Effect of diethyl ether in a DI diesel engine run on a tyre derived fuel-diesel blend

Abstract

In this investigation, the effects of adding small quantities of an ignition improver to a tyre derived fuel-diesel blend on the combustion, performance and emission parameters of a small powered, direct injection (DI) diesel engine have been evaluated. For this purpose, 40% light fraction pyrolysis oil (LFPO) obtained from a pilot level tyre pyrolysis plant blended with 60% diesel fuel, and designated as 40LFPO was used as a test fuel. The cetane number of 40LFPO was lesser than that of diesel, and hence, 1–4% Diethyl ether (DEE) was blended with it to improve the ignition quality. Four different 40LFPO-DEE blends denoted by X1, X2, X3 and X4 were tested in a single cylinder, four stroke, air cooled, DI diesel engine, with a developing power of 4.4 kW at 1500 rpm. The numeric value after the letter indicates the percentage of DEE in the blend. The experimental results were compared with those of diesel operation at different load conditions. The investigation results indicated that, the ignition delay was found to reduce with the 40LFPO blend as the percentage of DEE increased. The 4% DEE addition to 40LFPO (X4) gave better performance and lower emissions than those of X1, X2 and X3 at full load. The brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) of X4 was lower by about 6% than that of diesel operation at full load. The NO emission of X4 was lower by about 25% than that of diesel operation at full load.