JP2930909B2 - Emulsion fuel generation method and apparatus, and emulsion fuel combustion apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing an emulsion fuel and an emulsion fuel combustion apparatus, and more particularly to an oil-in-water or water-in-oil emulsion fuel obtained by mixing a petroleum fuel, water and a surfactant. The present invention relates to an emulsion fuel generating method for producing an emulsion fuel, an emulsion fuel generating apparatus for performing the emulsion fuel generating method, and an emulsion fuel burning apparatus for burning the emulsion fuel generated by the emulsion fuel generating method or apparatus.

[0002] The emulsion fuel combustion apparatus of the present invention can be used in boilers, gas turbines, household heating appliances, boilers in agricultural houses, and the like.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to reduce the use of petroleum fuels such as kerosene and light oil, and to reduce NOx and soot slugs, water and petroleum fuels are used in small quantities. Various methods have been proposed for burning an emulsified emulsion fuel (water-emulsified fuel) by adding and mixing a surfactant. Conventionally, since the latent heat of water increases the fuel consumption,
The mixing ratio of water of the combustible emulsion fuel is 1 to
About 10% by weight is considered a practical limit.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-313859 discloses that oils and water are stirred in one stirring tank.
There is a description of a method for producing an emulsion fuel having an oil particle diameter of about 0.5 μm. However, since a single stirring tank is used to stir at a relatively high speed, the generated emulsion fuel is destroyed by repeated stirring. Problem. In order to solve this problem, if the emulsion fuel is agitated at a low speed, the produced emulsion fuel is less likely to be destroyed by the agitation, but there is a problem that it takes time to produce the emulsion fuel.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-23812, an air heating chamber for heating air to 200 ° C. to 400 ° C. is provided, and a vaporized emulsion fuel and heated air are mixed and burned. A liquid fuel combustion device is disclosed.

[0006] However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, there is a problem that the structure of the combustion device becomes complicated because an air heating chamber and a vaporizing section are required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a method and an apparatus for producing an emulsion fuel capable of producing a stable emulsion fuel, and an emulsion capable of burning the emulsion fuel with a simple structure. It is an object to provide a fuel combustion device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an initial emulsion is formed by mixing a petroleum fuel, water and a surfactant and stirring the mixture at a predetermined stirring speed. Mixing the resulting initial emulsion with water,
The emulsion fuel is produced by stirring at a stirring speed lower than the stirring speed.

Further, the invention of claim 3 provides a first stirring tank for mixing a petroleum fuel, water and a surfactant and stirring the mixture at a predetermined stirring speed to produce an initial emulsion; A second stirring tank that mixes the initial emulsion generated in the tank with water and stirs the mixture at a lower stirring speed to produce an emulsion fuel.

According to each of the above-mentioned inventions, since the stirring speed at the time of producing the initial emulsion is higher than the stirring speed at the time of producing the final emulsion fuel, the initial emulsion can be produced promptly. Some of the prepared initial emulsions are destroyed by stirring. On the other hand, when producing the final emulsion fuel, since the stirring is performed at a low stirring speed, the generated initial emulsion is not destroyed, and the destroyed initial emulsion is regenerated by the slow stirring,
In addition, a new emulsion is generated by the low-speed stirring, and finally a stable emulsion fuel is generated.

Since the stirring speed at the time of producing the initial emulsion is high and the produced emulsion may be broken by stirring, it is preferable to reduce the mixing ratio of water to petroleum-based fuel. On the other hand, the stirring speed at the time of producing the final emulsion fuel is low, and the produced emulsion is hard to be broken by stirring, so that the mixing ratio of water to the initial emulsion can be made larger than the above case.

[0012] The above-mentioned initial emulsion,
And petroleum fuel mixed with a lipophilic surfactant in advance, water mixed with a petroleum fuel and a hydrophilic surfactant in advance, or lipophilic surfactant mixed in advance It can be produced by mixing and stirring a petroleum-based fuel and water in which a hydrophilic surfactant is previously mixed.

As the lipophilic surfactant, any one of sorbitan monolaurate, sorbitan monopalmitate, sorbitan monostearate, and sorbitan monooleate can be used. Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monopalmitate,
Any one of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate, and polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate can be used.

Further, by adding a small amount of either ethylene glycol or polyethylene glycol which is a surfactant for linking a petroleum fuel and water, a more stable emulsion fuel can be produced.

In the emulsion producing method of the present invention, a petroleum fuel and water are mixed up to a maximum ratio of 1: 1 to produce a stable microemulsion fuel having an average particle diameter of liquid fine particles of about 0.05 to 3 μm. be able to.

