KR20100100940A - Environmentally friendly ternary transportation flex-fuel of gasoline, methanol and bioethanol - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an efficient and economical three-way flex fuel mixture comprising at least 10% gasoline, at least 10% bioethanol and at least 45% methanol, wherein the amount of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol is 100% total. In this regard, the flex fuel mixture has at least 90 octane number and remains homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water. Preferred flex fuel mixtures comprise 10-15% to 30% gasoline, 50-75-80% methanol, and 10-25% bioethanol and have a octane number of 90-98. In addition, the method of preparing these flex fuel mixtures and adding methanol in an amount sufficient to keep the mixture homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water, thereby treating, transporting, dispensing and It relates to a process for the preparation of a flex fuel mixture of gasoline and bioethanol which allows for use.

Description

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY TERNARY TRANSPORTATION FLEX-FUEL OF GASOLINE, METHANOL AND BIOETHANOL}

The present invention relates to an environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel of gasoline, methanol and bioethanol.

Petroleum gasoline for cleaner and more efficient combustion generally requires high octane alkylate or oxygenate as well as other octane number enhancing additives. However, most of these additives, such as tetraethyl lead and other organometallic additives, have been phased out because of their perceived environmental and health risks. The same is true of some petrochemical oxygenates such as MTBE, methyl-tert-butyl ether. Gasoline and any hydrocarbon fuels convert their carbon content to carbon dioxide on combustion (the main greenhouse gas recognized to contribute to global warming caused by humans). Thus, there is an increased interest in the use of biofuels, mainly bioethanol.

Since the use of carbon-based transport fuels is one of the main sources of human-induced global warming, the use of biofuels, especially bioethanol, has become prominent as any plant or crop becomes a natural way to recycle carbon dioxide. . Bioethanol, produced by fermenting various plants and crops (corn, sugar cane, etc.), derives its carbon content by recycling carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through photosynthesis (using water and solar energy), thereby making it renewable. It becomes carbon fuel. However, the production of bioethanol itself requires substantial energy (nitrogen containing fertilizers, irrigation, and various machinery (tractors, trucks, etc.) for the energy needs of fermentation plants such as crops, various plants and even cellulosic materials. Use of. In addition, ethanol is miscible with gasoline only in the anhydrous state, thus preventing its transport through pipelines and even truck transport of higher blends with gasoline or the like. Therefore, it is essential to dry (dehydrate) ethanol from any water and to treat it accordingly. The biofermentation process also produces an additional amount of carbon dioxide.

In addition to gasoline and ethanol (eg E85), binary transport fuel mixtures of gasoline and methanol (eg M20 and M85) are well known and are sometimes used in other locations (USA, California, Brazil). Three-way fuel mixes called MEG (33% CH ₃ OH, 60% ethanol and 7% gasoline) were also used in Brazil (São Paulo region) in the late 80's and early 90's. MEG was introduced in Brazil at that time to overcome the temporary shortage of ethanol and was applied to provide usable alcohol fuel.

Currently, bioethanol-based binary gasoline flex fuels such as E85 and E20 (containing 85 or 20% ethanol respectively) are a means of reducing dependence on oil imports and depleted oil stocks from countries that still process substantial oil resources. Has attracted much attention.

In the United States, bioethanol is produced primarily from corn, while sugar cane is a major source in Brazil and other tropical regions. Bioethanol used in binary fuel mixtures with gasoline should be dried (anhydrous) to avoid phase separation. This not only requires more expensive production, including an additional dehydration step (distillation provides an azeotrope mixture of only 96% ethanol, 4% water), but also has significant difficulties in transport (pipe frying Inconvenience of making and other common bulk transport). Even preliminary mixing with gasoline is not feasible in the refining. Therefore, more efficient and economical improvement is needed, which is currently provided by the present invention.

U.S. Patent Application 2006/0235091 describes a method for chemically recycling carbon dioxide from industrial and natural sources to reduce human-induced excess carbon dioxide and thereby produce useful new fuels and materials that mitigate global warming. The use of methanol is described. This application allows methanol to be used as fuel on its own or in combination with gasoline. An additional advantage of chemically recycling carbon dioxide is that it uses undesirable carbon dioxide that is otherwise released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

The present invention overcomes the previous difficulties faced by bioethanol and discloses an efficient and economical method of using the preferred compound methanol with gasoline in a flex fuel mixture. This mixture comprises at least 10% gasoline, at least 10% bioethanol and at least 45% methanol, with the amount of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol being 100% total. The flex fuel mixture has at least 90 octane number and remains homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water.

