Abstract:
Non-fossil gaseous fuel, evolved in underwater carbon arcing, and characterized by significant heat content and substantial freedom of its combustion effluents from noxious gases and/or particulates, is similarly useful in whole or part as an additive to predominantly hydrocarbon fuels—whether in bulk storage or transport, flowing in a pipeline, fueling a cutting/welding torch, or fueling an internal-combustion engine. Dosing a predominantly hydrocarbon fuel with all or a selected part of such gaseous fuel mixture inhibits leakage and substantially diminishes noxious effluent gases and particulates as characteristic of the combustion of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention concerns fuel additives for internal-combustion engines and of noxious components in combustion effluents. 
     BACKGROUND THE INVENTION 
     Predominantly hydrocarbon fuels, whether in gaseous, liquid, or solid (usually pulverized) form, are noted for combustion effluents of harmful or noxious nature, such as carbon monoxide, particulates, and other by-products of incomplete combustion. Operation of such engines on hydrogen and air (or oxygen) sounds good, but hydrogen is not the ideal fuel it has seemed to be because engines operated on it attain such high temperatures as to flash back through the intake valves and thereby to preclude proper timing and to foster formation of noxious nitrogen oxides (aptly called NO X ) in their effluent. 
     Organic origins of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels endow them with such ranges of molecular compositions and molecular sizes that their complete combustion while altogether is notably problematical. Attempts to provide a suitable range of combustion environments to accommodate such diverse combustible components have complicated the design and control of air and fuel inflow, admixture, and exhaust. 
     This invention does not undertake to extend that work, but to modify the fuel itself to render it more amenable to complete combustion, by providing a fuel additive—or additive fuel—noted for the unparalleled completeness of its combustion and the freedom of its effluent from the harmful contaminants common to the combustion effluents of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels. This phenomenal fuel, or fuel additive, also has the desirable characteristic of resisting leakage through imperfect tubing or pipeline joints or valves, for related reasons that are only gradually becoming better understood. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide a fuel additive, to improve the utility of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels. 
     Another object is to safeguard predominantly hydrocarbon fuels from loss by leakage during transport through pipelines or the like. 
     A further object of this invention is to improve the operation of internal-combustion engines on predominantly hydrocarbon fuels. 
     Yet another object is to provide a fuel additive—itself a fuel. 
     In general, the object of this invention are accomplished by providing a fuel additive, itself a non-fossil fuel, characterized by substantially non-polluting combustion effluent and by ability to decrease the polluting effluents of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels, such as in transport to eventual use locations, or in admixture with such fuel before or after entry into an internal-combustion engine. 
     More particularly, this fuel additive is produced as a gaseous mixture evolved in water surrounding an electric arc and with carbon supplied thereto, preferably at least in part via carbon electrodes. This evolved non-fossil gaseous mixture, itself useful as a fuel, may be supplied as an additive, or it may be fractionated to extract its small molecular components (mainly hydrogen and carbon monoxide) to leave, for use as such an additive, aggregates of some or all its constituent elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen) somehow bound otherwise than by traditional chemical molecular bonding, but presumably electromagnetically, and conveniently called “magnecules” here. 
     Addition of this fuel/additive to a gas pipeline, in an amount of about several percent (by volume) of gas being transported, can safeguard the pipeline from loss, as by physical leakage at joints, probes, valves, or other access to or outlet from the pipeline. 
     Injection of this fuel/additive to a predominantly hydrocarbon fuel for an internal-combustion engine, in an amount of at least about several percent of such fuel, can improve combustion of the fuel, reduce its content of harmful, noxious, undesirable materials present in combustion effluent from such internal-combustion engine. 
