Investigation of performance, emission, combustion characteristics of municipal waste plastic oil fueled diesel engine with nano fluids

Plastic wastes are found to be a serious threat creating adverse environmental effects. Due to an increase in population, plastic wastes have been found to increase and so there is a need to reduce them effectively. The present work deals with the investigation of performance, combustion and emission characteristics of Municipal Waste Plastic Oil 20% blend (MPO20) fueled diesel engine with aluminium oxide, cobalt oxide, and manganese oxide nanofluids and the results have been compared with diesel fuel. Plastic oil was prepared by means of the pyrolysis process for which the fuel properties, fatty acid composition through Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and presence of functional compounds using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) have been estimated. Experimental trials were performed in a four-stroke, single-cylinder and constant speed diesel engine with a compression ratio of 17.5:1. Aluminium oxide was synthesized by the sol-gel method, manganese dioxide by co-precipitation method and cobalt oxide by chemical method. The characterization of the prepared nanoparticles has been carried out through (SEM) scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) and FTIR techniques. The nanofluids were prepared by dissolving nanoparticles in toluene and blended with MPO20 using Tween 20 surfactant in ultrasonicator. The increase in surface area to volume ratio improved the ignition properties of the fuel due to the addition of nanoparticles. The addition of nanofluids with municipal waste plastic oil blend leads to an increase in (BTE) brake thermal efficiency and a decrease in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC). The experimental findings reveal that the inclusion of nanofluids reduced hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and increased NOx emissions than MPO20. The catalytic combustion of nanoparticles in the nanofluids enhances the combustion, which in turn enhanced the peak cylinder pressure and heat release rate compared to diesel.