Patent Application
20210380895
The disclosure relates to the field of fuel compositions. More particularly, the disclosure relates to fuel compositions and fuel additives for internal combustion engines.
The invention provides fuel compositions for use in internal-combustion engines, and methods of forming and using such compositions.
The fuel compositions generally comprise (1) a hydrocarbon fuel, such as diesel, (2) a polar fluid, such as alcohol, water, and/or other oxygen rich fluids, (3) an emulsifier present in an amount effective for the hydrocarbon fuel, polar fluid, and emulsifier to form an emulsion; and (4) a cetane enhancer, such as 2-ethylhexyl nitrate. The emulsifier may be selected from a group consisting of noncyclic polyol fatty acid esters and noncyclic polyol fatty alcohol ethers. In some embodiments, at least about half of the emulsifier is selected from this group. In other embodiments, at least about half of this group is mono-substituted. The emulsifier also may consist essentially of a single molecular species having both polar and nonpolar portions.
The methods generally comprise methods of forming and using the fuel compositions, including components thereof. For example, the invention provides methods of forming the emulsifier, by synthesizing and/or purifying components of the emulsifier. These components may include noncyclic polyol fatty acid esters and noncyclic polyol fatty alcohol ethers.
These and other aspects of the invention are described in the following four sections: (1) synthesis of noncyclic polyol fatty acid esters and noncyclic polyol fatty alcohol ethers, (2) purification of noncyclic polyol fatty acid esters and noncyclic polyol fatty alcohol ethers, (3) fuel compositions, and (4) examples.
Monoglycerides of fatty acids have been used for years as surfactants in a variety of food, cosmetic, and other formulated products. In most applications, industrial-grade monoglyceride compositions having 40-55% monoglyceride content have proven suitable. However, the present application in fuel formulations requires high-purity monoglycerides to yield optimal performance, and inexpensive monoglycerides to be economically practical.
Monoglycerides have been synthesized by a variety of methods. Unfortunately, these methods generally yield products that must be further distilled or extracted to obtain high-purity monoglycerides. Moreover, these methods generally are unsuitable for forming monoglycerides of unsaturated fatty acids, such as oleic acid, because of oxidative decomposition at the point of unsaturation. U.S. Pat. No. 2,022,493 to Christensen et al. discloses the conventional method for synthesizing monoglycerides, which involves the transesterification of triglycerides with glycerol and sodium hydroxide to form the monoglycerides. However, the product of this method is a mixture of 40-55% monoglyceride, 20-30% diglyceride, and a remainder of unreacted triglyceride. U.S. Pat. No. 2,132,437 to Richardson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 2,073,797 to Hilditch et al. disclose two methods of increasing monoglyceride selectivity by converting the triglyceride to free fatty acid before esterification. However, the products of these methods are still contaminated with at least 20% di- and triglyceride, and the methods are considerably more complex than the conventional method. U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,126 to Schroder et al. discloses a method for making additional gains in selectivity by using a lipase enzyme as the transesterification catalyst. However, this method is very costly and difficult to scale up.
A fuel composition for use in internal-combustion engines has a fuel component, an alcohol component, a water component, a microemulsion blend, and a cetane-enhancer component. The microemulsion blend includes at least one of lower grade fatty acid derivatives being present in an amount effective for the fuel, alcohol, and water components to form a microemulsion blend. The emulsifier is present in an amount effective for the biodiesel fuel, alcohol, water, and emulsifier to form an emulsion.
Thereafter, at step 108, the fuel composition is formed or formulated by adding to the fuel and the microemulsion blend having at least one of lower grade fatty acid derivatives being present in an amount effective for the fuel, alcohol, and water components to form the microemulsion blend. The blend may include a mixture of oleic acid, ethanol, ammonia, water, and cetane enhancer.
These steps may be performed under conditions that would tend not to substantially reduce an unsaturated fatty acid or fatty chloride. Such conditions may include performing one or more of the steps in an inert atmosphere, such as a nitrogen atmosphere, or performing one or more of the steps in the absence of light.
The microemulsion blend 206 can be blended with lower grade diesel or fuel 204 by using inline blending process at a petroleum terminal. The inline blending process includes blending of the microemulsion blend 206 at the petroleum terminal(s) within one or more pipelines. Alternatively, the microemulsion blend 206 can be blended with lower grade diesel/fuel 204 by performing splash blending at the petroleum terminal. The splash blending may include blending the microemulsion blend 206 in a storage container (See 702 in
The invention is also described further in the Appendix to the Specification.
In the preceding description, various aspects of claimed subject matter have been described. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, systems and/or configurations were set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. However, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that claimed subject matter may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, features that would be understood by one of ordinary skill were omitted and/or simplified so as not to obscure claimed subject matter. While certain features have been illustrated and/or described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes and/or equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and/or changes as fall within the true spirit of claimed subject matter.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/332,435, filed May 5, 2016 and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/153,623, filed May 12, 2016, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirely for all purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/153,623 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/216,810, filed Mar. 17, 2014 and entitled COMPOSITIONS FOR USE IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES AND METHODS OF FORMING AND USING SUCH COMPOSITIONS, which application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application, Ser. Nos. 61/798,461 and 61/798,438, each filed Mar. 15, 2013, and each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/216,810 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/966,207, filed Aug. 13, 2013 and entitled METHOD OF FORMULATING A FUEL COMPOSITION FOR USE IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES, which application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/217,171, filed Aug. 24, 2011 and entitled METHOD OF FORMULATING A FUEL COMPOSITION FOR USE IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/105,164, filed Apr. 17, 2008 and entitled METHOD OF FORMULATING A FUEL COMPOSITION FOR USE IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES, which application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/974,779, filed Sep. 24, 2007 and entitled MICROEMULSION FUEL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME and also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/036,007, filed Mar. 12, 2008 and entitled FUEL COMPOSITIONS FOR USE IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES AND METHODS OF FORMING USING SUCH COMPOSITIONS, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62332435 | May 2016 | US | |
| 61798461 | Mar 2013 | US | |
| 61798438 | Mar 2013 | US | |
| 60974779 | Sep 2007 | US | |
| 61036007 | Mar 2008 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15588539 | May 2017 | US |
| Child | 17347082 | US | |
| Parent | 14216810 | Mar 2014 | US |
| Child | 15153623 | US | |
| Parent | 13966207 | Aug 2013 | US |
| Child | 14216810 | US | |
| Parent | 12105164 | Apr 2008 | US |
| Child | 13217171 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15153623 | May 2016 | US |
| Child | 15588539 | US | |
| Parent | 13217171 | Aug 2011 | US |
| Child | 13966207 | US |
