rexresearch.com
Wen-Jhy LEE / Chun-Chi CHEN
Emulsified Wastewater-Heavy Oil Fuel
Emulsified Wastewater-Heavy Oil Fuel
http://gas2.org/2009/01/05/new-fuel-made-with-wastewater-drastically-reduces-emissions/
New Fuel Made With Wastewater
Drastically Reduces Emissions
by Nick Chambers
by Nick Chambers
A team of Taiwanese researchers has combined industrial waste water and petroleum oil to make a new fuel that could largely eliminate the costly treatment of industrial air emissions from boilers, is an environmentally-friendly way to treat industrial wastewater, and could increase fuel efficiency by 14%.
Worldwide, many industrial processes depend on steam boilers that are powered by what’s called heavy fuel oil (HFO). In the US, where coal and natural gas are plentiful, boilers are not typically run on HFO, but many homes in the Northeast US are still heated with furnaces that use HFO. These boilers are notorious for spewing out toxins into the environment when untreated.
Current laws require industrial boilers to be fitted with air pollution control devices that treat the emissions so they satisfy air quality regulations. At the same time, many of these industries produce a lot of wastewater that needs to be treated as well. All of this treatment adds up to a hefty bill, which, some would argue, stifles innovation and holds the economy back.
So what if we could kill two birds with one stone? What if the same wastewater coming out of these factories could be mixed with standard HFO to make a new type of fuel that burns much cleaner? We’d be satisfying the needs of our environment with the needs of industry for a beautiful win-win solution — exactly what the world needs more of.
A research team at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan has set about to make this fantasy a reality. They’ve discovered that when they mix 80% HFO with 19.9% wastewater and 0.1% surfactant, then burn it in a boiler, carbon monoxide emissions are reduced by 84% compared to the emissions generated by burning standard heavy petroleum oil in the same boiler. Not only that, the new fuel also drastically reduces other emissions such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organics.
The addition of the wastewater to the oil causes microexplosions prior to ignition of the oil which, in turn, causes the oil to atomize into a fine vapor. This increases the surface area of the oil and leads to more complete combustion. The water also lowers the temperature of combustion of the entire mixture which also reduces pollution from nitrogen oxides.
Although the team has only focused on boiler applications to this point (understandably; there are about 6000 industrial boilers in Taiwan alone using 12 billion liters of HFO annually), there is no reason this type of fuel couldn’t be used in a standard diesel engine with a bit of modification.
Emission Concentrations of SO2, CO, NOx,
and PM in Flue Gases for Different Fuels
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es0717156
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 42 (1), pp 270–275
DOI: 10.1021/es0717156
November 30, 2007
Using Oily Wastewater Emulsified Fuel
in Boiler: Energy Saving and Reduction of Air Pollutant
Emissions
Chun-Chi Chen and Wen-Jhy Lee *
Department of Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
* Corresponding author phone: 886-6-275-7575, ext. 65831; fax: 886-6-275-2790; e-mail: wjlee@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
Synopsis
The extent of pollution reduction in boiler flue gas, as well as enhanced energy saving, by using wastewater-emulsified oil fuel is investigated.
Abstract
The limited data for using emulsified oil have demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing flue gas pollutant emissions. The presence of a high concentration of toxic organic compounds in industrial wastewaters always presents significant problems. Therefore, this study was undertaken by using wastewater with COD of 9600 mg/L and total petroleum hydrocarbons-gasoline 440 mg/L for making an emulsified oil (wastewater content 20% with 0.1% surfactant) to evaluate the extent of reductions in both criteria pollutants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For comparison, two other systems (heavy oil fuel and water-emulsified oil) were also conducted. The wastewater-emulsified oil fuel results in significant reductions in particulate matter (PM), NOx, SO2, and CO as compared to heavy oil fuel and similar to those from water/oil emulsified fuel; for PM, it is better in wastewater-emulsified oil. The reductions of total PAH flue gas emissions are 38 and 30% for wastewater- and water-emulsified fuel, respectively; they are 63 and 44% for total BaPeq, respectively. In addition to reducing flue gas pollutant emissions, the results also demonstrate that the use of wastewater-emulsified fuel in boiler operation provides several advantages: (1) safe disposal of industrial wastewater; and (2) energy savings of about 13%. Thus, wastewater/oil-emulsified fuel is highly suitable for use in boilers.
