U.S. patent application number 10/040134 was filed with the patent office on 2002-07-11 for co2-enriched, low, and very low, vapor pressure liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
Invention is credited to Metcalf, Darrell J., Tichenor, Clyde L..
Application Number | 20020088168 10/040134 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26716759 |
Filed Date | 2002-07-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020088168 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tichenor, Clyde L. ; et
al. |
July 11, 2002 |
CO2-enriched, low, and very low, vapor pressure liquid hydrocarbon
fuels
Abstract
This invention is a mixture of low-vapor-pressure hydrocarbon
fuels and carbon dioxide mixed at normal pressures and temperatures
in a ratio that facilitates the production of micro-droplets that
enhance combustion in diesel and similar fuel burning engines
resulting in a reduction of particulates ejected and a gain in
efficiency. The presence of the gas in the fuel also decreases
flammability in the atmosphere above the fuel surface.
Inventors: |
Tichenor, Clyde L.; (Somis,
CA) ; Metcalf, Darrell J.; (Filmore, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CLYDE L. TICHENOR
6470 La Cumbre Rd.
SOMIS
CA
93066
US
|
Family ID: |
26716759 |
Appl. No.: |
10/040134 |
Filed: |
January 8, 2002 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60256644 |
Dec 20, 2000 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
44/457 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C10L 10/02 20130101;
C10L 1/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
44/457 |
International
Class: |
C10L 001/12 |
Claims
1. A composition of hydrocarbon fuel, in the low vapor pressure
range to very low vapor pressure range, and carbon dioxide (CO2)
wherein the concentration of CO2 within the fuel is sufficient in
volume to achieve a substantial reduction in exhaust soot
particulate when the fuel is consumed by engine combustion.
2. A composition of hydrocarbon fuel, in the low vapor pressure
range to very low vapor pressure range, wherein commercial grade of
recycled carbon dioxide CO2 is used and wherein the concentration
of CO2 within the fuel is sufficient in volume to achieve a
substantial reduction in exhaust soot particulate during engine
combustion.
3. The composition of claim 1 and 2 wherein said CO2 is mixed under
normal temperature and pressure within said fuel, and the CO2 does
not react chemically with the fuel.
4. The composition of claim 1 and 2 wherein the combination of said
fuel and said CO2 is employed to improve fuel economy.
5. The composition of claim 4 wherein the combination of said fuel
and said CO2 is employed to provide a net reduction in CO2
production in engine exhaust.
6. The composition of claim 1 and 2 wherein the combination of said
fuel and said CO2 is employed to provide a net fuel cost
savings.
7. The composition of claim 1 and 2 wherein the combination of said
fuel and said CO2 is employed to reduce fuel viscosity without
entering into a chemical reaction.
8. A composition of: liquid hydrocarbon fuel, in the low vapor
pressure to very low vapor pressure range, and carbon dioxide CO2:
wherein the concentration of CO2 within the fuel is less than 1
atmosphere of pressure and sufficient in volume to provide a
substantial supply of inert gas for use in fuel tank ullage
inerting purposes and the CO2 does not react chemically with the
fuel.
9. The composition of claim 8 wherein: hydrocarbon fuel is in the
low vapor pressure to very low vapor pressure range, and uses a
commercial grade of recycled carbon dioxide CO2 wherein the
concentration of CO2 within the fuel is sufficient in volume to
provide a substantial supply of inert gas for use in fuel tank
ullage inerting purposes.
10. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of enhanced
fuel by the added CO2 provides an improved fuel fire safety factor
when said enhanced fuel is transferred and stored.
11. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of said fuel
and said CO2 acts as a self-inerting fuel.
12. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of said fuel
with said CO2 provides that said fuel acts as a `weightless
container` for transferring and storing substantial volumes of CO2
without additional containment vessels.
13. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of said fuel
containing said CO2 wherein that concentration of CO2 in the fuel
may be extracted from the fuel by mechanical means.
14. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of said fuel
and said CO2 is transferable and storable in, existing closed fuel
distribution systems and fuel delivery equipment such as those used
at airports and other re-fueling terminals.
15. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of said fuel
and said CO2 provides a new means for safely extending Jet-A fuel
supplies by mixing in percentages of JP-4 or naphtha into
CO2-enriched Jet-A.
