Characterization studies: waste plastic oil and its blends

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the basic properties of waste plastic oil (WPO), mixed plastics & tire oil, desulphurized WPO, distilled WPO and blends of WPO with diesel. The comparative analyses of various properties were done between all the categories of waste plastic fuels and diesel (ASTM D7467) standard fuels. Also, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) was employed to find the functional groups of tested fuels. The waste plastics were utilized for pyrolysis under 350–450°C with atmospheric pressure conditions. After obtaining oil from pyrolysis, it was processed with both desulphurization and distillation processes for removing sulfur and refining purpose. The results showed that the distilled products and their blends were more suitable for engine operations than raw oils. Moreover, the engine can run without modification using WPO, blends of WPO & its distilled products. But the engine performance and the emission were highly affected with virgin raw WPO & distilled WPO. This was because of higher density and viscosity, lower cetane number, larger sulfur content, and acid value. Also, FTIR spectra displayed similar peaks found from both diesel and other WPO samples which confirmed the similar functional groups being present in various WPOs.

KEYWORDS:

• Waste plastics oil
• tire oil
• desulphurization
• distillation
• FT-IR