Patent ID: 8820269

Claim:
Method of operating a compression ignition engine on ether containing fuel obtained by on board conversion of an alcohol containing primary fuel, comprising the steps of: (a) withdrawing the alcohol containing primary fuel from a fuel tank and pressurising the primary fuel to a final engine injection pressure; (b) introducing the pressurized primary fuel into a catalytic dehydration reactor; (c) in the reactor, catalytically dehydrating the pressurized primary fuel to ether containing fuel by contact with an alcohol dehydration catalyst; and (d) withdrawing the ether containing fuel from the reactor and injecting the ether containing fuel into the engine, wherein the pressurized primary fuel is heated within the reactor to reaction temperature prior to the catalytic dehydration by indirect heat exchange with the ether containing fuel and thereby cooling the ether containing fuel prior to be withdrawn from the reactor, wherein the indirect heat exchange is carried out in a plate heat-exchanger.