16. The composition of claim 8 wherein the combination of said fuel
receiving said CO2 provides substantial fuel de-oxygenation during
the CO2/fuel mixing process.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This invention pertains generally to the physical
composition formed by the combination of carbon dioxide (CO2)
absorbed in liquid hydrocarbon fuels having low, and very low vapor
pressures. The invention includes fuels used in fuel-powered
engines and devices, such as: diesel and jet aircraft engines,
fuel-oil burning devices such as domestic and commercial heating
systems, or electrical power generation facilities, and resid-oil
burning engines such as those used in large cargo ships.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] More particularly, the present invention is a CO2-enriched,
low, or very low, vapor pressure hydrocarbon fuel having objectives
and advantages that are important to the fuel industry, to the
environment, and to fuel economics. The present invention:
[0003] a.) provides improved combustion characteristics;
[0004] b.) promotes fuel micro-droplet production;
[0005] c.) reduces exhaust soot particulate;
[0006] d.) reduces exhaust carcinogens;
[0007] e.) may be effective in reducing the infrared `footprint` of
the exhaust of military aircraft and vehicles;
[0008] f.) de-oxygenates fuel (including at NTP) during the
CO2/fuel mixing process;
[0009] g.) provides a means to reduce the complexity and cost of
fuel tank inerting systems;
[0010] h.) provides a cost-effective interim emissions-reducing
technology for existing engines that can readily be implemented,
particularly in cities having high atmospheric soot
particulate;
[0011] i.) provides potential tax credit relief to fuel companies
for accelerated ground-based vehicle and aircraft soot particulate
reductions;
[0012] j.) provides a means to reduce fuel viscosity (when
desired);
[0013] k.) may be effective in cleaning fuel-injection systems;
[0014] l.) may be effective in improving fuel economy;
[0015] m.) which, through improved fuel economy may provide a net
reduction in CO2 production (CO2 in exhaust/per gallon);
[0016] n.) which, through improved fuel economy may provide a
cost-savings in fuel-use which is near, equal to, or greater than,
the combined cost of CO2, CO2-enriched fuel/technology licensing,
and systems/equipment used for fuel tank ullage inerting;
[0017] o.) which can utilize an industrial CO2 that is recovered
(re-cycled) from industrial stacks and vents
[0018] p.) provides new enhanced fuel transferring and storing
safety;
[0019] q.) acts as a `self-inerting fuel`;
[0020] r.) uses fuel as a `weightless container` for transferring
and storing substantial volumes of CO2;
[0021] s.) provides a new means for safely extending Jet-A fuel
supplies by mixing in percentages of JP-4 or naphthas into
CO2-enriched Jet-A (e.g. during fuel shortages, fuel embargoes, or
in times of national security if Jet-A supply needs to be
increased, for example, during war, or other international
crisis).
[0022] t.) provides a sufficient volume of CO2 in fuel (including
at NTP) such that the CO2 will serve as an inerting medium in the
ullages of fuel tanks to which such fuel is transferred and stored,
or where such gas is extracted from fuel derived from such tanks
and is immediately, or is stored and subsequently, directed back
into that fuel tank's ullage;
[0023] u.) is transferrable and storable in, existing fuel
distribution systems/equipment such as those used at airports and
other re-fueling terminals;
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELEVANT ART
[0024] Reference: Jones, Minor C, K, 2,303,950 Ginsbrugh et al,
6,293, 525 B1
[0025] Search of prior art has not revealed any patents having the
combination of the CO2 and liquid hydrocarbon fuels as specified in
the present invention, or having a type of gas-fuel that would be
transferable or storable in existing fuel distribution
infrastructures; fuel delivery systems, vehicles and equipment, or
in standard fuel tanks found in diesel trucks, aircraft,
ground-based vehicles, and ocean-going vessels or; the tanks used
for supplying heating devices or at power-generation facilities.
