MXPA99003881A

MXPA99003881A - Catalytic composition that increases combustion of fuel and methods of formulation and utilization of the

Info

Publication number: MXPA99003881A
Application number: MXPA/A/1999/003881A
Authority: MX
Inventors: Lack Lloyd
Original assignee: Lack Lloyd
Priority date: 1996-10-24
Filing date: 1999-04-26
Publication date: 1999-10-14

Abstract

The present invention relates to a composition for increasing the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels such as LPG, gasoline and diesel fuel which includes a metal deoxy catalyst dispersed in a liquid organic vehicle compatible with the fuel, the catalyst preferably including chromium oxide, magnesium, manganese oxide, cobalt oxide, iron oxide and / or mixtures thereof, the vehicle preferably includes a Stoddard solvent together with at least one high temperature lubricant, a surfactant and a polar organic solvent; The composition allows the fuel to burn substantially and completely to reduce the emissions associated with oxidation. { incomplete and to be carried out at lower temperatures to avoid the formation of N

Description

CATALYTIC COMPOSITION THAT INCREASES FUEL COMBUSTION AND FORMULATION METHODS AND UTILIZATION OF THE SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. - FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a catalytic composition that increases fuel combustion and to methods of formulating and using it. Particularly, the invention relates to a catalytic additive that is combined with a fuel such as LPG, gasoline and diesel fuel, so that fuels are combusted more efficiently and with less pollutant emissions and to methods of formulating and using the additive. 2. - DESCRIPTION OF THE RELEVANT TECHNIQUE The applicant has previously sold an additive that increases combustion, particularly useful in carburetted LPG combustion systems for internal combustion engines, such as machines in cargo elevators and the like, and that the additive is known by the trade name CGX-®. Said product includes a mixture of a high temperature lubricant, such as a high flash point high oil, at least one detergent or agent surfactant, and at least one emulsifier, including a polar solvent such as one or more alcohols, in an appropriate organic vehicle such as a Stoddard solvent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention is an improvement of CGX-4® that allows the fuel to be oxidized more completely during combustion compared to the CGX-4® to improve the energy output and reduce the emissions of carbon monoxide, particles, unburned hydrocarbons and similar, and allows the combustion to be carried out stably at lower temperatures, thereby reducing the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO «). The invention provides a composition for increasing the combustion of hydrocarbon fuel, which includes at least one metal oxide catalyst dispersed in a liquid organic vehicle compatible with the hydrocarbon fuel. Preferably, the metal oxide catalyst includes at least one alkaline earth metal oxide or transition metal oxide, and even more preferably the metal oxide catalyst is selected from the group consisting essentially of chromium oxide, magnesium oxide, manganese oxide, cobalt oxide, iron oxide and mixtures thereof. The organic carrier preferably includes a Stoddard solvent. The The composition preferably also includes a surfactant, an emulsifier, a polar organic solvent and a high temperature lubricant. The metal oxide (s) functions as a catalyst for combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel and when added even in very small amounts, for example 1-50 ppm, it is effective to achieve substantially complete oxidation of the fuel and to reduce the polluting emissions associated with incomplete oxidation. The catalytic combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel with metal oxide (s) according to the invention has a large thermal inertia associated therewith, whereby the lower limit of flame stability for combustion, which allows temperatures of lower combustion to be used and minimize the formation of NOx emissions. The invention also provides a combustion hydrocarbon fuel method, which includes the steps of: combining the hydrocarbon fuel with a dispersion of a metal oxide catalyst in a liquid organic carrier compatible with the hydrocarbon fuel; and burning the combined hydrocarbon fuel and catalytic dispersion at a maximum temperature below 1500 ° C. It is preferable that the metal oxide catalyst includes at least one of a transition metal oxide and an alkaline earth metal oxide and more preferably still that the metal oxide catalyst is selected from the group consisting essentially of chromium oxide, of magnesium, manganese oxide, cobalt oxide, iron oxide and mixtures thereof; and that the organic vehicle includes at least one Stoddard solvent; and that the catalytic dispersion includes a surfactant, a polar organic solvent and a high temperature lubricant when the combustion process is a combustion process combusted in an internal combustion engine. An object of the invention is to provide a catalytic