     Other objects of this invention, together with methods and means for attaining the various objects, will become apparent from the following description and accompanying diagrams of one or more embodiment(s), presented by way of example rather than limitation. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly sectioned or cut away, of an embodiment of manufacturing plant for fuel of the present invention; 
     FIGS. 2A,  2 B, and  2 C are, respectively, side elevation and end elevations, and top plan, of FIG. l&#39;s underwater electrode assembly; 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevation, of a pipeline-adjunct embodiment, also partly sectioned or cut away, to reveal reactor componentry; 
     FIG. 4 is a part-schematic side elevation of a second pipeline-adjunct embodiment illustrating internal-combustion engine uses; 
     FIGS. 5A and 5B are, respectively, a side elevation, partly cut away, and an end elevation of a pipe segment, of the embodiment of FIG. 4, including an electrode assembly different than in FIG. 3; 
     FIGS. 6 is a side elevation, partly cut away, of pipeline-adjunct apparatus of this invention including means for fractionating the gaseous product as a fuel and/or as a fuel additive; and 
     FIG. 7 is a graph of permeability vs. kinetic gas diameter, for gaseous compositions of this invention and some hydrocarbons. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1 shows in rather schematic side elevation, a first embodiment of fuel manufacturing plant  10  of this invention, viewed as three main areas: reactor and production at the right center, collection and storage at the left, and temperature control and distillation area at far right—all from an observer&#39;s point of view. 
     Prominent in the FIG. 1 production area are reactor assembly  11  (partly cut away or sectioned to reveal its interior) and electrical supply equipment  8  upright on the floor alongside it. Reactor bed  3  slopes down to its center, which is provided with drain outlet  5  and with sludge pump  6  connected by sludge line  7  to collection can  7 ′. Horizontal baffle  9  well above the bed supports electrode assembly  20  immersed in water (invisible here) nearly filling the reactor. Hood  30  overlies the electrodes and extends thereabove to collect fuel gas evolved from the water (not indicated here) in the reactor. 
     At mid-left, stairway  45  leads from the floor up and over to rod-holding magazine  40 , loadable from time to time with consumable carbon rods (not shown here) to be fed downward via discharge tube  44  and out endwise between the respective electrodes of assembly  20 . At the left of the reactor, collection line  31  leads from hood  30  to segregation tank  32 , which prevents entrained water and particulates from contaminating the collected fuel. Line  33  leads therefrom to compressor  34 , which forwards the collected gas to storage tank  38 , having underneath it valved gas outlet  39 , available for connection to transportable tanks—or intervening pipeline—to user locations. 
     Toward the right in FIG. 1, heat pump assembly  50  connects loop  51  in the reactor to larger loop  55  in tank  60  filled with water. Hood  61  overlying that tank has exhaust line  63  leading from it to to evacuation compressor  64  mounted on bracket  54  attached to the tank and actuated by temperature sensor  62  in the top of the tank. The compressor discharges into hot air/steam line  65  connected to line  66  down to condenser  57  with drain tap  59  below (at far right). 
     FIGS. 2A,  2 B,  2 C show exemplified electrode assembly embodiment  20 , from the side, end, and top, respectively. As seen most fully in FIG. 2A, twin stands  21 ,  29  rise upright from baffle  9 , to support axles  22 ,  28  in bearings (not shown) in the horizontal tops of the stands. Disk-like electrodes  24 ,  26 —on enlarged holders  23 ,  27  on the tops of the axles—form gap  25  at the closest approach to each other. The peripheral edges of the disks are tapered so that at their top the perimeter is less than their bottom perimeter. Intruding, from above, down into the gap and into contact with edges of both electrodes is rod end  41  (also shown tapered here) emerging from discharge tube  44  of magazine  40  (hidden here). The axles also carry at their lower ends, within the respective stands, respective pinion gears  12  and  18  engaged by drive gears  42  and  47 , carried on respective bracket-supported bearings ( 48  shown here for gear  28 ) for aligned shafts  15  and  17  interconnected by swivel  16 . The shafts interconnect via universal joint  14  to shaft  13  and are rotatable by turning crank handle  11  (top left), which is a manual implementation of optional automated embodiments (not shown here). 
     Operation of the foregoing embodiment is understood readily, as summarized below. Reference numerals are now omitted as superfluous. The electrode disks are assembled to their respective axles and the reactor is filled with enough water to submerge the electrodes. With AC or DC energizing electricity in the range of about 50 v. to 100 v. applied to the electrodes,the first conductive rod is lowered toward the gap between the pair of electrodes, and when the rod tip gets close enough an arc bridges the electrodes. Bubbles evolve from the arc and rise to the surface of the water. The gaseous contents of the bubbles collect under the hood and are pumped from there through a segregation tank to a large tank for storage under a pressure up to several thousand p.s.i. or a couple hundred kg/cm 2 . 