Method for producing emulsified fuels
by using oily water
US2009151231
US2009151231
The present invention provides a method for producing emulsified fuels by using oily water, including the following steps: (I) adequately mixing oily water formed by dissolving about 0.02-30% w/w of flammable fuels into water with about 0.01-3% w/w of an emulsifier; (II) then preliminarily mixing with about 60-95% w/w of traditional heavy oils or about 75-98% w/w of traditional diesel; and (III) further mixing and emulsifying the whole so as to produce oily water added emulsified heavy oil (abbreviated as OWEH) or oily water added emulsified diesel (abbreviated as OWED). The oily water can be specifically produced based on the foregoing concentration ratio, and can directly use oily industrial wastewater, or can use oily industrial wastewater after simple removal of solid impurities. If the oil contents of the oily industrial wastewater is insufficient, the oil water with proper concentration may be produced for use through a concentration process. The adopted emulsifier can be an emulsifier that is general and commercialized and facilitates mixing oil with water uniformly. When the oily water added emulsified heavy oils ( abbreviated as OWEH) or the oily water added emulsified diesel (abbreviated as OWED) produced by the production method of this invention are respectively used in a heavy oil boiler and an diesel engine, the combustion efficiency can be significantly improved and air pollutant emission can be reduced, and at the same time the effect of energy saving can be achieved.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the invention
[0002] The invention relates to a process for manufacturing emulsified fuels by using “oily water”, that is proceeded by following steps: (1) preparing the “oily water” that has 0.02 ~30% (w/w) of combustible fuels dissolved in water and is blended with surfactants (or called as emulsifiers) by 0.01 ~3% (w/w); (2) primarily mixing the emulsified “oily water” with surfactants, that was finished by step (1), with 60 ~95% (w/w) of heavy fuel oil (abbreviation as heavy oil) or with 75 ~98% (w/w) of diesel, respectively; and (3) keeping the mixtures that were finished by step (2), respectively, and mixed up further by using homogenizer to become an “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH) or an “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED). The OWEH and the OWED can be utilized for industrial boilers and diesel engines, respectively, not only elevates combustion efficiency and lower pollutant emission, but also save energy and reduce cost.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Commonly, the traditional heavy fuel oil (abbreviation as heavy oil) or diesel have defects of inferior atomization, inhomogeneous mixing of air and fuel. Therefore, in the combustion furnace, a high fuel concentration spot occurred and fuel was thermally decomposed in the oxygen lean condition to cause incomplete combustion and to produce a great amount of unburned carbon particulates and black smoke in the stack flue gases. In this way, the incomplete combustion not only induced environmental pollutions, but also increased fuel consumption. Therefore, emulsified fuels such as emulsified heavy oil and emulsified diesel have been commercially provided. Comparatively, in the combustion of the emulsified fuels, syngases of water/fuel may take place by means of micro-explosion to keep coarse droplets of the emulsified fuels cracked into smaller ones, able to apparently upgrade atomization to promote combustion efficiency. Moreover, the explosion of the fuel droplets can enhance perfect turbulence in the combustion chamber to further raise combustion efficiency, to lower fuel consumption, and to oxidize the carbon particulates produced by incomplete combustion. That can effectively prohibit the black smoke in the stack flue gases, accordingly boosting environmental protection. The conventional processes of emulsified fuels known so far are always based on water (clean groundwater or city tap water) mixing with surfactants and heavy oil (or diesel), which are directly blended together in a certain ratio to become a “water-in-oil emulsified fuel”: a so-called water emulsified heavy oil (WEH) or water emulsified diesel (WED). However, such a water-in-oil emulsified fuel not only can not achieve a stable emulsification condition, result in the separation of water and oil, but also do not display a significant energy saving fraction to afford a high expanse for the costs of emulsification process such as surfactants, hardware and labor costs. Therefore, the emulsified fuels were not popularly commercialized in the past twenty years.
[0005] In this invention, during this study of trying to overcome the defects of the conventional “water-in-oil emulsified fuels” — water emulsified heavy oil (WEH) or water emulsified diesel (WED), the oily industrial waste water has been simultaneously studied. It has been found that conventional treatment of the oily industrial waste water is rather uneconomic. So, an idea of recycling the oily industrial waste water came up then. More minutely, there are several problems found in conventional treatment of oily industrial waste water such as a high concentration of oil in water which was not easily bio-degradable, a high wastewater treatment cost, a low removal efficiency and always a result in secondary pollutions. Although the oily industrial waste water can be treated more effectively by liquid injected incineration, but a soaring cost of auxiliary fuel makes it impractical. Thus, inspired by the concept—“Treating it, why not recycling it”, the invention has at length been devised to improve the defects of the conventional water emulsified fuels by making use of oily industrial waste water.
