EFFECT OF ETHANOL-ADDED ALTERNATIVE FUEL DERIVED FROM WASTE INJECTORS ON DIESEL ENGINE PERFORMANCE AND EMISSIONS

In this study, new fuel blends were prepared by blending a high-boiling-point hydrocarbon mixture obtained through the thermal pyrolysis of waste plastic injectors with ethanol and diesel fuel. The effects of these blends on engine performance and exhaust emissions were then investigated in a diesel engine. In this context, waste plastic injector pyrolysis oil (WPPO) was blended with standard diesel fuel (SDF) at two different ratios to prepare blended fuels, namely, WPPO10 (10% WPPO + 90% SDF by volume) and WPPOE10 (10% WPPO + 10% ethanol + 80% SDF). In the experimental study, first the neat diesel fuel, then the WPPO10 and WPPOE10 blended fuels were tested in a diesel engine, and the obtained data were compared. Considering the average of all engine speeds, it was observed that the engine running on WPPO10 and WPPOE10 blended fuels decreased torque, power, and NOx emissions compared to SDF, while brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), CO2, CO, and HC emissions increased. Furthermore, as a result of the improvement in combustion characteristics achieved by adding ethanol to the blended fuel, CO, HC, and NOx emissions decreased by 17.54%, 27.78%, and 13.33%, respectively, while CO2 emissions increased by 9.01% in the engine running on WPPOE10 compared to WPPO10 fuel. In conclusion, it was determined that the addition of alcohol to pyrolysis fuel makes a positive contribution to reducing environmental impacts, with respect to recycling waste plastics and utilizing the pyrolysis oil obtained from these wastes as an alternative fuel in diesel engines.