     The water in the reactor tends to get progressively hotter but is kept relatively cool, preferably about 1400° F. (600° C.) by heat-exchange in the temperature-control system. This enables generation of steam for whatever use and the condensation of potable water from the steam whether formed from brackish, polluted, or even sea water. 
     Both the conductive rod and the electrodes are consumed bit by bit by the electric arc, as is the water, whose level is maintained above the arc by added water or recirculation of steam condensate. The rods are consumed relatively rapidly and are fed in succession from the magazine above the reactor. The electrodes being consumed more slowly, may be rotated, either intermittently as in the first or continuously, to distribute their erosion evenly along their peripheral edges. Rotation of the electrodes about either vertical or horizontal axes (or alternatively about oblique axes) rotates the rods by contact so they also erode evenly. When the electrodes have eroded close to their axles, the reactor is shut down temporarily to enable electrode replacement and any needed reactor maintenance. 
     Whereas the foregoing gas-evolving embodiment has utilized a reactor with a water surface open to the ambient atmosphere, such an arrangement may be replaced by a closed reactor for operation within piping customarily filled with water as in the following views. FIG. 3 shows, in side elevation, partly sectioned or cut away to show interior components, pipeline-adjunct embodiment  100  of this invention, featuring horizontal piping having water (or wastewater) inlet flow valve segment  110  at the left, followed by inverted T-section connected to solids discharge valve segment  113  (openable downward) as well as to long horizontal intermediate piping segment  115 , followed by short interconnecting segment  118 , plus outlet flow valve segment  119  at the right end. Overhead components are connected successively to the piping—mainly to accommodate evolved gas, rather than the components from which it evolves—and include (i) control housing  170  (left of midview) overlying in-pipe electrode assembly  120 ; (ii) upright reactor product hood  130  midway, with outlet tubing  131  leading away (leftward) at its top; and iii) pressure-sensor housing  180 , which may be translucent, with weight  128  adapted to rise and fall therein, supported at variable height dependent upon the pressure of gas underlying it. 
     The contents of control housing  170  include rod feeder  171  at its open top, and vertical carbon rod  174  held (and fed) thereby downward through piston-like sealing spacer  175  into piping intermediate valve segment  119 , juxtaposing its forward end to preferably graphite electrodes  120 , secured in fixed position within the piping by any suitable means located therein (accordingly not shown here). 
     Gap-voltage-responsive device  176 , at the top, measures the voltage across the spark gap between the electrodes, and drive  177  feeds the rod downward to maintain proper voltage across the spark gap, where the arc tends to erode the electrodes, as well as the rod itself. Such control devices are well known and are commercially available. Electrical connections are understood here (rather than shown), being only a conventional adjunct to the inventive aspects. 
     Hood  130  collects, and provides temporary storage for, gaseous product evolved in the vicinity of the underwater arc across the spark gap. A control valve (not shown) is useful in outlet tubing  131  to allow release of gas for use or storage elsewhere. 
     The weighted pressure sensor  191  in hoodlike housing  190  is preferably capable of being visually observed, as an indicator of the pressure of the evolved gas, and is connected to operate high-pressure arc-voltage cut-off means (not shown) to guard against excessive gas pressure. A bleed valve (not shown) is desirable to let out air as water initially enters the piping. Also desirable is a pressure relief valve to preclude dangerous overpressure—as a precaution, if overpressure arc-voltage cut-off means should fail. 
     FIG. 4 schematically shows internal-combustion (IC) engine use of embodiment  200 , a variant of pipeline-adjunct unit  100  of FIG. 3, with the left and right hoods now superseded by covers  216  and  217 . 
