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Derivation of synthetic fuel from waste plastic: investigation of engine operating characteristics on DI diesel engine

  • Environmental and Energy Management
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Abstract

The utilization of plastic in day to day life is ever-increasing and has generated a large amount of plastic garbage that needs proper disposal to save the environment from harmful pollution. The plastic waste management becomes a pressing concern in the present scenario in developing countries like India. This research article evaluates the potential of synthetic fuel (SF) derived from waste plastics collected from the local shops. In this current investigation, the SF blends are tested in a direct injection diesel engine to analyze the performance and emission characteristics of the engine. Three different blends were made namely SF20, SF40, and SF60 on a volumetric basis and the tests were carried out. From the experimental results, it was found that brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of the fuel blends was reduced as compared with neat diesel operation regardless of loads whereas SF20 showed a similar trend as that of diesel operation. The analysis of the emission characteristics revealed that the SF20 blends reduced dangerous smoke and carbon monoxide emission as compared with other test fuels. From the overall results, SF20 showed superior performance and emission aspects as compared with other SF blends whereas the engine operated smoothly up to 60% of SF blending at all loading conditions.

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Abbreviations

BMEP:

brake mean effective pressure

NOx :

oxides of nitrogen

CV:

calorific value

CO:

carbon monoxide

BTE:

brake thermal efficiency

HC:

hydrocarbon

BSFC:

brake specific fuel consumption

CO2 :

carbon dioxide

TF:

test fuel

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India

    Sakthivel Rajamohan & Sidharth Suresh

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, India

    Joseph John Marshal

Authors
  1. Sakthivel Rajamohan
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  2. Joseph John Marshal
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  3. Sidharth Suresh
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Correspondence to Sakthivel Rajamohan.

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Rajamohan, S., Marshal, J.J. & Suresh, S. Derivation of synthetic fuel from waste plastic: investigation of engine operating characteristics on DI diesel engine. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 11976–11987 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08625-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08625-3

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