[0006] For need of study, the inventor has deeply realized the relative prior arts and summarized their conclusions as mentioned below.
[0007] (1) Emulsified diesel can promote combustion efficiency of diesel engines and lower emission of NO, THC and PM without obvious increase of fuel consumption (Samec et al., 2002, see item 1 in Appendix 1; Armas et al., 2005, see item 2 in Appendix 1).
[0008] (2) Emulsified diesel can lower heat flux, heat load and crank abrasion of a diesel engine (Sii et al., 1995, see item 3 in Appendix 1; Selim and Elfeky, 2001, see item 4 in Appendix 1). And, as water content is increased, the diesel engine is to enhance its torsion, power and thermal efficiency, but the temperature of the exhausted gas drops down instead (Abu-Zaid, 2004, see item 5 in Appendix 1).
[0009] (3) Emulsified fuel made from rapeseed and slurry of C. vulgaris can reduce emission of NOx, but increase CO emission and fuel consumption (Scragg et al., 2003, see item 6 in Appendix 1). On the contrary, if an oxygenated diglymeu is added to emulsified fuels, NOx emission and combustion efficiency are to be increased, but fuel consumption rate, specific fuel consumption, smoke and CO emission are to drop down (Lin and Wang, 2004, see item 7 in Appendix 1).
[0010] (4) Emulsified diesel added with an oxygenated agent is to elevate its activity and stability (Lin and Wang, 2003, see item 8 in Appendix 1).
[0011] (5) Emulsified fuels added with linear-structure oxygenated agents can reduce PM emission more effectively than those added with ring-structure oxygenated agent can. In addition, owing to the increase of atomic oxygen, the emulsified fuels are to have a higher combustion temperature, enhancing an increase of NOx formation (Song et al., 2004, see item 9 in Appendix 1).
[0012] (6) In investigating the flame via burning cumene with a high air ratio, it is found NOx emission is lowered because fu e I lam i n a r is burned around recycled area under a relative temperature, owing to the outer circumference of fuel diluted with an excess of air before ignition (Takagi et al., 1981, see item 10 in Appendix 1).
[0013] (7) With intake air enrichment, NOx emission is to increase as the size of fuel droplet is increased, but to lower in case of carrying out a staged combustion (England et al., 1980, see item 11 in Appendix 1).
[0014] (8) Baltaser found that NOx emission is to reduce with an increase of high pollution reflux, possible to affect the whole flame stability, combustion efficiency, and emission of CO and hydrocarbons burned incompletely (Baltaser et al., 1997, see item 12 in Appendix 1).
[0015] (9) Chung found that HLB are 5.5 and 13.7 for the most stable W/O and O/W respectively. Usually, after emulsified fuel droplet is vibrated by supersonic, the size of water droplet changes significantly inside oil, examined under electron microscope. For lighter fuels, such as octane, no matter if it is W/O or O/W, the phase having a small size is to evaporate swiftly. As for heavier fuels, such as cetane, diesel or heavy oil, they are apt to make microburst. But, if water is blended homogeneously with fuel in extremely minor droplets, so as to perform a water-in-oil emulsification, the water droplets are not to retard combustion at all, and instead, are effective to diminish carbon smoke and incomplete combustion for saving energy (Chung, 1990, see item 13 in Appendix 1).
[0016] (10) Shu, Y. C. reveals that base heavy oil or wasted oil added with water can lower its thermal effect because oil is partially replaced by water that is to absorb the heat produced by oil combustion. The boiler temperature is determined by a comparison between the effect of microburst and the heat loss after adding water in oil. An optimal addition of water can achieve effective microburst to raise combustion efficiency for compensating heat loss absorbed by water. If a large quantity of water is added, even though effective microburst happens, they are not effective enough to compensate the heat loss. In pollution treatments, there are two main factors that pose a reduction of NOx formation for burning oil added with water. First, the temperature is lowered by water to reduce thermal NO formation. Second, water is added to render a reduction of nitrogen content in oil, so that NOx formation is lowered. But, it noted that water fraction must be reached to a certain level (approx. 10%) to lower NOx formation, otherwise, NOx formation is to be increased, possible to increase partial high temperature caused by micro bursts and to further enhance thermal NO formation. As for SOx, it is clearly found SOx formation is reduced in the combustion of base oil or wasted oil added with water, because of the addition of water diluting total sulfur contained in oil (Shu, Y. C. 2003, see item 14 in Appendix 1).
[0017] According to the patent bulletin of Patent Office of Taiwan, R. O. C., it reveals that six patents are involved in reduction of pollution emission via using emulsified diesel and emulsified heavy oil, abbreviated as follows.