     Outlet tubing branch  231 , containing control or regulator valve V, connects to cylinder  280  (shown fragmentarily) containing piston  281  on connecting rod  282  pivotally secured by connecting rod  282  to drive shaft  283 . This showing is representative of an IC engine fueled by gaseous product of the present invention. Alternative outlet tubing branch  231 ′ (with valve V′) connects to mixing head  247 , as does incoming fuel tubing  246  from a predominantly hydrocarbon fuel source (not shown). Tubing  248  connects from the mixing head to optional carburetor (or adapter) apparatus  249 , whose gaseous output enters manifold  280  and is distributed to an engine (not further shown) via branches  281 ,  282 , and  283 —conventionally serving two cylinders each (also not shown). This showing is representative of an IC engine fueled by gaseous product of the present invention injected into and thus mixed with a predominantly hydrocarbon fuel. 
     The previous vertical housing at the left of the large hood is replaced here by slanted tubular rod-holding housing  270 , with top and bottom end caps  271 ,  279 . Also shown is electrode support  276 . 
     FIGS. 5A and 5B show electrode assembly  220  and surroundings of the FIG. 4 embodiment: FIG. 5A viewing leftmost pipe segment  213  in enlarged side elevation, partly cut away; and FIG. 5B viewing the same pipe segment in end elevation, looking rightward into FIG.  5 A. 
     FIG. 5A shows pipe segment  213  cut away to reveal the upper end portion  272  of intersecting tubular rod holder  270  oriented obliquely (left to right) from above to below the pipe and having removable top and bottom end caps  271  and  279 . The holder&#39;s top half is cut away to reveal carbon rod  274  inside. The right electrode of the usually graphitic carbon electrode pair  220  is only partially visible edge-on here and conceals the left electrode, visible later. 
     FIG. 5B shows pipe segment  213  end-on, with spark gap  21  between pair of electrodes  220  retained by pair of holders  276 ,  276 .—whose adjustable ends protrude outside the piping and downward. 
     During operation of this apparatus, the carbon rod and—to a lesser extent—the electrodes are pyrolyzed when the arc is struck. The rod moves gradually downward as it is consumed, and fragments of it fall into the bottom of the holder, from which they are removable by removal of the bottom end cap. When a carbon rod is consumed, a new rod is inserted into the top of the holder and fed down until it meets the electrodes at the spark gap. Automatic feeding equipment from a magazine holding many rods may be utilized as noted before. 
     FIG. 6 shows, in side elevation, embodiment  300  of the present invention including collecting hood  330 , modified from hood  230  of previous embodiment  200  by being compartmented by a succession of semi-permeable membranes. Its purpose is to fractionate the gaseous product of this invention, for use as one or more separate fuels or fuel additives, such as for predominantly hydrocarbon fuels. 
     Modified hood  330 , here exemplified as a modification of pipe-adjunct reactor apparatus, is applicable as well to the reactor of FIG. 1, in which the water surface is open to the ambient atmosphere, and alternatively is applicable to a free-standing equivalent thereof sealed off from the atmosphere, as may be preferred so as to facilitate feeding pressurized intermediate or end-use apparatus. 
     Hood  330  receives bubbles of the gaseous mixture evolving from the underwater carbon arc (not shown here) from the indicated water into its base opening. The hood is subdivided at successive levels into four compartments: (i) the first or lowest compartment,  331 , bounded below by the water and bounded above by fine membrane  332 ; (ii) the second compartment,  333 , bounded below by membrane  332 , and bounded above by finer membrane  334 ; (iii) the third compartment,  335 , bounded below by membrane  334 , and bounded above by finest semi-permeable membrane  336 ; and (iv), the fourth and last compartment,  337 , bounded below by membrane  336  and by the top (and sides, of course) of the hood. 
     Each of compartments  331 ,  333 ,  335 , and  337  has corresponding outlet fittings, at left and right, respectively: lowest (or first) compartment  331  has left outlet  341  with valve  351 , and right outlet  361  with valve  371 ; next (or second) compartment  333  has left outlet  343  with valve  353 , and right outlet  363  with valve  373 ; next (or third) compartment  335  has left outlet  345  with valve  355 , and right outlet  365  with valve  375 ; and topmost (or last) compartment  337  has left outlet  347  with valve  357 , and right outlet  367  with valve  377 . 
     The outlets at the left are free-standing, available for single or multiple connection to one or more collection devices or to one or more use devices, e.g., IC engines, cutting or welding torches. 
