Ignition Study of an Oxygenated and High-Alkene Light Petroleum Fraction Produced from Automotive Shredder Residues

Waste to energy is a key driver to achieve a clean and virtuous renewable cycle. Among others, the processes to convert organic matter in wastes from automotive residues, mainly composed of rubbers and foams [ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and polyurethane (PUR)1, polyolefin plastics [polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE)], styrenic plastics [acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polystyrene (PS)], and other thermoplastics [polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polycarbonate (PC)], into a liquid fuel are now reliable. This new, atypical, and uncharted fuel is expected to emit large levels of pollutants, bringing new challenges that must be resolved by the combustion community. Advanced combustion modes appear to be a solution to enhance the efficiency and cutoff the NOx and soot particle emissions. The present paper addresses the scarcity of experimental data by investigating the autoignition in a rapid compression machine. The pressure and temperature were swept from 10 to 20 bar and from 700 to 880 K, respectively, and the equivalence ratio was equal to 0.5. These conditions match with the homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode operating with exhaust gas recirculation, especially for the low to intermediate (intermediate to high) temperature (pressure). The studied fuel is the light fraction of the synthetic crude oil, described by high-alkene and high-oxygenate levels. Several specificities have been detected: a limited low-temperature reactivity and a low negative temperature coefficient. Combustion simulation will be carried out in further work to determine to what extent advanced combustion modes will play a role to achieve a clean combustion in a waste-to-energy perspective.