Performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of bio-oil produced by in situ catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene using spent FCC

Prathwiraj Meena; Surabhi Singh; Nikhil Sharma; Virendra Kumar Saharan; Suja George; Rohidas Bhoi

doi:10.1007/s11356-023-30786-0

Performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of bio-oil produced by in situ catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene using spent FCC

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Nov 11. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-30786-0. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Prathwiraj Meena¹, Surabhi Singh¹, Nikhil Sharma², Virendra Kumar Saharan¹, Suja George¹, Rohidas Bhoi³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Jaipur, 302017, India.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, 302017, India.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Jaipur, 302017, India. rohidas.chem@mnit.ac.in.

PMID: 37950124
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-30786-0

Abstract

Plastic waste is a rich source of hydrocarbons that can be converted into bio-oil through pyrolysis. In this study, bio-oil was produced by pyrolysis of waste-polypropylene using spent FCC catalyst. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that catalytically produced oil has the majority of compounds in the hydrocarbon range of C₆-C₁₈. The catalytic pyrolysis oil was blended with conventional fuel (diesel) to extensively investigate its suitability as a fuel substitute in a single-cylinder, four-stroke, 3.5 kW, diesel internal combustion (IC) engine. Furthermore, four fuels, i.e., CF100PO00 (pure diesel), CF90PO10 (10% v/v pyrolysis oil blended with diesel), CF85PO15 (15% v/v pyrolysis oil blended with diesel), and CF80PO20 (20% v/v pyrolysis oil blended with diesel), were tested in IC diesel engine for performance, combustion, and exhaust emission analysis at 1500 rpm. The tests were carried out at five loads, i.e., 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 Nm. It was found that CF90PO10 produced 6.61% higher brake thermal efficiency (BTE), whereas CO₂ exhaust emission decreased by 20% for CF80PO20 with respect to the pure diesel. Diesel blends with plastic pyrolysis oil can be a promising biofuel to improve engine performance and combustion characteristics without any significant engine modification.

Keywords: Bio-oil; Engine performance; Plastic waste; Spent FCC catalyst.