[0018] 1. Patent No. 090123561 (2001, patentee: Kevin Brown, Canadian, see item 15 in Appendix 1) pertains to processes for reducing pollutants contained in the exhaust of diesel engines, including (1) burning a water-diesel emulsion in a diesel engine, and (2) keeping the exhaust filtrated through a particulate matters filter. The water-diesel emulsion is composed of diesel with a fraction ranging from 50 to 98% by wt, water having a fraction ranging from 1 to 50% by wt, and surfactant with a fraction of 0.02 ~20% by wt. The surfactant is selected from (i) a product soluble in fuels and made by the reaction of an acetylation agent of carboxylic acid having at least one substituted alkyl and ammonium or amine or polyamine, wherein the substituted alkyl has 50 ~500 atomic carbons; (ii) at least an ion- or non-ion compound having HLB ranging from 1 ~40; (iii) a mixture of (i) and (ii); (iv) an agglomerate of water-soluble compounds including salts of amine, salts of ammonium, nitrate, ammonium nitrate, nitro compound, salts of alkaline metals and salts of alkaline-earth metals, and a combination of (i), (ii) and (iii); (v) a product produced by reacting a multi-acid polymer with a product soluble in fuels, wherein the product soluble in fuels is obtained by the reaction of an acetylation agent of a carboxylic acid having at least one substituted alkyl with ammonium or amine or polyamine; and (vi) an agglomerate composed of a mixture of (ii) and (v), wherein water and diesel kept in a dispersed phase consisting of water droplets having a mean diameter of 1 µm or less.
[0019] 2. Patent No. 73104278 (1984 & 1988, patentee: Chang Lin enterprise corp., Taiwan, see item 16 in Appendix 1) pertains to a method for manufacturing fuels containing an air pollution inhibitor. The procedures include (1) preparation of ingredients: (a) to take 0.25 pound of potassium chlorate and grind it into powder, solve it in distilled water as a 0.25 liter solution and let it stay for 24 hours until being filtrated, (b) to add 0.25 pound of camphor powder in 0.45 liter of diesel to become a 0.5 liter mixture of camphor and diesel via heating, (c) to add 0.035 pound of m-cresol in 0.465 liter of diesel to become a 0.5 liter mixture of m-cresol and diesel; (2) mixing jobs: (d) to put 0.055 liter of surfactant (a non-ion surfactant with a HBL value ranging between 3 ~8) in 0.045 liter of methanol and mix them up homogeneously, (e) to add and mix 0.05 liter of hydrogen peroxide in 0.25 liter of the potassium chlorate solution obtained in stage (a), (f) mix up 0.5 liter camphor-diesel mixture obtained in stage (b) with 0.5 liter m-cresol-diesel mixture obtained in stage (c); and (3) to mix up the mixtures obtained in stages (d) and (e) respectively to become a new mixture, from which is taken out 0.002 liter to blend with 0.998 liter of soft water, and next to take 20% (by volume) of the solution mixed with 80% of original fuels (three denoted as A, B and C), and then added with 0.1% (in volume) of the mixture of (b) and (c) for 0.5 liter respectively via a mixing for 4 minutes to form the fuel mixture containing air pollution inhibitors.
[0020] 3. Patent No. 91134811 (2002, patentee: Chen, G. C. Taiwanese, see item 17 in Appendix 1) pertains to a device for the treatment of exhaust, consisting of a packed tower for exhausted gas to pass in via an inlet tube and an ultra-sonic final-fog humidifier installed in the inlet tube for the formation of minor fog that is generated when normal fog hits an ultra-sonic resonance magnifier installed in the ultra-sonic final-fog humidifier, so that pollutants in the exhaust are to be absorbed by the minor fog to lower air pollution.
