Fuel and related compositions – Liquid fuels – Aluminum or heavy metal – other than lead – containing
Patent
1987-02-10
1990-01-09
Dixon, Jr., William R.
Fuel and related compositions
Liquid fuels
Aluminum or heavy metal, other than lead, containing
44 51, 44 77, C10L 100, C10L 132
Patent
active
048925608
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
A fuel is a substance used for producing heat energy, commonly by combustion. Combustion fuels in commercial use to be successful should have a high calorific value, should be stable when not required for use, and should provide heat efficiently and economically and in a controlled manner. Such fuels are used in both the domestic and the industrial sphere and in common use are petroleum products, natural gas, coal, wood, and peat. In large scale commercial operations combustion equipment has been developed to harness the heat energy produced from petroleum products, natural gas, and coal, of which the most common industrial combustion fuel used are the petroleum based products, for example the petroleum-based fuel oils which are burned in industrial furnaces to generate heat.
Petroleum-based fuel oils are, however, becoming increasingly expensive and many attempts have therefore been made to find alternative fuels.
A further disadvantage of petroleum-based fuel oils is that they occur only in certain parts of the world and usually have to be transported in large quantities to the desired location for their use. An additional disadvantage is that the available resources are limited and are depleting.
Molasses, sometimes termed final molasses or blackstrap, is a by-product in the manufacture of cane sugar and beet sugar, from which generally no more sugar can be obtained economically by crystallisation. It is a heavy sticky, viscous, aqueous syrup comprising, in the case of cane molasses, for example, from 25 to 40% sucrose; from 10 to 25%, for example from 15 to 20%, reducing sugars; from 7 to 15%, for example about 10%, ash; from 2 to 10% organic non-sugars; and from 5 to 25%, for example about 20%, water. Although there are uses for molasses, for example it is incorporated in animals feeds and it is used in the manufacture of various alcohols, acetone and citric acid and in yeast propogation, it is primarily a by-product.
Molasses has poor combustion characteristics with a low calorific value and a high water content, and has never seriously been considered as a commercial fuel. In the main review literature for the sugar industry (Cane Sugar Handbook by Meade and Chen last published in 1977, and Beet Sugar Technology by McGinnis published in 1971) no mention is made of such use. Early attempts were made to use molasses as a fuel in, for example, commercial boilers but were not very successful, there being too many disadvantages associated with its use. The last such attempt recorded in the literature was in 1938 (International Sugar Journal, Vol. 40, pages 141 to 145, 1938).
Such attempts have not been successful for a number of reasons. The low calorific value of the molasses and high water content prevented the temperature in the combustion chamber from rising high enough to sustain stable combustion. Efforts were made to rectify this by improving the insulation and changing the design of the fire-box and by developing special ovens and burners, but it was found to be costly for such adaptation of existing equipment and these proposals were not taken up commercially.
There are several drawbacks in using molasses as a commercial fuel on its own. First of all it does not burn properly and it also needs to be diluted with water to run through the conventional burner equipment; this adds to the already high water content and causes loss of available heat, it being required for evaporation of water in the fuel. It was these drawbacks that caused early experimenters to alter the equipment design in an attempt to use molasses. Molasses also gives rise to large quantities of ash which would cause handling problems and require frequent stoppage of a plant for cleaning purposes. Further, as mentioned above molasses on its own has very poor combustion characteristics and difficulties would arise with flame stability and sustained combustion at a temperature required commercially.
Molasses is available in large quantities, some thirty three million tons are produced annually, but its use is limited mainly to speci
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Dixon Jr. William R.
Medley Margaret B.
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