Experimental study on a computerised VCR diesel engine running on oil made by pyrolyzing waste plastic using Red mud as a catalyst

In recent years handling plastic waste in an eco-friendly manner is a topic of interest all over the world. Few handling methods such as incineration and landfilling have been already tried however they cause Sevier impacts on the environment. Pyrolysis of waste plastic is an environmentally friendly method of handling plastics. The plastic waste can be reformed into hydrocarbon fuel through the pyrolysis process and utilized in Internal combustion engines to produce power and heat. Previous studies have shown that plastic oil made through the pyrolysis method has characteristics that are comparable to those of regular diesel oil; as a result, CI engines may run on plastic oil blends without requiring any engine modification. In the present work, single-use plastic waste was successfully converted into liquid hydrocarbon fuel via Red mud-assisted catalytic pyrolysis. Experiments were conducted on a batch-type pyrolysis reactor by fixing the catalyst-to-feedstock ratio as 0.1. The crude oil obtained was fractionated at a temperature of 150 degrees C and examined the fuel properties and compared against diesel. Tests were conducted on a computer-aided VCR DI Diesel engine operating with blends of waste plastic oil (10%,20%, and 30% by vol.) and investigated the combined effect of blending ratio and compression ratio on performance, combustion, and emission characteristics. Results indicated that brake power and brake thermal efficiency and BSFC are slightly improved for the test fuel D80PO20 compared to diesel and other blends of waste plastic oil. Furthermore, CO, CO2, NOx, and HC emissions are found to increase with the increase in blending ratio. Based on the performance and emission analysis, the test fuel D80PO20 was identified as the best blend to substitute the diesel.