additive that increases combustion for hydrocarbon fuels such as LPG, gasoline and diesel fuel that allows a substantially complete oxidation of the fuel to be achieved even when the fuel contains significant amounts of impurities such as free water, propylene, long-chain hydrocarbons, etc. Another object is to provide an additive that increases combustion for hydrocarbon fuels that reduces or substantially eliminates the polluting emissions normally caused by incomplete oxidation, even when NOx emissions are reduced. Another object is to provide an additive that increases the combustion that can be manufactured and combined easily and economically with hydrocarbon fuels. Another object is to provide a combustion hydrocarbon fuel method together with an additive that increases combustion to reduce pollutant emissions relative to complete oxidation, and reduce NOx formation and emissions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES The catalyst that increases fuel combustion according to the invention includes at least one metal oxide and preferably at least one metal oxide or transition metal oxide including chromium oxide, magnesium oxide, manganese oxide, cobalt, iron oxide and mixtures thereof. These metal oxides are very effective for use as catalysts that increase fuel combustion, since the compounds not only promote the total oxidation of the hydrocarbons but also allow the combustion process to be carried out at lower temperatures that are not favorable for the formation of NOx, and that have a good thermal stability. The oxidation process is a conventional flame combustion or a fuel such as LPG is a homogeneous reaction that takes place in a global gas phase. Through the introduction of a catalyst of the combustion process, a heterogeneous oxidation is also carried out on the surface of the catalyst. By means of the choice of a suitable catalyst it is possible to reduce the activation of energy necessary for the heterogeneous catalytic reaction at a much lower level than that required for purely homogeneous combustion. For example, for combustion of light hydrocarbon fuel such as propane, the activation energy for the uncatalyzed homogeneous oxidation reaction is approximately 25-50 Kcal / gm-mole, but for the oxidation reaction Heterogeneous catalytic is approximately 11-15 Kcal / gm-mole The apreaciable indices of heterogeneous (catalytic) oxidation can be achieved by temperatures and fuel concentrations much lower than those required for the homogeneous (non-catalytic) reactions that will proceed. In a catalytic combustion chamber, the reaction in the initial part of the combustion bed is mainly catalytic and the speed is controlled by the velocity and the reaction of the surface. As the catalytic reaction increases, the surface temperature and gas and the surface velocity constant (which increases exponentially with temperature) quickly becomes larger than the rate of transport of reagents to the surface of the catalyst, which becomes the controlling factor for the catalytic reaction. Subsequently, the total heterogeneous reaction rate is controlled by the rate of mass transfer to the catalyst surface. The rate of energy release at the controlled rate of mass transfer is typically orders of magnitude smaller than that obtained in conventional (non-catalytic) flames. At sufficiently high temperatures that are quickly realized in the combustion process, the homogeneous reactions are initiated in addition to the heterogeneous catalytic reactions and later the combustion reaches the end and the energy release speeds comparable to conventional flames are achieved. When a dispersion of metal oxide catalyst according to the invention is used, it is possible to conduct the combustion of hydrocarbon fuel such as LPG, gasoline, diesel fuel oil and fuel oil at sufficiently low inlet temperatures and with slight equivalence ratios, so that the resulting combination of exhaust emissions from the combustion process are sufficiently low, which minimizes the formation of NO, and still the combustion is almost 100% complete, therefore there are low emissions of them in relation to incomplete oxidation. Using a catalytic and experimental combustion chamber, the alkaline earth magnesium oxides and the transition metals of chromium, manganese, cobalt, iron and combinations thereof will provide optimal catalytic results. The most active catalyst of these was a binary mixture of chromium oxide and cobalt oxide (Cr? 3-C? 3,? 4) which gave complete conversion / oxidation of many LPG light fuel mixtures and an equivalence ratio from 0.196 at low entry temperatures lower than 850 ° C. This catalyst mixture was also found suitable for the operation of a wide range of equivalence ratios and entry temperatures in LPG combustion, even though the NOx emission rate for LPG combustion using this catalyst never exceeded 0.11 gm / kg of fuel. This emission index is significantly lower (an order of magnitude smaller) than that achieved in conventional LPG combustion systems, including those used by the applicant's previous combustion augmentation additive.

