Experimental investigation of compression ignition engine fuelled by a catalytic fuel reformer

Waste engine oil (WEO) as an alternative fuel for compression ignition (CI) engine is investigated in this study. WEO was thermally cracked with alumina catalyst in the catalytic fuel reformer (CFR). The gas obtained from the CFR was condensed using a water-cooled condenser for analytical purposes. The output of the condenser was named as WEOA (reformulated WEO with alumina catalyst). The different chemical properties of WEOA were analysed. The compositional analysis for diesel and WEOA was made using Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GCMS). The experimental investigation was conducted in a single-cylinder diesel engine and the performance and emissions were compared with those of diesel fuel. Experimental results concluded that the performance and emission level are better than those of diesel fuel. This study concludes that environmentally hazardous waste material such as WEO is recycled and converted into a useful resource and serves as an alternative source of fuel for CI engine.