Performance and emission study of a single cylinder diesel engine fuelled with <i>n</i>-octanol/WPO with some modifications

Abstract

This study aims at the effective utilisation of WPO in a light-duty, water-cooled, four-stroke, direct-injection diesel engine. For this purpose, WPO was extracted from mixed waste plastic via catalytic pyrolysis in a lab-scale extraction unit. Neat WPO is well known for its tailpipe carcinogenic smoke emissions, hence in this study WPO is blended with 30% by vol. of oxygenated, high carbon n-octanol derived from ligno-cellulosic biomass and tested under the influence of cold EGR and injection timing corresponding to peak load condition. With reference to diesel operation, it was found that n-octanol addition to WPO injected at 21° CA bTDC with 10% EGR simultaneously reduced smoke emissions by 46.8% and NOx emissions by 1.1% with almost equal brake specific energy consumption (BSEC). Reformulation of WPO with n-octanol derived from ligno-cellulosic biomass feedstock presents an attractive opportunity to utilise both a recycled and a renewable fuel in diesel engines.