Emulsified fuel and one method for preparing same

Details Emulsified fuel and one method for preparing same Emulsified fuel and one method for preparing same

1998-11-23

2000-05-30

Howard, Jacqueline V.

Fuel and related compositions

Liquid fuels

Emulsion fuel

3661761, C10L 132

Patent

active

060686707

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention is that of fuel compositions and particularly fuels intended for use in heat engines. More precisely, the fuels envisaged within the framework of the invention contain predominantly liquid hydrocarbons and especially: comprising petrols, diesel fuels, kerosenes and heating oils, and/or such as those derived from coal or gas (synthetic engine fuels); oils;
The present invention relates more specifically to novel fuel compositions consisting of emulsions of water in at least one hydrocarbon and generally in a mixture of hydrocarbons, for example the mixture of which diesel fuel is composed.
The present disclosure will therefore deal with stabilized water/hydrocarbon emulsions comprising surfactants capable of emulsifying and of stabilizing such emulsions.
The present invention further relates to a method of preparing emulsified water/hydrocarbon fuels (e.g. engine fuels) combined with one or more surfactants.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention comes within the field, which has long been fashionable, of developing fuel compositions, especially engine fuel compositions, comprising substitute products for petroleum derivatives, with the aim of reducing costs and limiting pollution.
Water was very quickly found to be a valuable additive or partial substitute for petrol or diesel fuel. Water is in fact an inexpensive and non-toxic liquid which has proved capable of reducing fuel consumption and the emission of visible or invisible pollutants.
Despite all these assumed advantages, no water/hydrocarbon engine fuel has yet been used industrially, on a large scale, in concrete applications because of prohibitive difficulties with their processing and use.
According to a first approach, it has been envisaged to make provision for storing water and fuel separately on the vehicle and mixing them at the time of use. This approach requires the installation, on board the vehicle, of a complex and sophisticated device for carrying out specific mixing and metering operations. The cost, bulk and delicacy of such devices have proved totally dissuasive in the development of this approach.
The second ponderable approach consists in using ready-made mixtures of water and fuel, but this did not reckon with the considerable problems of the storage stability of such mixtures at temperatures ranging from -20.degree. C. to -70.degree. C., and of the stability of the emulsion in a tank under use conditions.
Thus there are many unfruitful technical proposals which aimed, in vain, to provide emulsified engine fuels comprising water and, more generally, novel non-polluting engine fuels resulting in low consumption.
As an illustration of one such prior art, there may be mentioned French patent application Ser. No. 2 470 153, which discloses an emulsified engine fuel comprising hydrocarbons, water, an alcohol (methanol, ethanol) and an emulsifying system formed of sorbitan monooleate and ethoxylated nonylphenol. The concentration of the emulsifying system in the emulsion is between 3 and 10% by volume. The essential presence of alcohol in this emulsion constitutes an extremely penalizing factor, especially as regards the economics and the engine performance characteristics capable of being obtained with this emulsion. Moreover, it should be noted that the stability of this water-alcohol/hydrocarbon emulsion leaves something to be desired. In fact, after the emulsion has been stored for 72 hours, which corresponds to a realistic period of non-use of a vehicle running on this fuel, there is an incipient phase separation (dephasing/demixing) between the hydrocarbons and the aqueous-alcoholic mixture. The hydrocarbons dephased (separated out) at the end of this time can represent up to 3% by volume of the emulsion. It is easy to imagine that, after a few days' storage, the dephasing of this emulsion according to patent application No. 2,470,153 is sufficient to prohibit the running of the vehicle under normal conditions of application.
U.S

REFERENCES:
patent: 2509288 (1950-05-01), Brochner
patent: 3606868 (1971-09-01), Voogd
patent: 4352572 (1982-10-01), Chen et al.
patent: 4708720 (1987-11-01), Grangette et al.
patent: 4755325 (1988-07-01), Osgerby
patent: 5000757 (1991-03-01), Puttock et al.
patent: 5411558 (1995-05-01), Taniguchi et al.

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