In this flex fuel mixture, both gasoline and bioethanol are each present in an amount less than 33% of the mixture and methanol is present in an amount of at least 50% of the mixture. Preferably this methanol is present in an amount of less than 75% of the mixture. More preferably, the flex fuel mixture comprises 10-15 to 30% gasoline, 50 to 75-80% methanol, and 10 to 25% bioethanol and has a octane number of 90 to 98.

The present invention also relates to a process for preparing these flex fuel mixtures by mixing together gasoline, bioethanol and methanol in the amounts recited under mixing conditions sufficient to form a homogeneous mixture. This mixing can be carried out by first mixing gasoline and methanol to form a binary mixture and then adding bioethanol or first mixing methanol and bioethanol to form a binary mixture and then adding gasoline. Advantageously, this bioethanol is first mixed with gasoline and methanol without treatment or removal of water to remove the associated water. Methanol may also be prepared from carbon dioxide generated at the plant to avoid releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or from carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere to reduce the contribution of carbon dioxide to global warming.

The invention also has at least 10% gasoline, at least 10% bioethanol and at least 45% methanol, the amount of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol is 100% total, and the flex fuel mixture has at least 90 octane number, 10 Storing, processing, transporting and distributing bioethanol-containing fuels using existing infrastructure without the need for and keeping the fuel free of water, including the manufacture of fuels that remain homogeneous in the presence of up to% water It is about how to.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for preparing a flex fuel mixture of gasoline and bioethanol, in which methanol is added in an amount sufficient to keep the mixture homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water to remove associated water. It first relates to an improvement that allows the treatment, transport, distribution and use of the mixture in the same way as conventional gasoline fuels without the need to treat bioethanol or contain water. Preferred flex fuel mixtures of the process of the invention are those described herein.

The present invention has the effect of providing an environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel of gasoline, methanol and bioethanol.

As used herein, the term "bioethanol" is used to mean ethanol produced by fermenting various plants, crops, or other cellulosic materials or natural products, and is a renewable and environmentally friendly resource.

The present invention is a viable and more efficient new method using bioethanol containing up to 10% water without expensive and dehydration or any special treatment to avoid moisture in transport, distribution or use as flex fuel. It describes. It is based on producing and using ternary gasoline-methanol-bioethanol fuel mixtures that are not phase separated in the indicated ranges. A typical gasoline-methanol binary fuel mix contains up to 85% methanol. This binary flex fuel is fully miscible with bioethanol when the bioethanol is added in an amount of 25% or less. As admixed with gasoline-methanol, the bioethanol does not need to be dried and may contain substantially less than 10% water (moisture) for storage, transport and use without any special treatment or equipment.

The ternary transport fuel mixtures described are prepared by methanol produced by any known method, including chemical hydrogenation recycling of carbon dioxide from natural exhaust sources or industrial exhaust gases as described in US Patent Application 2006/0235091. It can be easily accessed. This mixture provides for the ability to be produced by recycling carbon dioxide through a biological (ie, photosynthetic and subsequent fermentation) mode as well as the reductive chemical recycling of carbon dioxide that allows the carbon fuel mix to be used in an environmentally friendly manner while mitigating global warming. Have

The required bioethanol can be produced from any suitable crop (sugarcane, corn, etc.), cellulosic material and other natural products. Their degradation / fermentation produces bioethanol. Natural photosynthetic recycling of carbon dioxide to plants with chemical recycling of carbon dioxide to methanol makes the described gasoline-methanol-bioethanol ternary flex fuel mix substantially carbon neutral.

Additional advantages are cleaner combustion characteristics and higher octane numbers of the ternary fuel mix described. Methanol has an octane number of ˜100 and bioethanol of 105. Thus, an octane number of 90 to 98 can be achieved by formulation of the desired amount of the three components of the flex fuel mixture of the present invention. The high octane number of these mixtures and their advantageous combustion properties are due to the beneficial effect of the oxygenate (ie alcohol) that the mixture contains and are selected by the skilled worker as needed by the discerning choice of the amount of alcohol contained in the mixture. Can be. Optimum amounts can be determined by routine testing of the mixture starting from the preferred amounts described herein.

The novel ternary flex fuels of the present invention can be transported, stored and used in premix without any particular care to preclude condensation of moisture or water. These properties make the three way fuel mix very practical and economical. This eliminates the significant drawback of bioethanol use currently faced by binary gasoline-ethanol mixtures. This allows the practical use of ternary flex fuels under conventional conditions for the storage, transportation and distribution of transport fuels through the existing infrastructure used for gasoline. At the same time, the ternary fuel mix offers the advantages of high octane number, good ignition and combustion characteristics, and full miscibility without phase separation. The disclosed economical, convenient and highly efficient ternary fuel mixes can be easily introduced and utilized at minimal additional cost of production, transportation and distribution facilities and adapt to the extremely limited minimum changes of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Thus, the flex fuel mixture of the present invention can be processed, transported, dispensed and used in the same manner as conventional gasoline fuels.

