Claims
- 1. A method of removing sulfur compounds from diesel fuel comprising the steps of:
providing an oxidizing gas; forming the oxidizing gas into sub-micron size bubbles; providing a flow of diesel fuel; dispersing the sub-micron size bubbles of oxidizing gas into the flowing diesel fuel thereby oxidizing the sulfur compounds initially contained within the diesel fuel into sulfoxides and/or sulfones; removing the sulfoxides and sulfones from the diesel fuel; and recovering the treated diesel fuel.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the oxidizing gas is ozone.
- 3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least part of the oxidizing gas is formed into sub-micron size bubbles and dispersed into the flowing diesel fuel immediately upon its manufacture.
- 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein:
the oxidizing gas is directed through sintered material to an exterior surface; and the flowing diesel fuel is directed across the exterior surface thereby cleaving sub-micron sized bubbles of oxidizing gas from the exterior surface.
- 5. The method according to claim 4 including the additional step of moving the exterior surface relative to the flowing diesel fuel.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/418,445 filed Oct. 15, 1999, currently pending, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/325,503 filed Jun. 3, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,130.
Continuation in Parts (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09418445 |
Oct 1999 |
US |
Child |
09735565 |
Dec 2000 |
US |
Parent |
09325503 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Child |
09418445 |
Oct 1999 |
US |