Using the aforementioned oxides of alkaline earth metals and transition metals, the combustion was completed in some instances and was not completed in others. In cases where complete combustion was achieved, the emission levels of NO, carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons were very low. The concentrations of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon were so low that they did not give any reading in the gas chromatography test and the NOx emission index was always lower than 0.11 gm / kg of fuel. When combustion was not completed, typically due to operation under control / kinetic limit or mass transfer, the main contaminant was unburned hydrocarbon. Low levels of carbon monoxide were observed in some cases, where the exit temperatures were high and combustion was not completed. The NOx emission levels were always much lower and were found to be strongly temperature dependent, but did not exceed 0.11 gm / kg of fuel. To combine the metal oxide catalysts with the hydrocarbon fuels, the catalysts were initially dispersed in an appropriate organic medium that is compatible with the hydrocarbon fuel. For LPG fuel, the metal oxide catalysts can be properly dispersed in a Stoddard solvent and preferably in Stoddard solvent (s) together with a high temperature lubricant, a detergent or surfactant and a polar molecular solvent such as an alcohol. Only very small amounts of the oxide catalysts of metal are necessary to achieve optimum combustion conditions. If the metal oxide catalysts are added in a proportion of 1-50 ppm, and preferably 10-30 ppm to the hydrocarbon fuel, then complete or substantially complete oxidation / combustion of the fuels can be achieved at sufficiently low input temperatures and ratios. of light equivalences, so that emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, particulates and NOx are reduced and the energy output for a given amount of fuel is increased. Fine metal oxide powders can be dispersed in a Stoddard solvent. When the metal oxide powders are dispersed in CGX-4R, the detergent / surfactant and / or the polar molecular solvent therein also helps to keep the metal oxide powder properly dispersed in the organic medium. For example, a dispersion of the metal oxide catalyst (s), containing 0.5-5% by weight of the metal oxide powder in a Stoddard solvent, can be added to CGX-4R in a ratio of 3-5% in volume of the dispersion at 95-97% by volume of CGX-4R to achieve the combustion characteristics described above. The catalytic additive, which increases the modified combustion, is subsequently combined with hydrocarbon fuel as LPG in the ratio of 4-15 fluid / 3.8 liters. Although higher concentrations of the metal oxide catalyst (s) can be added, they do not further increase the combustion characteristics, even though it causes the catalytic additive to become more expensive to produce.

The additive is miscible and compatible with LPG fuel and is more easily combined with it by simply emptying an appropriate amount of the additive into an LPG fuel tank, for example emptying 7 g in a 38 liter tank, emptying a 209 liter drum in a tank of 266,000 liters, etc. The additive according to the invention is particularly effective when used in relation to a carbonated LPG fuel system for an internal combustion engine. The additive is also effective to be used in relation to other fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, etc. and in other types of combustion systems such as non-carbureted combustion systems.

Claims

NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION CLAIMS

1. - A composition for increasing the combustion of an LPG fuel, which includes at least one metal oxide catalyst dispersed in an organic vehicle that is compatible with the LPG fuel; said metal oxide catalyst is a mixture of chromium oxide (Cr2? 3) and cobalt oxide (C03O4); and said organic carrier mainly includes Stoddard's solvent, as well as an emulsifier to keep the metal oxide catalyst dispersed in the Stoddard solvent and the LPG fuel when added thereto.

2. A composition according to claim 1, further characterized in that said metal oxide catalyst is combined with said LPG fuel in a ratio of 1-50 ppm.

3. A composition according to claim 1, further characterized by said metal oxide catalyst is dispersed in said liquid organic carrier in a ratio of < 1.0% weight.

4. A composition according to claim 1, further characterized in that said liquid organic carrier additionally includes at least one of a high temperature lubricant and a surfactant.

5. - A composition according to claim 4, further characterized in that said liquid organic carrier includes an upper oil having a flash point of at least 400 ° C as said high temperature lubricant.

6. A composition according to claim 1, further characterized in that said metal oxide catalyst is combined with said LPG fuel in a ratio of 10-30 ppm.

7. A composition according to claim 1, further characterized in that said composition is combined with said LPG fuel in an amount sufficient to achieve a Nox emission index for LPG fuel combustion of = 0.11 gm / kg of LPG.

8. A fuel mixture of LPG fuel and a dispersion of a metal oxide catalyst in a liquid organic vehicle compatible with the LPG fuel; said metal oxide catalyst includes at least one member of the group consisting of an alkaline earth metal oxide and transition metal oxide; said liquid organic vehicle includes mainly Stoddard solvent, as well as an emulsifier to keep the metal oxide catalyst dispersed in the Stoddard solvent and in the LPG fuel.

9. A fuel mixture according to claim 8, further characterized in that said liquid organic carrier includes 3-5% by volume of a temperature lubricant 3-5% by volume of a surfactant, 1-3% by volume of said emulsifier and a balance of said Stoddard solvent.

10. - A method for burning LPG fuel, which includes the steps of: combining the LPG fuel with a dispersion of a metal oxide catalyst in a liquid organic vehicle compatible with the LPG fuel; and burning the LPG fuel and dispersion at a temperature below 1500 ° C; said metal oxide catalyst includes at least one member selected from the group consisting of alkaline earth metal oxide and transition metal oxide; and said organic carrier primarily includes a Stoddard solvent and an emulsifier to keep the metal oxide catalyst dispersed in the Stoddard solvent and the LPG fuel.