[0021] 4. Patent No. 88100400 (1999, patentee: Robert, R. Murry, American, see item 18 in Appendix 1) pertains to a device for decomposing and oxidizing gas-phase pollutants. The device is provided with a thermal reactor, at least an entrance, a second entrance, an annular room, a packed bed, an air entry, a cleaning device and a monitoring device. The thermal reactor is provided with a central chamber having an inlet and a outlet, a heating element, a side inlet communicating with an external space confined by its outer wall and the heating element, an internal space confined by its inner wall and the heating element, a sharp hole cut in its inner wall for transmitting air in the internal space to the central chamber. The entrance used to guide air to flow into the thermal reactor includes a guiding tube having its end portion positioned in the thermal reactor and in a tube extended over the end of the guiding tube for defining a room in the tube. The tube has an opening end for communicating with the interior of the thermal reactor. The second entrance is provided in the guiding tube for letting other gas flow into the guiding tube. The annular room positioned at the outlet of the reactor is provided with an opening upper end for forcing a liquid to run into the annular room to form vortex, which then flows through the upper end and exhausts into the gas flowing in the central room. This liquid and gas then flows upward through the packed bed against the down-flowing liquid. The air entry is used to force air circulating at the upper portion of the packed bed so as to enhance condensation and particulate growth in the packed bed. The cleaning device utilized to remove chemical pollutants in the gas stream is composed of an entry letting gas stream flow into the cleaning device, and at least two packings set vertically and spaced apart and having a coating respectively for catching pollutants or reacting with them. The monitoring device is to detect the volume of pollutant removed from the gas flowing through the cleansing device, and to control re-generated coating to be selectively inducted to each bed so as to re-supply coating to the packings.
[0022] 5. Patent No. 86100467 (1997, patentee: Lagas, Jan, Adolf, see item 19 in Appendix 1) concerns about a process for the removal of sulfur pollutants, aromatics and hydrocarbons. The process employs cyclobutane as a substrate absorber combined with secondary or third amine to remove sulfur pollutants formed as mercaptan and H2S and to retrieve sulfur element contained in hydrocarbons emission (including CO2, higher aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons). Actually, the process is to eliminate sulfides and CO2 via chemical or physical or chemical/physical absorbers.
[0023] 6. Patent No. 81207216 (1992, patentee: Kobe, S. Moore, American, see item 20 in Appendix 1) pertains to a liquid fuel distributor for preventing pollution. The distributor is composed of a fuel distributing unit, a fuel storing tank, a pump used to transfer the fuel in the fuel storing tank and possessing a fuel outlet, a filtration container having both a fuel inlet connected with the fuel outlet of the pump and a fuel outlet, a filtration mechanism and a tube mechanism used to transfer the fuel in the filtration container to the fuel distributing unit. The filtration mechanism installed in the filtration container is employed to filter the fuel and able to automatically cease running the process in case that the pollutants has been collected to a certain amount.
[0024] The invention has been devised to improve the defects of the conventional water-in-oil emulsified fuels, such as water emulsified heavy oil (WEH) and water emulsified diesel (WED), as mentioned previously.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0025] The objective of this invention is to offer a process for manufacturing emulsified fuels by using “oily water”, not only easily prepared with a low cost, but also able to elevate combustion efficiency, to lower pollutant emission, and to save energy.
[0026] For heavy fuel oil, the process for manufacturing emulsified fuels by using “oily water” in the invention includes the following steps: (1) preparing the “oily water” that has 0.02 ~30% (w/w) of combustible fuel dissolved in water and is blended with surfactants (or called as emulsifiers) by 0.01 ~3% (w/w); (2) primarily mixing a mixture of the “oily water” with surfactants, that was finished in step (1), with 60 ~95% (w/w) of conventional heavy fuel oil; and, (3) having a mixture of step (2) mixed up further by using homogenizer to become an “oily water emulsified heavy oil”.
[0027] For diesel, the process for manufacturing emulsified fuels by using “oily water” in the invention includes the following steps: (1) preparing the “oily water” that has 0.02 ~30% (w/w) of combustible fuel dissolved in water and is blended with surfactants (or called as emulsifiers) by 0.01 ~3% (w/w); (2) primarily mixing a mixture of the “oily water” with surfactants, that was finished in step (1), with 75 ~98% (w/w) of conventional diesel; and, (3) having a mixture of step (2) mixed up further by using homogenizer to become an “oily water emulsified diesel”.
[0028] The “oily water” can be prepared purposely by the specified concentration mentioned above.
[0029] The “oily water” can be directly selected from oily industrial waste water.
[0030] The “oily water” can be selected from oily industrial waste water that has been filtered to get rid of solid impurities.
[0031] The “oily water” can be selected from oily industrial waste water that is concentrated to a proper concentration in case of having a lower original concentration.
[0032] The surfactants (or so called as emulsifiers) can be any of commercial ones as long as it is capable of keeping oil and water homogeneously mixed.
[0033] The “oily water” is “water containing dissolved fuel”.
