Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 951956

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

A detailed study of combustion characteristics of a DI diesel engine using

waste plastic oil and its blends
Viswanath K. Kaimal , P. Vijayabalan
Department of Mechanical Sciences, Hindustan University, Chennai, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 2 May 2015
Accepted 17 August 2015
Available online 5 September 2015
Keywords:
Plastic Oil
Diesel engine
Combustion
Ignition delay
Heat release

a b s t r a c t
An experimental investigation was carried out to assess the effects of using plastic oil in a DI diesel
engine. Plastic oil was synthesized from plastic waste, collected from municipal landfill areas, by pyrolysis process. PO25 (25% plastic oil and 75% diesel in volume), PO 50 and PO75 blends were prepared using
plastic oil and the reference diesel fuel. In this present work the combustion characteristics of a constant
speed diesel engine were studied under variable loading conditions. The results indicate that the thermal
efficiency of all blends and neat plastic oil is lower than diesel at all loading conditions. At full load, the
peak cylinder pressure, heat release, combustion duration and ignition delay of plastic oil and its blends
were higher than that of diesel. The peak pressure of the engine running on neat plastic oil was increased
by about 6% but it showed poor thermal efficiency. Based on test results it can be noticed that the combustion characteristics are greatly affected by the physical properties of the fuel.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Compression ignition engines have been dominating the world
ever since Rudolf Diesel introduced it in 1910. Diesel engines
became increasingly popular because of their high thermal efficiency, durability and robust construction. In spite of these advantages they produce very high levels of PM, Smoke and NOX, which
creates environmental and health issues. Moreover, the high
demand and lavish consumption have led to the depletion of fossil
fuel reserves. So strict emission standards has been enforced. This
issue together with rapid depletion of petroleum sources necessitated the need for an alternate and clean energy source [14].
Plastics have become an imperative commodity nowadays. It
has become highly popular in short time because of their
unmatched usability, wide range of application and ease of production. Plastics are basically manufactured from petroleum products
and are made of long hydrocarbon chains. These contain lots of
additives such as coloring agents, anti-oxidants and stabilizers
[5,6]. High density polyethylene is highly used plastic commodity
after poly vinyl chloride (PVC) and polypropylene (PP) [7]. The
huge demand for plastic has created a large amount of waste plastic and they pose a serious threat to the environment because of
their disposal problems. According to a survey carried out in India
in 2012 indicates nearly 5.6 million tonnes of plastic waste is
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: viswanathk89@gmail.com (V.K. Kaimal).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.08.043
0196-8904/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

generated annually. Out of this 60% is recycled that means a staggering 6500 tonnes of plastic waste is going as landfills per day.
Pyrolysis process is one of the promising techniques for the conversion of mass to energy. Studies indicate that pyrolysis yields
hydrocarbons similar to that in petroleum fuels in liquid form as
major product [8,9]. In pyrolysis process, the plastic materials are
cracked by heating to lower molecular weight products, which
can be useful as an energy resource [10]. The basic process of
pyrolysis involves the thermal decomposition of long chained
hydrocarbon structure into smaller ones at high temperatures
[11]. Generally the temperature required is in the range of
500700 C and it is hard to maintain such high temperature during the reaction [12]. So in order to carry out the reaction at low
temperature catalysts are used. Calcium Oxide (CaO), Silica
(SiO2), Alumina (Al2O3) and Zeolite are the most commonly used
catalyst and it helps to reduce the temperature requirement for
the completion of the reaction [13].

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Combustion characteristics
It is important to study the nature of combustion of a fuel in IC
engine since it directly indicates the performance and affects the
resilience of the engine. The important parameters used to study
the quality of combustion are in-cylinder pressure, heat release
rate, ignition delay and combustion duration [14]. Latest studies

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V.K. Kaimal, P. Vijayabalan / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 951956

in energy fuels show that while using alternate fuels with higher
viscosity and low volatility, the cylinder pressure, diffusion combustion rate and maximum heat release increased considerably
[15,16]. The cylinder pressure of the engine can be obtained
directly using a pressure transducer and the remaining parameters
can be estimated from the pressure values. The first law of thermodynamics is used to calculate the heat release rate with Eq. (1)

dQ =dh c=c  1pdV=dh 1=c  1Vdp=dh

where dQ =dh is the rate of heat release J= CA, p is the cylinder pressure in Pa, c is the specific heat ratio, V is combustion chamber volume in m3, h is crank angle in degrees.
And cumulative heat release is estimated by Eq. (2)

