RESUMO
This study investigates the impact of adding diethyl ether (DEE) to pyrolysis oil derived from mixed plastic waste on engine performance, combustion characteristics, and emissions. The blending of different DEE concentrations (5%, 10%, and 15% by volume) with waste plastic oil (WPO) was analyzed. Experiments were conducted on a four-cylinder diesel engine, varying engine loads while maintaining engine speed. The results indicate that WPO mainly comprises middle-distillate hydrocarbons (52.58% C13-C18 and 26.15% C19-C23). While WPO had lower specific gravity, density, and flash point, it met diesel fuel specifications for kinematic viscosity and cetane index. The addition of DEE led to decreased properties in all blended fuels, except for the cetane index. Engine performance declined with WPO-DEE blends at low engine loads but improved at high engine loads with minimal variation as DEE concentration increased. DEE addition resulted in a shorter ignition delay and earlier combustion, although increasing DEE concentration did not further advance combustion. NOx emissions significantly decreased with DEE addition, while HC and CO emissions remained unaffected at high engine loads. To optimize the process, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) with generalized regression neural networks (GRNNs) was employed as a surrogate multi-objective function. The GRNNs model demonstrated excellent performance, achieving high R2 values of 0.952 and 0.918, low RMSE values of 0.659 and 0.310, and MdAPE values of 2.675% and 5.098% for brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and NOx, respectively. The NSGA-II algorithm with GRNNs model proved successful in predicting the multi-objective function in the optimization process, even with limited data. The Pareto frontier analysis revealed an optimal DEE percentage of approximately 10% to 14% for maximum BTE and minimum NOx, with engine loads distributed around 30, 40, and 100 N m.
RESUMO
This research investigates the effects of different extraction processes on the oil extractability, oxidative stability, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activity of crude rice bran oil (CRBO). The experimental extraction processes include hexane extraction (HE), cold press extraction (CE), thermally pretreated cold press extraction (CCE), and ultrasound-pretreated cold press extraction (UCE). The results show that thermal cooking and ultrasound pretreatment significantly improve the oil extractability of the cold press extraction process. The oil yields of CE, CCE, and UCE were 14.27, 17.31, and 16.68 g oil/100 g rice bran, respectively. The oxidative stability of CE and CCE oils was higher than HE and UCE oils, as evidenced by the synchrotron-radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) absorption peak. The ρ-anisidine values of HE, CE, CCE, and UCE were 0.30, 0.20, 0.91, and 0.31, respectively. Meanwhile, ultrasound pretreatment significantly reduced the bioactive compounds and chemical antioxidant activity of UCE oil. The CE, CCE, and UCE oils (0.1% oil concentration) exhibited higher inhibitory effects against hydrogen-peroxide-induced cellular oxidative stress, compared to HE oil (0.39% oil concentration). Essentially, CCE is operationally and environmentally suitable for improving the oil yield, oxidative stability, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activities of CRBO.
RESUMO
Waste plastic oil (WPO) derived from pyrolysis of plastic debris and municipal waste is one of the promising alternative fuels because of its similar carbon chain characteristics and physical properties to diesel fuel. WPO also contains naphtha which is gasoline-like and may not be well-suited to a diesel engine. Technically, naphtha should be eliminated from WPO by distillation, and the resulting product is called distilled waste plastic oil (WPOD). This work experimentally investigates the influences of these fuels burned in a diesel engine on combustion characteristics and exhaust gas emissions. Both WPO and WPOD fuels contribute to the larger amount of nitrogen oxides than diesel fuel. Carbon-based emissions increase when the engine operates with these pyrolysis fuels by retarding the ignition onset of their combustion occurrences. Meanwhile, their shorter-carbon-chain links provide a lower smoke index. However, brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption are beneficial because of their high calorific value and cetane index.
RESUMO
The dielectric properties of a methanol-water mixture were measured at different temperatures from 20 to 80 °C at two frequencies 915 MHz and 2450 MHz. These frequencies are most commonly used on industrial and domestic scales respectively. In this study, the dielectric properties of a methanol-water mixture were found to be dependent on temperature, solvent concentration, and presence of plant matrix. Linear and quadratic equations were developed to establish the dependency between factors. At 2450 MHz, the dielectric constant of methanol-water mixtures was significantly affected by concentration of methanol rather than by temperature, whereas the dielectric loss factor was significantly affected by temperature rather than by methanol concentration. Introduction of potato peel led to an increase in the effect of temperature on the dielectric properties of the methanol fractions. At 915 MHz, both the dielectric properties were significantly affected by the increase in temperature and solvent concentration, while the presence of potato peel had no significant effect on the dielectric properties. Statistical analysis of the dissipation factor at 915 and 2450 MHz revealed that both temperature and solvent concentration had a significant effect on it, whereas introduction of potato peels at 915 MHz reduced the effect of temperature as compared to 2450 MHz. The total phenolic yield of the microwave-assisted extraction process was significantly affected by the solvent concentration, the dissipation factor of the methanol-water mixture and the extraction time.