[0034] The “dissolved fuel” is a mixture of at least one, two mixed or three or more mixed compound selected from the group consisting of combustible alcohols (including substituted groups such as bio-alcohols and glycerin), alkanes (including substituted groups), benzens (including substituted groups), ethers (including substituted groups), aldehydes (including substituted groups), ketones (including substituted groups), organic acids (including substituted groups), esters (including substituted groups), mineral oils (including cutting oils), lubricating oils, gasoline, diesel (including biodiesel, vegetable oils and animal oils used for producing biodiesel), and heavy oils (including fuel oils, residue oil or circulation oil).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0035] This invention can be well understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0036] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a process for manufacturing emulsified fuels by using “oily water” in the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0037] As shown in FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of a process for manufacturing emulsified fuels by using “oily water” in the present invention is processed with the following steps: (a) preparing the “oily water” that has 0.02 ~30% (w/w) of combustible fuel dissolved in water and blended with surfactants (or called as emulsifiers) by 0.01 ~3% (w/w); (b) mixing the “oily water” an d the surfactants t h at was finished by step (a) with 60 ~95% (w/w) of conventional heavy fuel oil or with 75 ~98% (w/w) of conventional diesel, respectively; (c) mixing the two mixtures, respectively, that was finished by step (b) further by using homogenizer to become an “oily water emulsified heavy oil”, denoted as OWEH, and an “oily water emulsified diesel”, denoted as OWED, respectively.
[0038] As the “oily water” is a necessary raw material in the present invention, it therefore must be obtained before proceeding with any further manufacturing step. The “oily water” is gained via plural ways: (1) adding 0.0 ~30% (w/w) of combustible fuel in to water to form the “oily water” used as an additive in the present invention; (2) directly making use of oily industrial waste water containing 0.02?30% (w/w) of combustible fuel as the “oily water” or filter the oily industrial waste water in advance by a simple filtration means if there are solid impurities existing in the industrial waste water; (3) concentrating the oily industrial waste water to the range 0.02 ~30% (w/w) needed for the “oily water” of the invention in case of too low oil concentration in water. It is should be noted the “oily water” cannot contain too high concentration of corrosive species such as fluorine, chlorine, or bromine.
[0039] No matter how the “oily water” having 0.02 ~30% (w/w) of combustible fuel is obtained, it can be used as the additive of the invention. The “oily water” is further defined as “water containing dissolved fuel”, wherein the “dissolved fuel” can be a mixture of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of combustible alcohols (including substituted groups such as bio-alcohols and glycerin), alkanes (including substituted groups), benzens (including substituted groups), ethers (including substituted groups), aldehydes (including substituted groups), ketones (including substituted groups), organic acids (including substituted groups), esters (including substituted groups), mineral oils (including cutting oils), lubricating oils, gasoline, diesel (including biodiesel, vegetable oils and animal oils used for producing biodiesel), and heavy oils (including fuel oils, residue oil or circulation oil). In the embodiment, the combustible “dissolved fuel” (or their mixture) are first dissolved homogeneously in water to become the “oily water” that is consecutively added and homogeneously blended with surfactants (or so called as emulsifiers). Then, conventional heavy oil or conventional diesel is added in by a designated concentration, mixed up to get well emulsified to become the “oily water emulsified heavy” (briefed as OWEH) or the “oily water emulsified diesel” (briefed as OWED).
[0040] The “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (briefed as OWEH) has been practically tested to show a better stability than conventional water emulsified heavy oils; in a heavy oil boiler test, the particulate matter (PM), the total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the total toxicity equivalent concentration (Total-BaPeq), the carbon monoxide (CO) and the nitrogen oxides (NOx) contained in stack flue gases are obviously lowered and are greatly saving the energy.
[0041] As for the “oily water emulsified diesel” (briefed as OWED) tested in a diesel engine, it also well achieved a reduction of pollutant emission and save energy. Therefore, the “oily water emulsified fuels” produced by the present invention can really raise combustion efficiency, lower the pollutant emission, and save energy.
[0042] First of all, the terms expressed in the experiments related with heavy oil and diesel is to be clarified in the following description. Traditional heavy oil (EH-0) represents that it contains complete traditional heavy oil added with 0% of tap water or “oily water”. Water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) represents that it contains 20% of tap water and 80% of traditional heavy oil. “Oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) represents that it contains 20% of the “oily water” and 80% of traditional heavy oil. Traditional diesel (ED-0) represents that it contains a complete traditional diesel added with 0% of tap water or “oily water”. Water emulsified diesel (WED-13) represents that it contains 13% of water and 87% of traditional diesel. “Oily water emulsified diesel with “oily water” (OWED-13) represents that it contains 13% of the “oily water” and 87% of traditional diesel.