The three-way flex fuel mixtures described and claimed in this patent application firstly mix methanol with gasoline in the proportions indicated and by distillation of an azeotropic mixture, such as any fermented bioethanol. Conveniently prepared by mixing with an appropriate amount of bioethanol without any dehydration of the obtained 96% ethanol-4% water. Alternatively, methanol and bioethanol can be premixed and thus gasoline can be added. There is no need to store, transport, distribute and use the ternary gasoline-methanol-bioethanol mixture indicated in the composition in the range according to the claims under special conditions to exclude moisture to avoid water condensation. No phase separation of the flex fuel mixture occurs, which burns efficiently in the ICE vehicle by this advantageous property.

Claims (20)

As an efficient and environmentally friendly ternary transportation flex-fuel mixture,
At least 10% gasoline,
At least 10% bioethanol,
At least 45% methanol
Including,
The amount of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol is 100%
Wherein the flex fuel mixture has an octane rating of at least 90 and remains homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water. The efficient and environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel mixture of claim 1, wherein the gasoline is present in an amount less than 33% of the mixture and the methanol is present in an amount of at least 50% of the mixture. The efficient and environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel mixture of claim 1, wherein the bioethanol is present in an amount of less than 33% of the mixture and the methanol is present in an amount of at least 50% of the mixture. The efficient and environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel mixture of claim 1, wherein the methanol is present in an amount of at least 75% of the mixture. 10. An efficient and environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel according to claim 1, comprising from 10 to 30% gasoline, from 50 to 80% methanol, from 10 to 25% bioethanol and from 90 to 98 octane numbers. mixture. 2. An efficient and environmentally friendly three way transport flex fuel according to claim 1, comprising from 15 to 30% gasoline, from 50 to 75% methanol and from 10 to 25% bioethanol and having from 90 to 98 octane numbers. mixture. A method of preparing the flex fuel mixture of claim 1,
Mixing gasoline, bioethanol and methanol in specified amounts under mixing conditions sufficient to form a homogeneous mixture.
Comprising, a method of producing a flex fuel mixture. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said mixing is performed by first mixing said gasoline with said methanol to form a binary mixture, and then adding said bioethanol. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said mixing is performed by first mixing said methanol with bioethanol to form a binary mixture, and then adding said gasoline. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the methanol is prepared from carbon dioxide produced by the plant to prevent carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere which may subsequently contribute to global warming. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the methanol is prepared from carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere to reduce the contribution of carbon dioxide to global warming. A method of storing, processing, transporting, and distributing bioethanol-containing fuels using existing infrastructure without the need for fuel to contain and maintain water,
Preparing said fuel with at least 10% gasoline, at least 10% bioethanol and at least 45% methanol
Including,
The amount of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol is 100% total and the flex fuel mixture has at least 90 octane number and stores, processes, transports and distributes the bioethanol containing fuel, which remains homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water. Way. In the method for producing a flex fuel mixture of gasoline and bioethanol,
Methanol is added in an amount sufficient to keep the mixture homogeneous in the presence of 10% or less water, in the same way as conventional gasoline fuels, without the need to first treat bioethanol or contain no water to remove related water. Treating, transporting, dispensing and using the mixture
A method of producing a flex fuel mixture comprising gasoline and bioethanol. The gasoline and bioethanol of claim 13, wherein the flex fuel mixture comprises at least 10% gasoline, at least 10% bioethanol and at least 45% methanol, the amount of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol being 100% total. Of a flex fuel mixture. The method of claim 13, wherein the flex fuel mixture has a octane number of at least 90. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the gasoline is present in an amount less than 33% of the mixture and the methanol is present in an amount of at least 50% of the mixture. The method of claim 13, wherein the bioethanol is present in an amount less than 33% of the mixture and the methanol is present in an amount of at least 50% of the mixture. The method of claim 13, wherein the methanol is present in an amount of less than 75% of the mixture. 14. The composition of claim 13 wherein the flex fuel mixture comprises 10-30% gasoline, 50-80% methanol, and 10-25% bioethanol and has a octane number of 90-98. Method for Making Flex Fuel Mixtures. The flex fuel of claim 13, wherein the flex fuel mixture comprises 15 to 30% gasoline, 50 to 75% methanol, and 10 to 25% bioethanol and has a 90 octane number. Method for preparing the mixture.