     The outlets at the right join manifold piping  380 , which leads via connecting pipe  381  to large pipeline  385 , which may already contain a predominantly hydrocarbon fuel or may be a pipeline to convey all or part of the mix resulting from the present invention elsewhere. 
     If all of the valves at the right (to the pipeline) are closed, and all the valves at the left, except lowermost valve  351 , are open, fractionation of the evolved product mix will occur. The top compartment will collect, and be able to output via outlet  347 , the component gas having the greatest ability to traverse the increasingly fine semi-permeable membranes, in this instance only hydrogen. The immediately preceding compartment will collect, and be able to output via outlet  345 , product gases of intermediate kinetic gas diameter, which passed readily through least fine membrane  332  but found finer membrane  334  an obstacle, here mainly carbon monoxide. Compartment  333 , the lowest compartment bounded by two membranes, will collect and be able to output the remaining bulkier components. 
     Thus, pipeline  385 , or other intended use apparatus/location, may receive either the complete product mix evolved according to the underwater electric arcing of this invention, or only some selected component(s) thereof, whichever may be preferred. For reasons to be considered below, the choicest additive may be the component(s) that predominate in the first ( 333 ) of the two-membrane compartments. 
     FIG. 7 shows a graph of permeability vs. kinetic gas diameter, for ten gaseous compositions, including a couple of this invention, and some hydrocarbons. For each gas, its permeability&#39;s (log 10 ) is plotted against its kinetic gas diameter to suggest how differential diffusion via semi-permeable membranes enables separation of gases. The smaller and lighter gases cluster in the upper left, whereas the larger and heavier gases disperse lower and/or further to the right. 
     Not all semi-permeable membranes are alike, and membranes of diverse compositions may have unlike effects upon certain gases for chemical and/or electromagnetic reasons not yet fully understood. (The exemplified location of CO 2  in this graph may be anomalous or may result from tailoring of a particular membrane for such effect.) 
     Such graphical showing aside, empirically observed diffusion of the gaseous mixture obtained by underwater carbon arcing has shown drastic (order-of-magnitude) differences in diffusion rates/times. Thus, with a single semi-permeable membrane (helium-grade balloon) enclosing the as-produced mixture, at least one prominent component (notably, hydrogen) diffused through it in several hours; one or more presumably larger gases (predominantly, carbon monoxide) took several days, whereas several months later some of the mix was still holding the balloon partially inflated. Empirical observation also revealed a leak-resistant quality when the gaseous product mixture was stored under appreciable pressure in a gas cylinder from which air leaked much more readily. The mixture was also observed to clog tubing of laboratory (e.g., gas spectroscopic) equipment. Qualified laboratories in Europe and the United States have confirmed presence of large/heavy constituents not conforming to any known compounds, for which the term “magnecules” has been suggested, based upon some theoretical considerations advanced by an eminent physicist familiar with sub-nuclear compositions and reactions. Whatever the technical aspects, knowledge of them is not essential to the practice of this invention as presented in the accompanying description and diagrams. 
     Hence, fuel gas pipelines can be rendered less susceptible to loss from leakage by being dosed with an effective amount of such a gaseous mixture obtained from such underwater carbon arcing, or only with the heavy or magnecule-rich fraction thereof, equivalent to at least about several percent by volume of the treated pipeline gas. 
     Moreover, the noxious effluents from predominantly hydrocarbon gases can be greatly reduced by dosing with the gaseous product of such underwater carbon arcing, or such heaviest fraction. Also the particulate effluent from a diesel engine, or an old gasoline engine can be similarly greatly reduced by such dosing. No observer of the such dosing can deny the immediately observable (aurally, nasally, and visually) resulting benefits in the immediate vicinity. 
     Adoption of this invention for fuel of new automotive vehicles would enable them to meet strict IC effluent environmental standards and would ameliorate the ill effects from older vehicles if adopted. 
     Preferred embodiments and variants have been suggested for this invention. Other modifications may be made, as by adding, combining, deleting, or subdividing compositions, parts, or steps, while retaining at least some of the advantages and benefits of the present invention—which itself is defined in the following claims.