[0043] In heavy oil experiments, the traditional heavy oil used in the invention is No. 6 heavy oil purchased from a petroleum company in Taiwan, conforming to the specifications of fuel oils for industrial boilers. The “oily water” is supplied by a waste oil recycling factory located in southern Taiwan. Usually, in order to reduce water content in recycled waste oils, it is stripped off by thermal vacuum treatment. The industrial waste water is treated to keep oils and water separated, with the upper oil layer recycled for being used as fuel and with the lower layer of “oily water” used in the experiments of the invention. As shown in Appendix 2, the “oily water” has been analyzed to have the following data: chemical oxygen demand (COD) being 9600 mg/L, total petroleum hydrocarbon as gasoline (TPH-gasoline) being 444 mg/L, total petroleum hydrocarbon as diesel (TPH-diesel) being 97 mg/L. The “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) is formulated by first blending 0.5% surfactants (or so called as emulsifier s) in “oily water” and then obtained (OWEH-20) by adding 20% (W/W) of the “oily water with surfactants” in 80% of traditional heavy oil (EH-0). As for the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20), it is formulated by first blending surfactants (or so called as emulsifiers) in 20% (W/W) of tap water (regularly used in southern Taiwan) that is then sufficiently mixed with 80% (W/W) of traditional heavy oil (EH-0).
[0044] According to experiments of a heavy oil boiler, the average emission factors of particulate matter (PM) obtained when the boiler creates one kJ of steam heat are 4.3, 3.7 and 2.7 mg/kJ steam for the traditional heavy oil (EH-0), the emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) respectively. If the traditional heavy oil (EH-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100%, the average emission factors of particulate matter (PM) for the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) are comparatively reduced by 20.9% and 37.2% respectively; and, 16.3% of the average emission factors of particulate matter (PM) is reduced if comparing the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) with the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20).
[0045] In terms of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), it has been found that the average emission factors of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) generated while producing one kJ steam by boiler are respectively 2.83, 2.10 and 1.82 µg/kJ-steam for the traditional heavy oil (EH-0), the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20). If the traditional heavy oil (EH-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100%, the emission factors of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) are comparatively reduced by 25.8% and 35.7% respectively; and, 9.9% of the emission factor of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) i s decreased if comparing the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) with the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20). By comparing total toxicity equivalent concentration (Total-BaPeq), it has been found that the average emission factors of total toxicity equivalent concentration (Total-BaPeq) generated while producing one kJ steam by boiler are respectively 29.5, 17.8 and 15.6 ng/kJ-steam for the traditional heavy oil (EH-0), the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20). If the traditional heavy oil (EH-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100%, the emission factor of totla toxicity concentration (Total-BaPeq) for the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy” (OWEH-20) are comparatively reduced by 39.7% and 47.1% respectively; and, 7.4% of the emission factor of total toxicity concentration (Total-BaPeq) is lowered if comparing the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) with the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20).
[0046] As for the concentration of carbon monoxide (CO), its average concentrations are respectively 171, 35.0 and 27.0 ppmv for the traditional heavy oil (EH-0), the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20). If the traditional heavy oil (EH-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100%, the average concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) for the water emulsified heavy oil (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) are comparatively lowered by 79.5% and 84.2% respectively; and, it is lowered by 4.7% if comparing the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) with the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20). With regard to the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx), its average concentrations are respectively 198, 178 and 168 ppmv for the traditional heavy oil (EH-0), the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20). If the traditional heavy oil (EH-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100%, the average concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) for the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) are comparatively lowered by 10.1% and 15.2% respectively; and, it is lowered by 5.1 % if comparing the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) with the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20).
[0047] As the data shown in Appendix 3, the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) is more stable than the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20).
[0048] Viewing from energy efficiency of a boiler, it has been found that the average energy efficiency of the traditional heavy oil (EH-0), the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20) and the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) are respectively 43%, 47% and 49%. That is, if the consumption of the traditional heavy oil (EH-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100% while generating a certain amount of steam by boiler, the average consumption of energy by the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20) and by the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) are comparatively lowered by 9.3% and 14% respectively; and, it is lowered by 4.7% if comparing the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) with the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20). It should be noted that the “oily water” used in the experiments of the invention contains about 1% (W/W) of dissolved combustible fuel. So, the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) contains about 0.2% (W/W) of fuel more than the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20) does. However, as revealed above, the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) can save fuel energy as much as 4.7% if compared to the “water emulsified heavy oil” (WEH-20). In other words, by consuming 0.2% (W/W) of more fuel to obtain 4.7% of more energy, a 23.5 times of energy is converted by per unit mass of the extra 0.2% fuel. According to the UN standard estimation, the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH-20) can have a reduction of carbon dioxide emission approximately by 14%, in comparison to traditional heavy oil combusted to generate a certain amount of steam.
