Production of low sulfur diesel-like fuel from crude oil wastes by pyrolytic distillation and its usage in a diesel engine

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2022-04, Vol.244, p.122683, Article 122683
• Main Authors: Uyar, Mahmut, Aydın, Hüseyin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calcium hydroxide; Catalysts; Cetane number; Crude oil; Crude oil sludge; Desulfurization; Desulfurizing; Diesel; Diesel engines; Diesel fuel; Diesel fuels; Distillation; Emission analysis; Exhaust emission; Internal combustion engines; Oil wastes; Perlite; Pyrolysis; Slaked lime; Sludge; Sulfur; Sulfur content; Zeolites
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.122683

In the present study, a diesel-like fuel was produced from crude oil sludge with the method of catalytic pyrolysis. The initial liquid that was derived from the direct pyrolysis has considerably high sulfur content. Therefore it was subjected to two stage novel desulfurization methods. At the first stage the pyrolysis reactions were applied with perlite, CaO, Ca(OH)2 and zeolite catalysts. The sulfur content was reduced by 52.63% with using 10% perlite as the novel catalyst. As the second stage, in the acidic desulfurization reactions, the sulfur content of this liquid was reduced by 82.31% which means that the cumulative sulfur reduction was by 91.32%. At the end of both stages, low-sulfur diesel-like fuel (LSDLF) has 0.132% sulfur amount, highly similar to that of diesel fuel (DF) 0.1%. It was determined that the density and viscosity values of the LSDLF were close to those of DF, but its cetane number and heating values were slightly lower along with little higher sulfur content. The pure diesel-like fuel LSDLF100, its blend the LSDLF50 and the DF were tested in a single-cylinder and direct injection diesel engine. The engine performance characteristics and exhaust emission values obtained from these tests were comparatively examined. It was concluded that the obtained fuels can be used in diesel engines without any engine operations problems such as injector sticking, difficult start, overabundance noise, black smoke exhaust or any engine modifications. •Low sulfur Diesel-Like fuel was produced from waste petroleum sludge.•The novel perlite catalyzed pyrolytic distillation was applied for production.•16.32% of liquid product was obtained from the waste contained mostly soil and water.•Both with perlite and formic acid catalyzers 91.32% of sulfur was removed.•The final product was quite similar to diesel fuel with both its fuel properties and also engine test results.