Z
dQ

c=c  1pdV 1=c  1Vdp

Recent combustion studies done on alternate fuels indicate that

while using high viscous fuel the combustion is delayed resulting
in higher peak pressure and heat release rate [1720]. For part load
conditions, fuels with lower calorific value gives lower rate of heat
release and pressure [21]. Studies also point out that the ignition
delay for all fuels decreases with increase in cylinder temperature
and pressure [22]. Most of the work carried out using plastic and
tyre pyrolysis oil are in utilizing them in marine applications to
reduce the viscosity of heavy oil, but only a handful has been carried out to analyze their utilization in compression ignition engines
[23]. Literature also suggest that, diesel engines run on plastic oil
gives stable performance and almost similar efficiency [2426].
So in this present work, a detailed investigation is carried out to
study the combustion characteristics of waste plastic oil and its
blends with diesel in a diesel engine and to evaluate its potential
as an alternate fuel for high speed compression ignition engines.
2.2. Plastic oil synthesis by pyrolysis
In this study the waste plastic collected from the municipal disposal area is sorted out and cut into small chips (0.51 cm2). These
plastic chips were then washed to remove impurities and dried in
the oven till the moisture content is completely removed. The process was carried out in a cylindrical reaction chamber of 40 cm
diameter and 60 cm height. The input feed consists of sized plastic
chips, 10% by weight coal and 1% by weight of Silica catalyst. The
temperature inside the reactor was maintained in the range of
350400 C with the help of temperature controller. The reaction
was carried out for 4 h at atmospheric pressure. Pyrolysis process
yielded plastic oil (80% by weight of input), solid coke residue
(15% by weight) and gaseous fractions which is a mixture of propylene, iso butane, ethane and small amounts of methane (5% by
weight). The basic composition of plastic pyrolysis oil is given in
Table 1. All the gaseous products from this process either condensed to liquids and non-condensable products are treated by
passing it through the water chamber before it is let out. Most of
the toxins are either burned out in the lack of oxygen or reduced
in the presence of a catalyst. The properties of diesel and plastic
oil are given in Table 2.

Table 2
Properties of plastic oil and diesel.
Properties

Diesel

Plastic oil

Specific gravity (g/cc)

Kinematic viscosity (cSt) at 40 C
Calorific value (kJ/kg)
Cetane number
Flash point (C)
Fire point (C)

0.84
2.15
43,500
54
45
48

0.83
2.64
44,200
50
40
44

2.3. Experimental setup

The experiment was conducted on a single cylinder, direct
injection, water cooled diesel engine generating 3.7 kW at 1500
rated RPM. The graphic representation of the test setup is shown
in Fig. 1 and the engine specifications in Table 3.
The engine was electrically loaded with a rheostat and to detect
the engine crank angle a TDC (Top Dead Center) encoder was used.
A pressure pickup was fixed on the cylinder to record the pressure
signals from the transducers. A digital online data acquisition system was used to feed these data to the computers with the help of
KISTLER amplifier. All tests were conducted at rated speed of
1500 RPM and an injection pressure of 180 bar with injection starting at 23 before TDC. Tests were carried out for diesel fuel, neat
plastic oil and the blends PO25, PO50, PO75, and PO100. The engine
was started using the reference fuel and was switched to plastic oil
after attaining steady state. The engine was again run on diesel fuel
at the end of the experiment to remove the oil from the fuel line.
3. Estimation of uncertainty
Ambiguities and uncertainties are to be estimated while conducting an experimental analysis. These inaccuracies may arise
due to environmental factors, errors in calibration of instruments,
human errors while observation and reading. The uncertainty values of measured parameters were estimated from the range and
accuracy of instruments and are shown in Table 4. In order to get
more accurate uncertainty limits for computed parameters the
principle of root sum square method was used and it is given by
Eq. (3).

Table 1
Basic composition of plastic oil.
Components

Percentage

C10
C10C15
C15C20
C20C25
C25C30

66.3
4.4
12.7
8.2
8.4

Fig. 1. Experimental setup.