[0049] In diesel experiments, the traditional diesel used in the invention is premium diesel manufactured by a petroleum company in Taiwan, conforming to the Taiwan diesel specifications for a diesel engine. The “oily water” for the production of “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) is obtained by homogeneously mixing 1% (W/W) of palm biodiesel in city tape water. Next, the “oily water” is sufficiently blended with 0.1% (W/W) of surfactants (or so called as emulsifiers). Then, 13% (W/W) of the emulsified “oily water” is completely mixed with 87% (W/W) of traditional diesel to become the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13).
[0050] According to the tests of diesel engine, it has been found that the specific fuel consumption are respectively 0.356, 0.393 and 0.379 L/kW·h for the traditional diesel (ED-0), the water emulsified diesel (WED-13) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13). Compared to the traditional diesel (ED-0), the ratios of conventional diesel plus bio-diesel contained in the water emulsified diesel (WED-13) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) are respectively 87% and 87.13%, and the average ratios of energy saved are 4.0% and 6.3% for the water emulsified diesel (WED-13) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) respectively. It also shows that 2.3% of energy is saved by the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) if compared to the water emulsified diesel (WED-13).
[0051] As the “oily water” used in the experiments of the invention contains about 1% (W/W) of dissolved combustible fuel, the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) therefore contains about 0.13% (W/W) of fuel more than the water emulsified diesel (WED-13) does. So, by consuming 0.13% (W/W) of more fuel to obtain 2.3% of more energy, 17.7 times of the energy is converted by per unit mass of the extra 0.13% fuel.
[0052] As for experiments of a diesel generator, it has been found that the average emission factors of particulate matter (PM) obtained while generating one kW·h of energy are 92.5, 58.8 and 55.6 mg/kW·h for the traditional diesel (ED-0), the water emulsified diesel (WED-13) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) respectively. If the traditional diesel (ED-0) is regarded as a basis with a percentage of 100%, the average emission factors of particulate matter (PM) for the water emulsified diesel (WED-13) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) are comparatively reduced by 36.4% and 39.9% respectively; and, 3.5% of the average emission factors of particulate matter (PM) is lowered if comparing the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED-13) with the “water emulsified diesel” (WED-13).
[0053] As shown previously in the experimental data, the present invention is a brand-new one with a great breakthrough. The “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED) respectively utilized for boilers and diesel engines, respectively, can enhance the combustion efficiencies in the combustion chambers and reduce the pollutant emissions, not only saving energy but also achieving the purpose of green environmental protection. Moreover, for the heavy oil boiler and the diesel engine, how to save energy and how to reduce the pollutant emissions are always concerned by people. The “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH) and the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED) manufactured in the invention can definitely promise to solve the problems mentioned above.
[0054] As described previously, the invention provides a brand-new method to improve the defects of conventional emulsified fuels. The essential point is dissolving partial fuel in water in advance to become the “oily water”, which is consecutively blended with surfactants (or so called as emulsifiers). Next, the “oily water with surfactants” is mixed up with heavy oil or diesel, respectively, to become an “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH) or an “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED), which are so stable that fuel is not easy to be separated from water, allowing a lower addition of surfactants (emulsifiers) to save the cost. Moreover, as the “oily water” in the OWEH or the OWED is in a status of having plenty of fuel droplets homogeneously surrounded by water and the water also being dissolved by fuels, the fuel droplets in water become numerous ignition points while burning, so that incomplete combustion, caused by conventional emulsified fuels because of uneven size of water drops and sudden cooling of water, can be prevented from happening. Thus, combusted with the OWEH and the OWED of the invention, it can not only boost combustion efficiency to greatly save energy, but also lower emission of pollutants.
[0055] And, with the concept of “Recycling & reusing oily industrial waste water”, the “oily water” used in the invention can be selected from the oily industrial waste water that has been simply filtered to get rid of solid impurities or has been raised in its concentration. Therefore, the oily industrial waste water can be easily re-used by the invention, instead of expending large sum in treating it, not only achieving the purpose of saving energy but also solving a tough problem of treating the oily industrial waste water.
[0056] According to the prior arts and patents disclosed, improving fuels, equipment, boilers and air pollution control devices are mostly utilized to reduce pollutants, unlike the way done by the invention, making use of the oily industrial waste water as the “oily water” to blend with heavy oil or diesel, respectively, to become the “oily water emulsified heavy oil” (OWEH) or the “oily water emulsified diesel” (OWED). So, the invention is really a brand-new one.