The search also did not reveal the above-mentioned actual and
potential benefits of the present invention, such as an
ullage-combustion suppressive `self-inerting fuel`; a means to
improve combustion and/or fuel economy; a means to promote reduced
fuel-droplet size (sometimes referred to as fuel "micro-droplets");
or a means, through reduced fuel-droplet size, to reduce soot
particulate emissions and carcinogens in the exhaust of liquid
hydrocarbon fuel-powered engines or devices, because the smaller
droplets more often burn to extinction quicker. For reference
purposes, the search did find Jones, which teaches the mixing of
carbon dioxide in an aviation gasoline (a positive vapor pressure
hydrocarbon fuel with added volatile fuel ends) where Jones
processes the fuel and/or maintaines it with additional physical
apparatus in an unconventional manner. For example, the aviation
gasoline of the Jone's patent must first go through physical
apparatus comprising a vacuum-inducing means. This apparatus is
required to produce and sustain a negative atmospheric condition in
a baffled vertical fuel mixing tank (a vacuum-maintaining tank) in
order to first promote the removal of absorbed oxygen from Jones'
aviation gasoline. Immediately following the oxygen removal stage,
CO2 is added to replace it. It should also be noted that the Jones'
patent seeks several results that, due to fuel chemistry changes in
years following the expiration of the patent, are no longer needed
in, or attainable with, contemporary commercial grades of fuel.
Furthermore, putting positive vapor pressure fuel in a vacuum state
will pull out lighter ends (such as butane) from the fuel, which
will adversely affect fuel performance. Continued exposure to a
vacuum will remove the middle range of hydrocarbon molecules and
ultimately the heavier range of molecules. The Jones patent intent
was a vacuum removal of one gas and provide positive pressure
(greater than 1 atmosphere) for placement and maintenance of
another gas (CO2), a means to remove oxygen from fuel that might
otherwise degas into the vapor space (ullages) of aircraft fuel
tanks containing the Jones'-processed aviation gasoline. By
contrast, the composition of the present invention can be achieved
with gas-fuel mixing at NTP (normal temperature and pressure) i.e.
without negative and positive pressure mixing stages and uses the
CO2 as an inerting medium. It is also noted that contemporary
aviation gasoline now contain anti-oxidants that are inexpensive
and do not require the fuel vacuum and pressurization stages needed
to process the Jones' fuel. Whereas this invention is based upon
hydrocarbon fuel having contemporary needs which it satisfies. CO2
solubility in contemporary grades of hydrocarbon fuels, show that
CO2 concentrations in the range Jones specifies would require
constant positive-pressure (if not hi-pressure) storage and
handling conditions. Thus, the only way to maintain Jones'
100%-300% concentrations of CO2 in modern aviation gasoline would
be to make, transfer, distribute, and store, the fuel continuously
under impractical (or as Jones says "super atmospheric") pressures.
It is widely known that virtually all fuel tanks of diesel trucks,
aircraft and other ground-based vehicles, are vented to allow for
expansions and contractions of fuel-tank ullages caused by altitude
and temperature changes, and by fuel usage. Thus, it would be
necessary to retrofit all such vehicles with unvented
pressure-capable tanks in order to store aviation gasoline having
the Jones' concentrations of CO2 (up to and including the "five
atmospheres" he specifies). This goal would be especially
challenging in that a commercial aircraft will typically experience
a change of four atmospheres in the various phases of a single
flight (which is why their tanks must be vented). It would also be
necessary to have specially equipped fuel transportation vehicles
for the delivery of Jones' pressurized gasoline. Such prerequisites
to the processing, transferring, transportation, handling, and use
of Jones' aviation gasoline again, are evidence that Jones did not
achieve a practical physical composition patent, especially as it
pertains to contemporary technology. Rather, the Jones' physical
composition can only exist with the employment of unconventional
physical apparatus that in the contemporary fuel market are not
only unnecessary, they would require a costly re-building of entire
fuel distribution and storing systems. By contrast, the present
invention provides gas-fuel mixtures with fuels other than gasoline
(hydrocarbon fuels with low, and very low, vapor pressures at NTP),
where such mixtures are attainable and/or storable at NTP having
effective concentrations of CO2 that provide new fuel
safety-enhancing and improved combustion advantages. These
advantages are achieved without Jones' hi-pressure transportation,
handling and storage conditions. Lastly, the Jones patent decribes
a safety-enhancing aspect of his fuel, which, assuming the gas
concentrations he specifies were attainable, is intended to reduce
the danger of fuel fires in the event of catastrophic fuel tank
ruptures. For example, the Jones' fuel is described as being
advantageous during aircraft crashes, or during fuel tank ruptures
caused by bullets piercing the tanks in times of war. In contrast,
the practicably attained physical composition of the present
invention is comprised of CO2-enrichment of low, or very low, vapor
pressure fuels, whose safety-enhancing characteristics are only
intended to inert the contents of the ullages of fuel tanks that
are intact (i.e. non-ruptured).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0026] Vehicles and devices that burn low, and very low, vapor
pressure hydrocarbon fuels have been in use for over a century and
the chemistry composition of such fuels (including relatively newer
jet fuels) have largely remained the same since their
commercialization. While such fuels offer a potent source of power
to the respective engines or devices that utilize them, they also
have drawbacks that the physical composition of the present
invention can help to reduce. For instance, it has recently been
declared by the California State Air Quality Board that the black
soot emissions that emanate from a diesel engine (used in cars,
trucks, heavy equipment, trains, ships and the like), and the soot
from jet turbines, are carcinogenic. Thus, practicably attainable
fuel technology, which improves diesel and jet fuel combustion,
particularly during its acceleration phase (highest emission
emitting phase), and otherwise reduces such emissions, provides an
important and timely solution to this environmental and
health-related concern. Recent tests conducted with California
State-Approved Infrared Test Equipment concluded that the improved
fuel of the present invention reduces harmful emissions by as much
as 60% during repeatable accelerations on an unmodified diesel
engine when using an optimum and/or controllable concentration of
CO2 absorbed within Diesel #2 fuel. Further testing using a
standardized EPA test produced similar reductions in soot.
