1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to blending heating fuel, and particularly to blending petroleum based fuel and vegetable oil.
2. Description of Background
As noted in Patent Application Publication 20050132642, Renewable vegetable derived oil for use as residential heating oil alternative has the potential of reducing the demand for non-renewable petroleum oil. In particular soybeans, which made up 57% of the total world wide oilseed production of 2002, have produced promising results in lab and field tests at Purdue University. United States farmers harvested 72.16 million acres of soybeans with an average yield of 37.8 bushels/acre (USDA-NASS). The United States soybean oil and meal production industry produced 21.81 billion pounds of oil in 2002 utilizing an estimated 57 million acres of soybeans (USDA-NASS). This is equivalent to 2.91 billion gallons of soybean oil ready for industrial, commercial, and food product use.
Moreover, also according Patent Application Publication 20050132642 to the United States Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, nearly 8.1 million homes used petroleum heating oil, also known as No. 2 fuel oil, in the year 2002. The primary area of market potential is in the Northeast and Midwest with 75% and 10% of the total household respectively. This trend is also supported by the national residential fuel oil consumption data.
Although it has been promoted mostly as a fuel for diesel-powered vehicles, biodiesel is perfectly suited as an additive or replacement fuel in a standard oil-fired furnace or boiler. When used as a heating fuel, biodiesel is sometimes referred to as “biofuel” or “bioheat.” Made from new and used vegetable oils or animal fats, this fuel also has the advantage of being biodegradable, nontoxic and renewable: While fossil fuels took millions of years to produce, fuel stocks for biodiesel can be created in just a few months, and the plants grown to make biodiesel naturally balance the carbon dioxide emissions created when the fuel is combusted. What's more, the resulting fuel is far less polluting than its petroleum-based alternative.
As noted above, biodiesel is composed of long-chain fatty acids with an alcohol attached, an is often derived from vegetable oils. It is produced through the reaction of a vegetable oil with methyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. Animal fats are another potential source. Commonly used catalysts are potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The chemical process is called transesterification which produces biodiesel and glycerin. Chemically, biodiesel is called a methyl ester if the alcohol used is methanol. If ethanol is used, it is called an ethyl ester. They are similar and currently, methyl ester is less expensive due to the lower cost for methanol. Biodiesel can be used in the pure form, or blended in any amount with diesel fuel for use in compression ignition engines.
However, it will be appreciated that crude vegetable oil and degummed vegetable oil blends are preferred over biodiesel blends since the vegetable oils are less expensive while providing similar heat content. It will be readily apparent that transesterified soybean oil, with its extra processing steps, will be more expensive than, for example, degummed soybean oil.
It will also be appreciated that owing to the different viscosities of the diesel fuel oil and the vegetable oil that there can be separation of the two blended oils over a period of time, leading to the fuel delivery system providing near pure vegetable oil to the heating system, thereby causing a malfunction in the heating system. Therefore there exists a need for initially blending the vegetable oil with the diesel fuel oil and keeping the oils blended over an extended period of time.
The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the provision of blending and storing petroleum and vegetable oil. Further advantages are provided through the delivery of the blended fuel to a storage tank and to a blended fuel burner.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention a system for blending, storing, and delivering blended petroleum based fuel and vegetable based fuel to a fuel burner is provided. The system includes a blended fuel storage tank for storing the blended petroleum based fuel and vegetable based fuel and a blending device connectable to the blended fuel storage tank. The system also includes at least one fuel filter connectable to blended fuel tank for filtering water and contaminants from the blended petroleum based fuel and vegetable based fuel. In addition, the system includes a circulator pump connectable to fuel filter for circulating the blended petroleum based fuel and vegetable based fuel and also includes a T-valve connector connectable to the circulator, the fuel burner and the blended fuel storage tank. The system also includes a delivery truck adapted to blending the petroleum based fuel and the vegetable based fuel.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for blending and storing petroleum based fuel and vegetable based fuel is provided. The apparatus includes a blended fuel storage tank; a petroleum fuel storage tank connectable to the blended fuel storage tank; a vegetable based fuel storage tank connectable to the blended fuel storage tank; and a ganged fuel controller adapted to synchronize fuel flow ratios from the petroleum fuel storage tank and the vegetable based fuel tank to the blended fuel storage tank. The ganged fuel controller synchronizes the fuel flow from each of the fuel tanks to the blended fuel tank in accordance with a desired fuel flow ratio of petroleum fuel to vegetable based fuel.
Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. For a better understanding of the invention with advantages and features, refer to the description and to the drawings.
The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The detailed description explains the preferred embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawings.
Turning now to the drawings in greater detail, it will be seen that in
Still referring to
Air bubbler pump 10 is connectable to tank 11 to produce mixing bubbles 10A via air bubbler pump line 10B. It will be appreciated that mixing bubbles 10A may be any suitable diameter for mixing the desired blended ration of petroleum to vegetable oil.
It will also be appreciated, referring to
Blended fuel is drawn through outlet port 11A through fuel filter 12. Fuel filter 12 may be any suitable fuel filter such as, for example, a fuel filter/water separator.
Circulator pump 13 operates to circulate fuel from tank 11, through fuel filter 12, t-valve 14, and back to tank 11 through inlet port 11B. Circulator pump 13 may be any suitable pump for pumping blended petroleum/vegetable oil. It will also be appreciated that circulator pump 13 may have any suitable duty cycle for operating intermittently or non-intermittently.
Fuel burner 15 is any suitable oil burner or system requiring diesel fuel for operation, such as, for exemplar purposes only, heating systems such as forced hot air oil burner or a forced hot water oil burner, or a compression-ignition type internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine.
In a preferred heating system embodiment fuel burner 15 will have a higher operating pressure and decreased fuel nozzles (not shown) than standard fuel burners operating with non-blended fuel. It will be appreciated that best performance is achieved by having the return in the oil circulator 13 loop back to the tank 11 at the top of the tank 11 and the blended fuel to the burner near the bottom of the burner 15.
Referring also to
Referring to
Referring now to
Storage tank 42 is, a vegetable oil storage tank and may be any appropriate storage tank designed and/or approved by an approving body for the holding of vegetable oil.
Petroleum oil from tank 41 and vegetable oil from tank 42 are flowed though flow pipes 41A and 42A, respectively to mixing fuel tank 11x. The flow through each of the flow pipes 41A and 42A is synchronized and controlled by ganged fuel flow controller 43. Fuel controller may be any suitable adjustable controller to set the amount of desired flow mixture into mixing tank 11x.
An example flow controller knob 4A1 is show in
Mixing tank 11x stores and mixes and stores the petroleum and vegetable oil as described earlier. However, the tank 11x may be suitably sized for mixing and storing the petroleum/vegetable oil blend based upon operational requirements, e.g., number of gallons used per day and any desired blended reserve.
Likewise, mixer air pump 10x may also be suitably sized for a smaller mixing tank 11x. It will be appreciated that mixing may be accomplished by any suitable means.
The diagrams depicted herein are just examples. There may be many variations to these diagrams described therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. All of these variations are considered a part of the claimed invention. For example, one variation may be to use components adapted to use transesterified vegetable oil.
While the preferred embodiment to the invention has been described, it will be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in the future, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall within the scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construed to maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4595296 | Parks | Jun 1986 | A |
6979426 | Teall et al. | Dec 2005 | B2 |
20050132642 | Gibson et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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10219261 | Aug 1998 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20080028676 A1 | Feb 2008 | US |