countries have to simultaneously address the issues of energy insecurity, increasing oil prices and large-scale unemployment.

Viscosity affects the atomisation and vapourisation of fuel, volatility ensures even mixing of fuel with air and combustion process, which can potentially raise engine deposits, emissions and fuel consumption. Viscosity can be reduced by transesterification process, micro-emulsion, and dilution by blending with diesel and distillation process. These processes bring the viscosity closer to that of diesel. Blending is one of the techniques by which high viscous fuel is mixed with diesel fuel and used in diesel engines. In this context, waste plastic oil is currently receiving renewed interest. Their properties are closer to those of diesel except for viscosity. The main problems with the use of neat plastics oil in diesel engines are high smoke levels and relatively low thermal efficiency due to high viscosity and carbon residue as compared to diesel.

Section snippets

Waste plastic oil in diesel engines

Diesel engines are most preferred power plants in automobiles due to their excellent driveability and higher thermal efficiency. Despite their advantages, they emit high levels of NO_x and smoke that will have an effect on human health. Stringent emission norms have been imposed to control these pollutants [1]. On the other hand, due to the rapid growth of automotive vehicles in transportation sector, the consumption of oil keeps increasing. All the above factors resulting in the depletion of

Composition and properties of waste plastic oil

Waste plastic oil is a mixture of C₁₀–C₃₀ organic compounds. Waste plastic oil has lower calorific value and sulphur content compared to diesel. The major process parameters and product yields are given in Table 1. Waste plastic oil gives on weight basis 75% of liquid hydrocarbon, which is a mixture of petrol, diesel and kerosene, 5–10% residual coke and the rest is LPG. The properties of measured WPO, DWPO and diesel are compared in Table 2. The gaseous products and chemical composition of

Experimental work

The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. The specifications of test engine are given in Table 5. Diesel engine coupled to an electrical dynamometer loading. The fuel flow rate was measured on volumetric basis using a burette and a stopwatch. Chromel alumel thermocouple in conjunction with a digital temperature indicator was used to measure the exhaust gas temperature. The cylinder pressure was measured by installing a KISTLER type 7063-A, water cooled piezo–electric pressure transducer into

Results and discussion

The results obtained from the experimental investigations on the combustion, emission and performance parameters using diesel, WPO 10, WPO 30, WPO 50, WPO 70 and WPO are presented and discussed in this section. The results are compared with DF operation.

Conclusions

WPO exhibits a higher cylinder peak pressure compared to diesel because of evaporation of WPO inside the cylinder by absorbing heat from the combustion chamber. The heat release rate with WPO is higher compared to DF due to better combustion. With an increase in percentages of WPO, NO_x increases due to the higher heat release rate and combustion temperature. Hydrocarbon is higher for WPO due to higher quantity of fuel admission. Smoke for WPO increase by about 35%–40% throughout the load

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