Patent Publication Number: US-2009235573-A1

Title: Methods of making hybrid fuel and fuel additives

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority benefit of China application serial no. 200810086349.6, filed Mar. 20, 2008. All disclosure of the China application is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a liquid fuel. More particularly, the present invention relates to an environmental protection and energy saving hybrid fuel and fuel additive containing seawater, inexpensively recycled animal oil, vegetable oil and alcohol, in order to utilize renewable energy effectively to make nano-bio chemical fuel. The present invention further relates to a method of making the hybrid fuel and fuel additive. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     As is well known, vehicles and power plants burn vast quantities of petrochemical and coal fuels every day and release a great amount of gases such as carbon dioxide, thus significantly pollute the environment and the air of our survival. The overdevelopment of the petrochemical fuel and the consequent reduction of fuel stock cause a continuous growth of petrochemical fuel price worldwide, thus severely impact people&#39;s livelihood and economic growth. For example, the oil price climbed from dozens of dollars to more than one hundred dollars from 2006 to 2008. With the development of the automotive industry, particularly the development of the automotive industry in the developing countries, more and more families have cars which in return further aggravates the shortage of supply of the petrochemical fuel such as gasoline and diesel. 
     In order to deal with the situations, many countries such as the United States have started to use food, such as corn and soybean, to make ethanol to replace gasoline and bio-diesel in order to reduce pollution. However, the solution greatly reduces the fodder and food supply globally, and causes shortage of supply of cereal, oil, hog and foodstuff in many countries, thus impacts the social livelihood and induces economic recession, social turbulence and energy crisis. 
     Thus, the increase of petrochemical fuel consumption of vehicles, power plants, industries and households increases the pollution to earth. However, cheap, clean and renewable energy has not yet been developed to replace the petrochemical fuel with serious pollution. Thus, developing a renewable new energy with the effect of energy saving and emission reduction is a subject that needs urgent solution worldwide. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention aims to solve the problems discussed above, and provides a hybrid fuel and fuel additive made from cheap seawater, recycled animal oil and vegetable oil and alcohol mixed with gasoline and diesel, of which the prices increase day by day. The hybrid fuel meets the requirements of energy efficiency and emission reduction, saves or partially replaces the petrochemical energy and greatly reduces the release of pollutant such as CO 2  (carbon dioxide), NO X  (nitrogen oxide) and PM (particles and suspended dust particles), thus reduces the negative impact, such as green house effects, caused by the petrochemical fuel. 
     In order to achieve above mentioned object, the present invention provides a hybrid fuel and fuel additive comprising seawater, animal oil, vegetable oil and alcohol. The hybrid fuel or additive contains the following components by percentage weights: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 Desalinated seawater 
                 5%~35%; 
               
               
                   
                 Surfactant 
                 9%~45%; 
               
               
                   
                 Solubilizer 
                 7%~15%; 
               
               
                   
                 Combustion promoter 
                 23%~55%.  
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     The hybrid fuel or additive preferably contains the following components by percentage weights: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 Desalinated seawater 
                 28%; 
               
               
                   
                 Surfactant 
                 27%; 
               
               
                   
                 Solubilizer 
                 10%; 
               
               
                   
                 Combustion promoter 
                 35%. 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     The surfactant comprises one or more components selected from a group consisting of fatty acid, fatty acid methyl ester, sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, triethanolamine, SPAN 80 and aqueous ammonia. 
     The fatty acid comprises vegetable oleic acid, animal oleic acid or any combination thereof. The vegetable oleic acid is made by acidizing coconut oil, rapeseed oil, palm oil, algae oil or Jatropha curcas oil. The animal oleic acid is made by acidizing lard, butter or mutton oil. 
     The solubilizer is made by mixing ethanol and methanol at weight ratio of 1:1. 
     The vegetable oleic acid and the animal oleic acid are made by acidizing recycled animal oil and vegetable oil respectively. 
     The hybrid fuel and fuel additive comprise particles of microemulsion with a diameter of 100 nm˜500 nm. 
     The combustion promoter comprises one or more components selected from a group consisting of gasoline, diesel, cerium-containing nano rare earth, oil soluble nano ferrocene, calcium naphthenate, ferric naphthenate and cerium-containing rare earth naphthenate. 
     The present invention further provides a method of making the hybrid fuel and fuel additive, comprising:
         a. Desalinate the seawater until the standard of non-corrosive fuel is reached;   b. Mix surfactant, solubilizer and combustion promoter to obtain a mixture;   c. Mix the desalinated seawater and the mixture of surfactant, solubilizer and combustion promoter at predetermined percentages with an ultrasonic emulsifying machine to get the hybrid fuel and fuel additive in the form of emulsion or microemulsion.       

