Fuel and related compositions – Liquid fuels – Silicon containing
Patent
1997-01-10
1998-03-31
Howard, Jacqueline V.
Fuel and related compositions
Liquid fuels
Silicon containing
44408, 44418, 44410, C10L 114, C10L 122
Patent
active
057333467
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to oil compositions, primarily to fuel oil compositions, and more especially to the control of foaming in such compositions.
In the processing and transport of liquid fuels, foaming frequently occurs as the fuel is passed from one vessel to another. The foaming may interfere with the pumping of the fuel, and may be such as to require a reduction in pumping rate to allow foam collapse to avoid fuel spills. It is desirable to control foaming to permit higher rates of fuel transfer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,233,986 describes certain organosilicon compounds as additives for reducing the foaming tendency of organic liquids such as liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Additives having the ability to reduce foaming tendency are generally known as "antifoams".
A problem in using antifoams is that relatively large proportions thereof may be needed to give rise to a desired antifoaming effect.
It has now surprisingly been found that less antifoam is needed to achieve a given antifoaming effect if the antifoam is used in combination with certain other additives such as polar nitrogen compounds. UK-A-1538 578; EP-A-061 894; EP-A-104 015; and EP-A-155 171 are examples of specifications describing the use of polar nitrogen compounds as additives in fuel oils, and EP-A-316,108 describes the anti-foaming characteristics of certain substituted amino- sulphosuccinates in diesel fuels.
EP-A-316,108 describes said anti-foam characteristics alone and in combination with an ethylene/propylene copolymer or with an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, where the additive component concentrations are 116 ppm. It also compares said characteristics with those of a diesel fuel containing an unspecified conventional silicone anti-foam.
A first aspect of the invention is a fuel oil composition comprising a major proportion of a fuel oil and a minor proportion of a combination of additive components (A) and (B) wherein
(A) comprises a fuel oil antifoam, and
(B) comprises an oil-soluble polar nitrogen compound carrying one or more, preferably two or more, substituents of the formula --NR.sup.1 --, where R.sup.1 represents a hydrocarbyl group containing 8 to 40 carbon atoms, which substituent or one or more of which substituents may be in the form of a cation derived therefrom.
Component (B) is found to enhance the antifoaming effect of component (A) in both the senses of acceleration of foam collapse and reduced initial foam height. Thus, the invention enables less of component (A) to be used to achieve a desired antifoam effect.
Second and third aspects of the invention are use of the combination of additives (A) and (B) to enhance the antifoaming properties of a fuel oil and use of additive (B) to enhance the antifoaming properties of additive (A) in a fuel oil, additives (A) and (B) being defined as above.
The features of the invention will now be described in more detail as follows:
FUEL OIL
The fuel oil may be a petroleum-based fuel oil, suitably a middle distillate fuel oil, i.e. a fuel oil obtained in refining crude oil as the fraction between the lighter kerosene and jet fuels fraction and the heavier fuel oil fraction. Such distillate fuel oils generally boil within the range of about 100.degree. C. to about 500.degree. C., e.g. 150.degree. to about 400.degree. C. (ASTM-D86). The fuel oil can comprise atmospheric distillate or vacuum distillate, or cracked gas oil or a blend in any proportion of straight run and thermally and/or catalytically cracked distillates. The most common petroleum distillate fuels are kerosene, jet fuels, diesel fuels, heating oils and heavy fuel oils. The heating oil may be a straight atmospheric distillate, or it may contain minor amounts, e.g. up to 35 wt %, of vacuum gas oil or cracked gas oils or of both.
Heating oils may be made of a blend of virgin distillate, e.g. gas oil, naphtha, etc. and cracked distillates, e.g. catalytic cycle shock. A representative specification for a diesel fuel includes a minimum flash point of 38.degree. C. and a 90% distillation point between 282.degree. and 338.degree.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3384600 (1968-05-01), Domba
patent: 3589877 (1971-06-01), Balash
patent: 5397367 (1995-03-01), Fey et al.
patent: 5435811 (1995-07-01), Fey et al.
patent: 5474709 (1995-12-01), Herzy et al.
Caprotti Rinaldo
Davies Brian William
Lombardi Alessandro
Exxon Chemical Patents Inc.
Howard Jacqueline V.
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