Pyrolysis, a thermochemical process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of oxygen, has emerged as an effective method for converting plastic waste into usable fuels in both gaseous and liquid forms. This paper reviews the potential of recycled plastics as an alternative fuel for diesel engines, with a focus on the performance, efficiency, and environmental implications of Waste Plastic Fuel (WPF) and its blended variants, including quaternary fuel mixtures with oxygenates. The study highlights that WPF exhibits fuel properties comparable to conventional diesel and can effectively power diesel engines. It further examines engine performance and emission characteristics across different fuel blends, demonstrating that the incorporation of oxygenates improves combustion efficiency and significantly reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides. However, an increase in smoke emissions is observed, primarily due to incomplete combustion under certain conditions. Overall, the findings suggest that recycled plastic-derived fuels hold strong potential as a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to conventional diesel, contributing to waste management and reduced environmental impact while supporting sustainable development goals.
S. D. Anuar Sharuddin, F. Abnisa, W. M. A. Wan Daud, and M. K. Aroua, “A review on pyrolysis of plastic wastes,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 115, pp. 308–326, May 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.02.037.
S. Sharma, V. Sharma, and S. Chatterjee, “Contribution of plastic and microplastic to global climate change and their conjoining impacts on the environment - A review,” Science of The Total Environment, vol. 875, p. 162627, Jun. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162627.
O. D. Akan et al., “Plastic waste: Status, degradation and microbial management options for Africa,” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 292, p. 112758, Aug. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112758.
Y. Liang, Q. Tan, Q. Song, and J. Li, “An analysis of the plastic waste trade and management in Asia,” Waste Management, vol. 119, pp. 242–253, Jan. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.09.049.
B. I. Musah, L. Peng, and Y. Xu, “Plastic waste menace in Ghana, a serious threat to marine ecological diversity,” IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 725, no. 1, p. 012006, Apr. 2021, doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/725/1/012006.
M. Vighi et al., “Micro and Nano-Plastics in the Environment: Research Priorities for the Near Future,” Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 257, pp. 163–218, 2021, doi: 10.1007/398_2021_69.
S. Kumar, A. K. Panda, and R. K. Singh, “A review on tertiary recycling of high-density polyethylene to fuel,” Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 55, no. 11, pp. 893–910, Sep. 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.05.005.
S. M. Abdelbasir, S. S. M. Hassan, A. H. Kamel, and R. S. El-Nasr, “Status of electronic waste recycling techniques: a review,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 25, no. 17, pp. 16533–16547, May 2018, doi: 10.1007/s11356-018-2136-6.
O. O. Ayeleru et al., “Challenges of plastic waste generation and management in sub-Saharan Africa: A review,” Waste Management, vol. 110, pp. 24–42, Jun. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.04.017.
Onyena, D. Aniche, B. Ogbolu, Md. Rakib, J. Uddin, and T. Walker, “Governance Strategies for Mitigating Microplastic Pollution in the Marine Environment: A Review,” Microplastics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 15–46, Dec. 2021, doi: 10.3390/microplastics1010003.
H. Karan, C. Funk, M. Grabert, M. Oey, and B. Hankamer, “Green Bioplastics as Part of a Circular Bioeconomy,” Trends in Plant Science, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 237–249, Mar. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2018.11.010.
Schmidt, T. Krauth, and S. Wagner, “Export of Plastic Debris by Rivers into the Sea,” Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 51, no. 21, pp. 12246–12253, Oct. 2017, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b02368.
S. Xu, J. Ma, R. Ji, K. Pan, and A.-J. Miao, “Microplastics in aquatic environments: Occurrence, accumulation, and biological effects,” Science of The Total Environment, vol. 703, p. 134699, Feb. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134699.
E. Dümichen, P. Eisentraut, C. G. Bannick, A.-K. Barthel, R. Senz, and U. Braun, “Fast identification of microplastics in complex environmental samples by a thermal degradation method,” Chemosphere, vol. 174, pp. 572–584, May 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.02.010.