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953

Table 3
Engine specifications.
Type

Single cylinder, 4 stroke, water cooled, DI diesel

engine

Bore (mm)
Stroke (mm)
Rated power at 1500 RPM
(kW)
Compression ratio
Injection pressure (bar)
Start of injection

87.5
110
3.7
16.5:1
180
23 before TDC

v
u n
uX
R t X 2i

i1

where R is the total percentage of uncertainty and Xi is the individual uncertainty of computed parameters. Using Eq. (3) the total percentage uncertainty of computed parameters were calculated and
given below

Fig. 2. Cylinder pressure vs crank angle.

q
X 21 X 22 X 23 X 24 X 25
q
R 12 :42 12 :12 :22

R 1:48%
X1 is % uncertainty in total fuel consumption, X2 is % uncertainty in
brake power, X3 is % uncertainty in brake thermal efficiency, X4 is %
uncertainty in pressure measurement, X5 is % uncertainty in heat
release rate.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Cylinder pressure
Fig. 3. Peak pressure vs brake power.

Fig. 2 presents the deviations in cylinder pressure at full load

with respect to crank angle for diesel, plastic oil and its blends.
The peak cylinder pressure for diesel is 67 bar at full load. Peak
pressure is 67 bar for PO25, 68 bar for PO50, 69 bar for PO75 and
71 bar for PO100. The peak pressure increases with the amount
of blend fraction. The higher cylinder pressure for neat PO (5.9%
more than diesel) is because of its higher viscosity which increases
the delay period. The longer delay period results in high fuel concentration during pre-mixed combustion phase. This increases the
rate of combustion which causes a rapid rise of pressure during
pre-mixed combustion period. The lower viscosity of diesel allows
it form more air fuel mixture than the blends which can be noticed
from the advance in the start of combustion as indicated in Fig. 2.
Higher cetane number, higher oxygen content and higher calorific
value of the plastic oil results in higher cylinder pressure and heat
release rate than diesel.
4.2. Peak cylinder pressure
Fig. 3 shows variations in the peak cylinder pressure of the
engine running on diesel and PO blends at various loads. It can

Table 4
Calculated uncertainty values of instruments.
Sl. no.

Measuring instrument

Percentage uncertainty

1
2
3
4
5
6

Fuel measuring burette

Manometer
Loading indicator
Pressure transducer
TDC encoder
RPM indicator

1
0.033
05
0.1
0.25
05

be noticed that the peak pressure has increased steadily with blend
fraction. For diesel the peak pressure varies from 56 bar at no load
to 67 bar at maximum load. For PO blends it increases from 57 bar
to 67 bar for PO25, 57 bar to 68 bar for PO50, 58 bar to 69 bar for
PO75 and 58 bar to 71 bar for PO100. The peak pressure for all fuels
increase with load, the reason for this is at higher loads additional
fuel is sprayed into the cylinder causing a high rate of combustion.
Peak pressure for plastic oil and the blends are more than diesel,
this is due to the higher viscosity of plastic oil resulting in poor
atomization which delays the start of premixed combustion and
increases the combustion rate considerably after the delayed start
[2729].

4.3. Net heat release rate

The heat release for plastic oil blends and diesel at full load is
illustrated in Fig. 4. It can be noticed that the combustion of diesel
starts in advance compared to plastic oil blends. The maximum
heat release for diesel is 85 J/CA whereas for blends it increases
from 115 J/CA for PO25, 130 J/CA for PO50, 135 J/CA for PO75
and 147 J/CA for PO100. Because of the higher calorific value
and more oxygen content in the plastic oil, the maximum heat
release is increased considerably for plastic oil and its blends.
The combustion of plastic oil blends was delayed by almost
34 CA than diesel at all loads, depending on the blend fraction
and this delay is because of the higher viscosity of the blends.
The heat release rate of the blends shows a similar trend where
the maximum heat release is obtained at the same crank angle
except for PO100 this is because of its higher viscosity increasing

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V.K. Kaimal, P. Vijayabalan / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 951956

Fig. 4. Heat release rate vs crank angle.

Fig. 6. Ignition delay vs brake power.

premixed combustion). At full load the delay period of neat plastic

oil is 11 CA which is higher than all other fuels because of its
higher viscosity. The delay period for diesel at full load is 7 CA
and for blends it is 7.5 CA, 9.5 CA, 10 CA for PO25, PO50 and
PO75 respectively. The lower cetane number and higher viscosity
of the blends results in poor atomization which in turn affects
the proper mixing of air and fuel increasing the delay period. The
gas temperature inside the combustion chamber increases at
higher loads, as more fuel is injected to get the extra power
required. The higher temperature increases the vaporization of fuel
resulting in the reduction of delay period as indicated in Fig. 6.
4.6. Combustion duration
Fig. 5. Cumulative heat release rate vs crank angle.

