Globally, the demand for energy is increasing due to both increase in population and enhancement in the lifestyle of people. Most of the energy demand at present is met from fossil fuels, which are not only exhaustible but also a threat to the environment. Various routes of sustainable energy resources are being explored to address the above-mentioned issues and fuel made from used tyre may be one of the promising options.
India is one of the fastest growing economies and every year 10 million new vehicles are registered. Due to poor road conditions, nearly fourfold tyres of this number are dumped as waste. This large stock of dumped tyres are non-biodegradable and creates other problems like a breeding site for mosquitos, or source of pollution in case of accidental fire. In order to cope with the large pile-up of used tyres, pyrolysis of these tyres could be a sustainable route. Pyrolysis is a thermo-chemical process carried in absence of oxygen and a sustainable option for conversion into Tyre Pyrolysis Oil (TPO).
In the present work, the performance and emission characteristics of the diesel engine on tyre pyrolysis oil and diesel were studied. It was found that an unmodified diesel engine could be operated with blends of TPO and diesel (Up to 20%) with comparable performance and emission characteristics.