Effects of heating rate and temperature on thermal-pyrolytic yield of a plastic-waste mixture were studied in a semi-batch reactor. The temperature in the range of 380–460 °C and heating rates of 10, 19, and 28 °C/min were evaluated through an experimental multi-level design. The results show that higher temperatures or lower residence time reduce the yield of pyrolytic oil at the expense of increasing the yield of gaseous products. The maximum liquid yield was 69%, obtained at 410 °C and a heating rate of 10 °C/min. The composition of pyrolytic oil covers a wide range of hydrocarbons; thus, a fractionation is necessary before using it as fuel in internal combustion engines. The fractionation process yielded 21.12 wt% of light fraction (gasoline-like), 56.52 wt% of medium fraction (diesel-like), and 22.36 wt% of heavy fraction (heavy diesel-like). The light fraction has an octane index and caloric value within the range of the typical gasoline values. On the other hand, the cetane index and caloric value of the medium fraction meet the requirements of the standards for diesel.

Inadequate refrigerant charges can affect the vapor compression refrigeration systems’ thermal and energy performance. To delve deeper into the subject, this study experimentally evaluated the performance of a domestic refrigerator operating at different refrigerant charges. Some of them simulate refrigerant leaks (70 and 80 g), and some others simulate an excess (100 and 110 g). Through a statistical analysis (Tukey test and control graphs), the temperature data with the greatest impact were analyzed, including the temperatures in the suction and in the compressor casing, the temperatures in the middle position and outlet of the condenser and evaporator, as well as the temperatures in the freezer. The operation of the refrigerator was affected to a greater extent when it worked with an overcharge of 110 g; here, the discharge pressure and the run time increased by 1.3 bar and 21%, respectively, compared to the conditions of the refrigerator operating with the reference charge (86 g). In addition, the excess charge also caused an increase in energy consumption of 0.56 kWh/day and a decrease in EER of 0.5 regarding the reference charge. Finally, the increase in energy consumption was projected to $0.03 USD per day with respect to the reference cost.