the time for preparing the fuel air mixture. The negative region in
the beginning of the plot is due to the evaporation of injected fuel,
which is followed by premixed combustion, where most of the air
fuel mixture undergoes rapid burning releasing high amount of
heat.
4.4. Cumulative heat release
The total heat released during a single combustion cycle is termed as cumulative heat release. As illustrated in Fig 5, cumulative
heat release is higher for PO100 compared to other fuels including
diesel. The reason for this is the higher heating value of the plastic
oil. The maximum cumulative heat release is 990 J, 696 J, 810 J,
815 J and 1132 J for diesel, PO25, PO50, PO75 and neat PO respectively. Higher heat release of neat plastic oil during the premixed
combustion period is because of the availability of more combustible air fuel mixture. The reduced heat release of blends during
the second stage of combustion is because of their improper mixing and lower cetane number.

Combustion duration is estimated from the cumulative heat

release curve. It is the time taken from start of combustion to the
point where 90% of heat is released. Fig. 7 depicts the variation
of combustion duration for all fuels at varying loads. It can be
noted that with increase in load the combustion duration has
increased considerably for all fuels. The reason for this is that, at
higher loads the additional power is obtained by injecting more
fuel than at lower loads. Because of the high viscosity of neat plastic oil, more fuel air mixture is accumulated during the diffusion
combustion phase increasing the combustion duration than other
fuels. The combustion duration changes from 30 CA at no load
to 36 CA at maximum load for diesel. For blends it varies from
33 CA to 38 CA for PO25, 35 CA to 41 CA for PO50 and 36 CA
to 44 CA for PO75. For neat plastic oil combustion duration at no
load is 37 CA and 46 CA at full load.

4.5. Ignition delay

The time taken by the fuel to start the combustion after complete injection of fuel is defined as the ignition delay period. A
comparison of changes in ignition delay with increasing load is
shown in Fig. 6. As depicted in Fig. 6, the ignition delay decreases
as load is increased. Ignition delay is determined from the heat
release curve by considering the SOC as the point of deflection
(where HR value changes from negative to positive due to

Fig. 7. Combustion duration vs brake power.

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955

Even though the engine was able to run on neat plastic oil,
blend PO25 shows better and compatible results than other blends
when compared to diesel fuel. So a 25% plastic oildiesel blend can
be considered as an effective replacement for diesel in compression
ignition engines without any alterations.

References

Fig. 8. Brake thermal efficiency vs brake power.

4.7. Brake thermal efficiency

Fig. 8 depicts the brake thermal efficiency variations for all fuels
with increasing load. The highest thermal efficiency noted is
31.46%, which is obtained from diesel at full load. In the case of
blends, PO25, PO50 and PO75 shows brake thermal efficiency of
30.07%, 29.17% and 28.26% respectively. When using neat plastic
oil the thermal efficiency of the engine reduced to 27.35%. The
presence of heavier hydrocarbon chains (C15C30) increases viscosity, density and volatility of plastic oil. Also, more energy is
required to break the higher aromatic bonds which causes the
reduction in thermal efficiency of the engine. The higher the blend
fraction the lower the thermal efficiency. Also the higher calorific
value of plastic oil generates high heat release during combustion
causing higher heat losses which reduces the thermal efficiency of
the engine [30].

5. Conclusion
The combustion characteristics of plastic oil and its blends in a
diesel engine were studied. The following conclusions are drawn
based on the experimental investigation conducted on a constant
speed single cylinder 4 stroke diesel engine. The results are presented for neat plastic oil and its blends and are compared with
the reference fuel.
 The in cylinder pressure and peak pressure of engine while
using plastic oil and its blends are higher than diesel. The main
reason for this is the higher viscosity of plastic oil increasing the
ignition delay causing more peak pressure.
 The higher calorific value and more oxygen content in the plastic oil increases the heat release rate considerably than diesel
and it reduces with reduction in blend fractions. The cumulative
heat release is also higher of plastic oil and its blends when
compared to diesel. Higher heat release for neat plastic oil during the premixed combustion phase is because of the presence
of more air fuel mixture.
 Ignition delay for diesel is less when compared to blends and
neat plastic oil. The lower cetane number and higher viscosity
of the blends results in poor atomization which in turn affects
the proper mixing of air and fuel increasing the delay period.
 Because of the high viscosity of neat plastic oil, more air fuel
mixture is available during the diffusion combustion phase,
increasing the combustion duration and heat release rate than
other fuels. The main reason for the increase in combustion
duration with increase in load is extra time to complete the
combustion of extra fuel injected into the engine cylinder to
meet the higher power requirement.

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