Experimental studies and cfd analysis on the performance emission and combustion characteristics of the ci engine fuelled with waste plastic oil and diesel blends

Abstract

The extensive depletion rate coupled with tremendous utilization of non-renewable sources are attributed to aggravate scarcity for future energy demands. This scarcity and environmental pollution by combustion of fossil fuels are the major reasons for pursuing research in alternative fuels. On the other hand, plastic waste creates various negative issues around the world. Many techniques are being practiced to extract the energy from sources like waste plastics and tire scraps, among which thermal pyrolysis was found to be the most appropriate and efficient technique. Keeping these in mind, the present work was focused on fuel, being extracted from waste plastic, by using thermal pyrolysis method. The household plastic wastes were collected and mixed in proportions of 60 wt % of high-density polyethylene and 40 wt % of polypropylenes. Before pyrolysis, the collected waste plastics were cleaned properly to remove any foreign materials for avoiding unwanted reactions during degradation. The plastics were cut into small pieces of sizes between 10 mm to 15 mm. Pyrolytic process was carried out between 350°C to 450°C, with a residence time of 90 minutes. After obtaining the oil using the pyrolysis process, it was subjected to distillation process for elimination of Sulphur content and further refinement. Also, pyrolysis oil obtained from the tyre was mixed with waste plastic oil in the ratio 1:1. As the tyre oil possessed excess carbon and sulphur content, the oil mixture was made to undergo the desulphurization process. The extracted oil was subjected to comparative analyses for evaluation of various properties such as calorific value, flash point, fire point, density, kinematic viscosity, carbon residue, acid value, ash content and sulphur content between all the categories of waste plastic fuels and diesel (ASTM D7467) standard fuels. Also, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) was used for the identification of functional groups of the prepared fuels. The results indicated that the distilled products and