Analysis of Combustion, Performance, and Emissions of a Diesel Engine Fueled by Blends of Waste Paraffin Oil

The oil that comes out of the transformer is to violate the environment after the completion of its durability. Disposal of these wastes in to an open land leads to environmental hazards. This research work intends to capitalize the feasibility of converting waste paraffin oil from electrical transformers into an alternative fuel. The varying quantity of thermally cracked waste paraffin oil (20%, 40%, and 60% v/v) is mixed with 10% v/v of Di Ethyl Ether (DEE) and blended with commercial diesel to make 100% volume. The purpose of this work is to find out the performance of the blended fuel when compared to the commercial diesel fuel (CD). In order to meet this objective, physical and chemical properties of blended oil (flash and fire point, cetane number, calorific value, density and kinematic viscosity) were tested by ASTM standard and evidence for the presence of essential hydrocarbon were proved using FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy) analysis. Further, combustion & emission characteristics and performance of engine were carried out using with single cylinder, 4 strokes, water cooling, and constant speed diesel engine. Finally, AVL DI gas analyzer is used to measure the emission level of this blended fuel. From the experimental data obtained, the performance and combustion characteristics were shown to be enhanced for WPDE60. The physicochemical properties of WPDE60 were found to be similar with CD. Notable improvement observed in WPDE60 blend for BSFC, BTE and in-cylinder pressure by 8.82%, 8.29% and 4.3%, respectively, when compared to CD at full load condition. Whereas, emissions performance such as unburned hydrocarbon, CO and Smoke density were reduced by 18.82%, 4.9% and 39.6%, respectively and NOx emission was increased by 3.3%, compared to the commercial diesel. Based on the results obtained, WPDE60 fuel is resembled to the properties of commercial diesel and that can be proposed as a fuel alternative for internal combustion engines.