J. Ge, H. Zhao, H. Zhu, J. Huang, L. Shi, and S. Yu, “Advanced Sorbents for Oil‐Spill Cleanup: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives,” Advanced Materials, vol. 28, no. 47, pp. 10459–10490, Oct. 2016, doi: 10.1002/adma.201601812.
J. Hopewell, R. Dvorak, and E. Kosior, “Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 364, no. 1526, pp. 2115–2126, Jul. 2009, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0311.
T. J. Morgan and R. Kandiyoti, “Pyrolysis of Coals and Biomass: Analysis of Thermal Breakdown and Its Products,” Chemical Reviews, vol. 114, no. 3, pp. 1547–1607, Oct. 2013, doi: 10.1021/cr400194p.
S. M. Al-Salem, P. Lettieri, and J. Baeyens, “The valorization of plastic solid waste (PSW) by primary to quaternary routes: From re-use to energy and chemicals,” Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 103–129, Feb. 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.pecs.2009.09.001.
F. Polat, “Experimental evaluation of the impacts of diesel-nanoparticles-waste tire pyrolysis oil ternary blends on the combustion, performance, and emission characteristics of a diesel engine,” Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 160, pp. 847–858, Apr. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.psep.2022.03.003.
kumar Agrawal, S. K. Singh, S. Sinha, and M. K. Shukla, “Effect of EGR on the exhaust gas temperature and exhaust opacity in compression ignition engines,” Sadhana, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 275–284, Jun. 2004, doi: 10.1007/bf02703777.
S. A. H. S. Mousavi and A. H. S. Dehaghani, “Catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste to gasoline, jet fuel and diesel with nano MOF derived-loaded Y zeolite: Evaluation of temperature, zeolite crystallization and catalyst loading effects,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 299, p. 117825, Jan. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2023.117825.
Adam, N. A. Ramlan, N. F. Jaharudin, H. Hamzah, M. F. Othman, and A. A. G. Mrwan, “Analysis of combustion characteristics, engine performance and exhaust emissions of diesel engine fueled with upgraded waste source fuel,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 42, no. 28, pp. 17993–18004, Jul. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.021.
Ravikumar and D. Senthilkumar, “Reduction of NOx emission on NiCrAl-Titanium Oxide coated direct injection diesel engine fuelled with radish (Raphanus sativus) biodiesel,” Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, vol. 5, no. 6, Nov. 2013, doi: 10.1063/1.4843915.
S. Padmanabhan et al., “Energy recovery of waste plastics into diesel fuel with ethanol and ethoxy ethyl acetate additives on circular economy strategy,” Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, Mar. 2022, doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09148-2.
CRediT Author Statement
The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows:
Conceptualization: Ji-hoon Kim and Anandakumar Haldorai;
Methodology: Ji-hoon Kim;
Writing- Original Draft Preparation: Ji-hoon Kim;
Visualization: Anandakumar Haldorai;
Investigation: Ji-hoon Kim and Anandakumar Haldorai;
Supervision: Anandakumar Haldorai;
Validation: Anandakumar Haldorai;
Writing- Reviewing and Editing: Ji-hoon Kim and Anandakumar Haldorai;
All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank to the reviewers for nice comments on the manuscript.
Funding
No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Availability of data and materials
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
Author information
Contributions
All authors have equal contribution in the paper and all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Anandakumar Haldorai
Sri Eshwar College of Engineering, Coimbatore, India.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs is a more restrictive license. It allows you to redistribute the material commercially or non-commercially but the user cannot make any changes whatsoever to the original, i.e. no derivatives of the original work. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Cite this article
Ji-hoon Kim and Anandakumar Haldorai, “Exploring Recycled Plastic as a Sustainable Fuel Option for Diesel Engines”, Journal of Machine and Computing, vol.6, no.2, pp. 444-455, 2026, doi: 10.53759/7669/jmc202606034.
