Optimization of Engine Parameters and Ethanol Fuel Additive of a Diesel Engine Fuelled with Waste Plastic Oil Blended Diesel

Abstract

This work reports the optimization of engine parameters (including compression ratio and load) and the fuel additive blend (concentration of plastic oil and ethanol) of a single cylinder 4-stroke direct injection (DI) variable compression ratio (VCR) diesel engine with an objective to identify suitable engine conditions for better thermal efficiency and exhaust emission. For this the engine performance and emission parameters are experimentally evaluated at 1500 rpm constant engine speed, varying loads and compression ratios. The break thermal efficiency and emission quality is found improved by increasing load and compression ratio and by the addition of waste plastic oil (WPO) and ethanol with diesel. The best possible engine condition of load, compression ratio and fuel blend, for better performance and lesser emission have been optimized using Taguchi technique using the S/N ratio, ANOVA, and multivariate analyses results. The study revealed that higher compression ratio (18.1) and higher load (100%) give maximum brake thermal efficiency and lesser emissions for 20%WPO and 20% ethanol blended diesel. The optimized condition obtained in this study would provide a way to use the waste plastic oil as a sustainable alternate fuel in a diesel engine.