     The hybrid fuel and fuel additive of the present invention can be used as fuels for vehicles, power plants, industries and households, and can also be used as fuel additive separately. 
     The contribution of the present invention lies in its conformity to the need of new energy development in the world. By utilizing the seawater and various nano-iodine, magnesium compound and other metal compounds contained in the seawater, and using the cheap waste oil of animal and vegetable as surfactant while the more expensive gasoline or diesel as combustion promoter, the present invention creates a new environmental protection and energy saving composite fuel. The composite fuel can partially replace gasoline, diesel and other fuels, and can save 5% to 30% of the petrochemical energy and 65% of the diesel fuel. The use of the composite fuel can achieve a 30% to 65% reduction in vehicle emission and cut the pollution of CO 2 , NO x , PM, etc. The present invention can also be used as fuels for power plants, industries (boiler, etc.) and households, or used as fuel additive. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     While the present invention is further explained and described below with reference to exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto. 
     The hybrid fuel and fuel additive in present invention is a composite fuel which can be used directly as a fuel and can also be used as additive to gasoline, diesel or other fuels. 
     Embodiment 1  
     The embodiment provides an example of preparing the hybrid fuel and fuel additive, which is a micro-emulsified bio-diesel hybrid fuel.
         1. Mix lard acid, SPAN 80, triethanolamine, sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate and aqueous ammonia at ratio of 65:3:6.3:13.5:12.2 by weight to prepare surfactant, wherein the surfactant is in the form of emulsion; then mix ethanol and methanol at ratio of 1:1 to prepare solubilizer; then mix diesel, cerium-containing rare earth naphthenate, calcium naphthenate at ratio of 9.49:0.5:0.01 by weight to prepare combustion promoter; partially desalinate the seawater using a conventional desalination process, wherein various natural nano-scale substances such as iodine, magnesium, sodium and bromine remain in the seawater after the partial desalination, and copper sheet test shall be performed during desalination process until the standard of non-corrosive fuel is reached.   2. Mix the prepared desalinated seawater, surfactant mixture, solubilizer and combustion promoter at ratio of 5:5:2:7 by weight with an ultrasonic emulsifying machine to prepare hybrid fuel and fuel additive, wherein the hybrid fuel and fuel additive is in the form of emulsion or microemulsion containing nano or sub-nano scale particles formed by above-mentioned components with a diameter of 100 nm˜500 nm. Copper sheet test shall be performed until the standard of non-corrosive fuel is reached.       

     Embodiment 2  
     The embodiment provides another example of preparing the hybrid fuel and fuel additive, which is a micro-emulsified bio-gasoline hybrid fuel.
         1. Mix palm oil acid, SPAN 80, triethanolamine, Sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate and aqueous ammonia at ratio of 65:3:6.3:13.5:12.2 by weight to prepare surfactant, wherein the surfactant is in the form of emulsion; then mix gasoline, cerium-containing nano rare earth naphthenate, oil soluble nano ferrocene at ratio of 9.49:0.5:0.01 by weight to prepare combustion promoter; then partially desalinate the seawater using a conventional desalination process, wherein various natural nano-scale substances such as iodine, magnesium, sodium and bromine remain in the seawater after partial desalination, and copper sheet test shall be performed during desalination process until it reaches the standard of non-corrosive fuel.   2. Mix the prepared desalinated seawater, surfactant mixture, solubilizer and combustion promoter at ratio of 5:5:2:7 by weight with an ultrasonic emulsifying machine to prepare hybrid fuel and fuel additive, wherein the hybrid fuel and fuel additive is in the form of emulsion or microemulsion containing nano or sub-nano scale particles formed by above-mentioned components with a diameter of 100 nm˜500 nm. Copper sheet test shall be performed until the standard of non-corrosive fuel is reached.       

     The surfactant emulsion of the hybrid fuel and fuel additive has a good dispersant effect and can be dispersed thoroughly in the fuel to be burned. The combustion promoter is capable of catalyzing and improving the combustion. Since the microemulsion included in the hybrid fuel and fuel additive contains seawater, animal oil and vegetable oil, a micro-explosion phenomenon within emulsified oil can be induced due to water contained therein during combustion, which prevents accumulated carbon residue and jam, and promotes clean combustion. 
     The hybrid fuel and fuel additive of the present invention can be used as fuels for vehicles, power plants, industries and households. It can be used separately as a fuel, and can also be used as an additive to gasoline or diesel. When using as an additive, add the additive to the oil tank first then fill the tank with gasoline or diesel.