[0027] Alternatively, by controlling concentrations of CO2 absorbed
within low vapor pressure hydrocarbon fuels, the physical
composition of the present invention is also effective in enhancing
the safety of the fuel when it is stored in storage receptacles,
whether such receptacles are stationary or reside in any one or
more of a variety of liquid hydrocarbon fuel-powered vehicles. For
instance, hydrocarbon-based fuels can evaporate fuel into a vapor
space, or ullage, of the fuel receptacle in which they reside.
These evaporated vapors are usually low molecular weight
hydrocarbons which mix with the air in the ullage, and under
certain conditions have proven to be dangerously explosive. Even
JP-4 (a military aircraft fuel which is mostly kerosene with some
low molecular weight naphtha) usually has a flammable ullage above
the fuel and this volatile chemical condition has had deadly
consequences. FAA experts have concluded that the mid-air explosion
of TWA FLT 800 out of New York was due to flammable vapors which
were emitted from relatively heated Jet-A fuel located in the
plane's center fuel tank.
[0028] Enhanced safety in the storing and/or transporting of these
fuels can be achieved by reducing the amount of air which can
enter, or otherwise reside above the fuel of such fuel tanks by
displacing or replacing the air with an inert gas concentration
that will no longer support combustion. For example, approximately
40% or greater concentration of CO2 will effectively suppress fuel
ullage-combustibility under most operating conditions. The
CO2-enriched hydrocarbon fuels of the present invention provide
this desirable combustion-suppressive condition in two ways. In the
first method, the concentration of inert-gas residing in a
particular fuel exceeds that fuel's equilibrium CO2/fuel state and
consequently degasses excess CO2 from the fuel under known
conditions, such as: the passage of time, increases in temperature,
agitation of the fuel, and/or a change in relative pressure--such
as the ascent of a commercial aircraft to a cruising altitude. In
this first method, CO2-enriched fuel can be transferred to a fuel
tank such that a known excess concentration of CO2 degasses from
the fuel during re-fueling; for example when the fuel tank is only
being partially filled with fuel (and the excess degassed CO2
serves to inert the ullage above the fuel level). In the second
method, CO2-enriched fuel is pumped from the fuel tank and a
gas-scavenging stage of the pump extracts CO2 from the fuel and the
extracted CO2 is either directed back into the same fuel tank (e.g.
