Performance and emissions characteristics of tire pyrolysis oil in diesel engine: an experimental investigation

The consumption of fossil fuels has vastly increased in recent decades, despite rapidly depleting. The rate of tire degradation, on the other hand, is significantly lower than the rate of tire disposal per year. Tire pyrolysis oil (TPO) produced through the pyrolysis process can be used to substitute fossil fuels while also speeding up tire degradation. As a result, TPO blended with diesel can be a viable solution to the issues mentioned above. The primary focus of this research is to study the performance and emission characteristics of TPO blends from 10 to 100% without any modifications of diesel engines at varying speeds ranging from 1500 to 3500 rpm with 500 rpm increments. This study uses a four-stroke, single-cylinder, compression ignition (CI) engine to study the brake power, torque, specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, and emissions (NOx, CO2, HC, and CO). These diesel engine performance parameters are then compared between diesel fuel (DF) and various TPO blends of different concentrations. When the emissions are examined, it is observed that CO emissions are minimal at RPMs ranging from 1500 to 3000 with the maximum value of 0.035% vol but increase up to 0.055% vol as the rpm increases to the mark of 3500. DT20 (DF 80%, TPO 20%) has the lowest HC emissions of 18 ppm vol, with a progressive increase as the TPO percentage rises. CO2 emissions increase as the speed increases. Diesel fuel has the highest value for NOx of 675 ppm vol at 2000 rpm. Analyzing the performance characteristics of the CI engine for TPO blends, among other blends, DT10 (DF 90%, TPO 10%) offers the lowest specific fuel consumption of 245 g/kWh and the highest efficiency for moderate rpm. The DT10 has 1% and 7.2% higher brake power values at 3500 rpm when compared to DF and TPO, respectively. As a result, DT10 is recommended as a better alternative fuel in the diesel engine without any alteration.

Automated summary

The consumption of fossil fuels has been increasing rapidly while tire degradation has been notably slower than tire disposal. Tire pyrolysis oil (TPO) produced through the pyrolysis process can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels and also accelerate tire degradation. Blending TPO with diesel can be a viable solution to address these issues.