Patent ID: 7370610

Claim:
A fuel system for an engine having a fuel intake, comprising: a main fuel tank for supplying a primary fuel to the engine; a distillation column assembly including a distillation column to distill liquid fuel to form a volatile light fraction secondary fuel, the distillation column including: a housing having an upper end portion, a lower end portion, and a medial portion extending therebetween, a fuel feed port extending through the medial portion of the housing and positioned to receive feed fuel from the main fuel tank for distillation, the feed fuel including light fraction fuel components and heavy fraction fuel components, a light fraction output port extending through the upper end portion of the housing and positioned to allow output of distilled light fraction fuel components, a heavy fraction output port extending through the lower end portion of the housing and positioned to allow output of heavy fraction fuel components, a vaporizing module positioned adjacent the lower end portion of the housing to at least partially vaporize the feed fuel to enhance separation of the feed fuel into light fraction fuel components and heavy fraction fuel components, a condensing module positioned adjacent the upper end portion of the housing to condense heavy fraction fuel components so that fuel exiting the light fraction output port is substantially light fraction fuel components by volume, and a packed column comprising a three-dimensional column of porous heat conductive material positioned within the housing between the vaporizing module and the condensing module to enhance fuel distillation; and a controller positioned to control the vaporization of the feed fuel by the vaporizing module to thereby control the separation of the feed fuel into the light fraction fuel components and heavy fraction fuel components, and positioned to control the condensation of the heavy fraction fuel components by the condensing module so that fuel exiting the light fraction output port is substantially light fraction fuel components by volume.