its ullage), or is stored in one or more CO2 storage receptacles
for subsequent fuel tank inerting purposes (as described in
co-pending patents). In either case, the intended equilibrium state
can deliberately be exceeded (without the vacuum stage described in
the Jones patent). For example, CO2 can be mixed in the fuel under
controllable positive pressures or under such pressures with
agitation (as described in co-pending patents), in which case the
fuel is still transferable and storable in conventional fuel
delivery systems, and the excess gas will subsequently degas at
predictable rates and/or volumes. For example, an aircraft having a
shorter duration flight could be fueled with a CO2-enriched Jet-A
fuel having a gas-to-liquid ratio of CO2 that is absorbed at a
substantially higher ratio, that is achieved by employing a higher
mixing pressure of the CO2 in the liquid fuel, to promote faster
degassing than with fuel which is mixed at lower, or ambient,
pressures (suitable for longer flights). It is also noted, that in
consideration of the environment, the quantity of CO2 necessary to
inert a commercial aircraft, such as a Boeing 747 flight of 6.5
hours and a distance of 3000 nautical miles, is equal to the amount
of CO2 emitted during just a few seconds of engine exhaust from the
flight. Furthermore, the present invention includes the mixing of a
commercial grade of CO2 that has been recovered (re-cycled) from
high-CO2-content industrial stacks and vents. Moreover,
standardized EPA testing, exhaust pyrometer testing, and engine RPM
analysis have each indicated that improved fuel performance may be
caused by the CO2-enriched fuels of the present invention (the
improved fuel economy being caused by the CO2 reducing fuel droplet
size, and/or by a cleaning of fuel injection components). For a
frame of reference: each one half percent improvement in fuel
economy would reduce the 747's 3000 mile flight output of CO2 by
2200 pounds (this is several times the amount of CO2 needed to
inert the fuel tanks during the entire flight, and thus, would
represent a net reduction in CO2 production).
[0029] Thus practicably attained CO2-enriched liquid hydrocarbon
fuels are provided which overcome significant shortcomings of
gas-fuel mixtures requiring special processing, handling, and
unconventional physical apparatus, and which achieve an enhanced
safety fuel, as well as an improved combustion fuel, and do so
using inexpensive (and optionally recycled) CO2.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0030] FIG. 1 shows a graph of the volume of "Carbon Dioxide" (CO2)
that can be mixed, or absorbed, in a volume of low vapor pressure
liquid hydrocarbon fuels, namely "JP-4/Jet-B", "JP-8/Jet-A",
"JP-7", and "JP-5".
[0031] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical depiction of a barrel of crude
oil illustrating the hydrocarbon fuel constituents of the barrel,
and ranges of fuel in the barrel representing "Low, and Very Low,
Vapor Pressure Fuels", "High Vapor Pressure Fuels", "Jet-A1 or
JP-8", "JP-3", "JP-4", and "JP-5".
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0032] The graph in FIG. 1 plots volume ratio and depicts a range
of the volume of CO2 that can be mixed, or absorbed, in a volume of
low vapor pressure liquid hydrocarbon fuels, namely "Diesel,
JP-4/Jet-B", "JP-8/Jet-A", "JP-7", and "JP-5 and shows that as
temperature goes up the volume ratio of the CO2 within the fuels
goes down. For example, at -20.degree. C. about 1.7 volumes of CO2
can be absorbed in one volume of JP1-Jet-A. At just under
50.degree. C. an approximate 1:1 ratio of gas to fuel is possible.
Commercial vehicle and aircraft fuels such as diesel#2 and Jet-A
have a similar composition and consequently similar absorption
ratios of gas to fuel are possible.
[0033] Several physical factors are known to change the ratio of
inert-gas which is mixable in, and/or retainable within, a
particular type of low, or very low, vapor pressure liquid
hydrocarbon fuel; the CO2 gas is physically absorbed without
reacting chemically with the fuel. These factors can be controlled,
or predicted, and in numerous instances require no additional
physical structure, or equipment, in order to occur. These factors
include: temperature change, pressure differential, agitation,
time, and, convection of the mixed or mixing fuel. Thus, a factor
such as a known temperature change during a mixing phase, or during
a degassing phase, will have predictable results which can be
advantageously used. For example, cooler CO2-enriched liquid
hydrocarbon fuel may be stored in relatively cooler underground
tanks, with the knowledge that as the fuel becomes warmer it will
degas faster at a known rate. Similarly, agitation during a mixing
phase or during a degassing phase will have predictable results.
For instance, after refueling a vehicle or aircraft will encounter
fuel agitation as it rolls over the natural series of bumps such as
one encounters on roads (car), or during a 40 second or so takeoff
roll (commercial aircraft). Alternatively, a pressure differential
can be exploited to accelerate gas absorption in, and/or desorption
from, fuels, as mentioned previously in the case of aircrafts
having different flight durations. Time is also a known factor that
can be used advantageously to predict absorption or desorption
rates, including rates when also affected by any of the
above-mentioned factors that can change the ratio of the physical
composition. Or CO2-enriched fuel can be made with a gas/fuel ratio
that remains fairly stable through all phases of a flight (i.e.
through all changes in altitude).
