Investigation in PO blending and compression ratio on engine performance and gas emissions including environmental...

Waste management and mitigation is the primary necessity across the globe. The daily use of plastic materials in different forms emergence the plastic pollutions, and it has been significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, mitigation of waste plastics generation is one of the major challenges in the present situation. The present study addressed the conversion of waste plastics into value-added products such as liquid hydrocarbon fuels and their application in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A comprehensive investigation has been performed on engine performance and combustion characteristics at various compression ratios and PO blending. The effect of liquid fuel blending with commercial diesel was investigated at three different compression ratios (15.1, 16.2, and 16.7) under various BMEP conditions. The results revealed that blending of liquid fuel produced from waste plastic can improve the BTE significantly, and the highest 35.77% of BTE was observed for 10% blending at 15.1 CR. While the lowest BSFC of 5.77 × 10^-5 kg/kW-s was estimated for 20% PO blending at 16.7 CR under optimum BMEP (4.0 bar) conditions. The investigation of combustion parameters such as cylinder pressure, net heat release rate, rate of pressure rise, and cumulative heat release showed that it increases with the compression ratio from 15.1 to 16.7. At the same time, the emissions of CO, CO₂, and unburnt hydrocarbon was decreased significantly. The economic analysis for the present lab-scale study estimated that approximately ₹12.17 ($0.15) profit per liter is possible in the 1st year, while the significant profit starts from the 2nd year onward, which is in the range of ₹59.78-₹84.48 ($0.75-$1.07) when the PO is blended with CD within the permissible limits as per the norms.