Recycling of Waste Plastics into Pyrolytic Fuels and Their Use in IC Engines
Sinan Erdoğan
Abstract
The energy crisis and environmental destruction are the principal problems in the present day due to the rapid industrialization and growing population. Degradation of solid waste such as plastic bottles, grocery bags, etc. in nature takes many years. Besides, plastic disposing methods like landfill, reusing, and burning can create severe risks to the human health and environment. Therefore, plastic must be kept under control from damaging the environment. One of the most favorable and effective disposing methods is pyrolysis, which is an environmentally friendly and efficient way. Pyrolysis is the thermal degradation of solid wastes at high temperatures to produce pyrolytic oil. The pyrolytic oil produced is converted into pyrolytic fuel very similar to diesel or gasoline by upgrading. The calorific value of the pyrolytic fuel is similar to that of diesel and gasoline. Pyrolytic fuel can be used in internal combustion engines without significant loss in engine performance. Besides, some engine emissions, especially smoke opacity and CO and HC emissions, improve when used with additives or when the engine’s operating conditions such as compression ratio and ignition timing are changed. However, NOx emission is very similar to diesel fuel, too.