[0034] In the case of the physical composition being used as a
vapor combustion-suppression fuel, it can be beneficial to mix CO2
in fuels such as diesel #2 or Jet-A in a ratio that exceeds the
fuel's equilibrium state of the gas/fuel mixture (such as that
exceeding the 50% ratio previously mentioned). For example, a 1.5:1
gas/fuel ratio might be employed where 0.75 of a fuel's CO2 volume
is meant to degas from the fuel under relatively ambient
conditions, and more CO2 can degas, or be extracted from the fuel,
according to one or more of the factors or methods previously
mentioned. Since an ullage in a tank containing a typical
hydrocarbon-based fuel can be inerted by containing approximately
35% or more volume of CO2 therein, it can be seen that a sufficient
volume of inert-gas can be retained within the fuel to in effect
act as a "self-inerting-fuel".
[0035] In the case of the application of these physical
compositions providing an improved combustion and/or
emission-reducing fuel, it can be beneficial to mix the CO2 with
the hydrocarbon fuel in less than 1:1 to 3:1 gas/liquid ratio of
CO2 to fuel (e.g. a range from 0.1:1 to 1:1) gas/fuel ratios in the
approximate range of 15-25% that have been shown to reduce harmful
particular emissions in diesel #2 fuel by as much as 60%. The
various CO2/fuel ratios may indicate that minute inert-gas bubbles
can form in `micro-droplets`, and upon reaching the surface of the
droplet can disperse the droplets into smaller ones which creates a
larger mixing surface for fuel and air molecules for optimized
dispersion of the fuel which results in improved (and more
complete) combustion in an engine or fuel-burning device. This
benefit may be of further advantage during cold weather, or during
cold-engine starting.
[0036] Additionally, liquid fuel convection is a means of replacing
surface fuel molecules so that they may absorb CO2 molecules from a
blanket of CO2 gas above the liquid surface. Thus, the factors of
convection and time, or convection and fuel temperature and/or CO2
temperature, or other factors mentioned above can be predictable
and used advantageously to attain desired CO2/fuel concentrations
and results. Without the surface layer of CO2 the same methods
create degassing of the CO2.
[0037] Because a CO2-enriched low vapor pressure fuel can be easily
and practicably attained by a number of controllable methods, with
the outcome being a CO2/fuel mixture that is transferrable and
storable in existing fuel distribution systems, the present
invention provides a fuel that can be easily made at a number of
junctures in the fuel distribution system. For instance, at an
airport fuel farm, at any one or more of a variety of re-fueling
terminals, in underground storage tanks, on fuel tankers, fuel
barges, on a ship, and the like.
[0038] FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatical depiction of a barrel of crude
oil illustrating the hydrocarbon fuel constituents of the barrel.
Ranges of fuel in the barrel representing low vapor pressure fuels
are bracketed, and those representing high vapor pressure fuels are
separately bracketed. It can also be seen in FIG. 2 that Jet-A1 or
JP-8 can be derived from 10% of the crude, JP-3 from 50% of the
crude, JP-4 from 25% of the crude, and JP-5 from 2% of the crude.
An important benefit of the present invention pertains to fuel
supply, particularly during a national emergency such as a fuel
shortage caused by any one of a number of factors, such as an
international crisis, a war, a fuel embargo, or an international
trust type of control over the supply/cost of fuels. In any such
instance, for example a shortness of supply in Jet-A fuel could
threaten national security (since this fuel is used in military
aircraft). Heretofore, JP-4 fuel has been eliminated from fuel
supplies, due to proven fuel tank ullage volatility associated with
its higher vapor pressures. The range of CO2-enriched fuels of the
present invention, and the range of CO2 that can be absorbed within
low, and very low vapor pressure fuels, make it possible to
significantly increase jet fuel supply in times of emergency by
providing the means to extend CO2-enriched Jet-A supplies by mixing
in percentages of JP-4 or Naphthas (and increasing CO2 as needed),
or increasing other usable jet fuel supplies by mixing suitable
concentrations of CO2 in one or more non-Jet-A "JP" fuels. Such an
approach can alternatively be employed in a non-crisis situation,
for instance where a government/country may be close to being
self-sufficient in one or more fuel and could attain
self-sufficiency by a prudent mixing of jet fuels and CO2.
[0039] The fact that carbon particulate is reduced in the engine
exhaust means that any infra-red emissions from this source are
also minimized. This can have value to military exhaust cloaking
efforts.
[0040] Although the present invention has been described with a
certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present
disclosure has been made by way of example, and changes in detail
or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *