Performance combustion and emission characteristics of diesel engine using plastic oil and alumina nano additive

Abstract

Crude oil availability is a major concern all over the world because of geopolitical constraints. Further, the emissions from engines running on crude oil products are the major source of environmental issues. Hence, the scientific community is making significant research efforts to identify alternatives to crude oils that can effectively run internal combustion engines with reduced emissions. newlineOne of the most promising alternate fuels is pyrolysis oil. It is primarily produced from waste products, considering the production cost. Nowadays, plastics are one of the major sources of waste products. It is obvious that plastic waste also has severe environmental effects because of the disposal problems. While burning the plastic, it emits toxic chemicals and, more importantly, affects human health. On the other hand, compact discs (CDs) are a less harmful material, and recycling is easy because of their fewer moving parts. newlineIn this research, an attempt is made to investigate the performance and emission characteristics of direct injection diesel engine while using plastic oil, which is derived from CDs. Each CD has a 1-1.2 mm depth of polycarbonate coating on it. Polycarbonate is a main source for producing plastic oil. The pyrolysis process is used to produce plastic oil from CDs. newlineThe pyrolytic reactor is a furnace whose temperature is maintained at 450 750°C. Shredded CDs are well placed inside the reactor. After a period of tirne, the charged CDs start to evaporate which obviously produces hot gas, which can then be passed to the condenser setup. The oil cooled by the condenser can be collected in the small tank. It is found that 1 kg of CDs could yield 400 ml of oil. newline newline