In the emulsion producing method of the present invention, the emulsion fuel can be produced by one stirring tank, but the emulsion fuel can be produced by using two stirring vessels as in the third aspect of the present invention. it can.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an emulsion fuel generating apparatus for generating an emulsion by the above-described method, and a temperature for maintaining the temperature of a portion where the emulsion fuel is injected at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel. Holding means, and fuel injection means for injecting the emulsion fuel into a portion held at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel,
Is included.

In the invention of claim 5, the emulsion fuel generating device of claim 3 or 4 can be used.

According to the present invention, since the temperature of the part where the emulsion fuel is injected is maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel by the temperature holding means, the emulsion fuel is injected from the fuel injection means to this part. As a result, the emulsion fuel burns.

This temperature holding means is provided with a gas injection means for injecting a combustion gas at a portion where the emulsion fuel is injected, and burns the combustion gas injected from the gas injection means. The temperature of the part where the emulsion fuel is injected can be maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel. In this case, the gas injection means arranges a plurality of combustion gas injection ports on the circumference,
It can be configured such that the combustion gas injected from the plurality of combustion gas injection ports converges to the portion where the emulsion fuel is injected.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the emulsion fuel combustion system according to the present embodiment comprises an emulsion fuel generating apparatus 10 for mixing and stirring water, petroleum-based fuel, and a surfactant to produce an emulsion fuel. And an emulsion fuel combustion device 40 for burning the emulsion fuel.

The emulsion fuel generating apparatus 10 comprises a mixture of kerosene in which sorbitan monooleate, which is a lipophilic surfactant, is mixed in advance, and water in which polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate, which is a hydrophilic surfactant, is mixed in advance. A first stirring tank 11 for mixing and stirring at a high speed to produce an initial emulsion; and an initial emulsion and water produced in the first stirring tank 11 are mixed and stirred at a low speed to finally produce an emulsion fuel. And a second agitating tank 12 for producing the same.

The first stirring tank 11 has a water supply pipe 1 for supplying water in which a hydrophilic surfactant is previously mixed.
3, and a kerosene supply pipe 15 for supplying kerosene mixed with a lipophilic surfactant in advance is provided on the upper surface.

A stirring device 17 is mounted in the first stirring tank 11 so as to penetrate the upper surface of the stirring tank 11. The stirring device 17 includes a shaft 21A provided through the upper surface of the first stirring tank 11 and a shaft 21A.
Fan 20A fixed to one end inside the stirring tank
And a high-speed motor 21 fixed to the other end of the shaft 21A outside the stirring tank and rotating the stirring fan 20A. Reference numeral 27 denotes a level meter for visually checking the amount of the liquid inside.

The second stirring tank 12 is provided with a water supply pipe 14 for supplying water and an emulsion supply pipe 16 for supplying an initial emulsion generated in the first stirring tank.

In the second stirring tank 12, a stirrer 18 is mounted through the upper surface of the second stirring tank 12, similarly to the first stirring tank. Stirrer 18
Are a shaft 21B provided through the upper surface of the stirring tank 12, a stirring fan 20B fixed to one end of the shaft 21B inside the stirring tank, and a stirring fan fixed to the other end of the shaft 21B outside the stirring tank. And a low-speed motor 22 for rotating the motor 20B. In addition,
19 is a confirmation window for confirming the emulsion fuel in the second stirring tank 12.

A diaphragm valve 23 is attached to a side surface on the bottom side of the second stirring tank 12, and one end of a fuel supply pipe 24 for supplying an emulsion fuel is attached to the diaphragm valve 23. The other end of the fuel supply pipe 24 is connected to a pressure pump 26 for pressure feeding the emulsion fuel. The pressure pump 26 is connected to the emulsion fuel combustion device 40 via the fuel supply pipe 25.

The emulsion fuel combustion device 40 has an LPG cylinder 28 in which LPG, which is a raw material of combustion gas, is stored.
Are connected via an LPG supply pipe 30.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the emulsion fuel combustion device 40 includes a cylindrical frame holder 42 made of ceramics or metal. The frame holder 42 has an outer diameter of about 60 mm and a length of about 135 mm. A guard holder 41 (see FIG. 1) is attached to the outer periphery of the frame holder 42.

Inside the base end of the frame holder 42,
Combustion gas obtained by mixing LPG and air is supplied to the frame holder 4.
A gas injection device 44 for injecting toward a point O near the center inside 2 is mounted via fins 46. This gas injection device 44 has an outer diameter of 50 m by casting or the like.
m, the diameter of the center hole is 15 mm, and the height is about 20 mm. The bottom surface 4 of the gas injection device 44
One end of the LPG supply pipe 34 passes through 4A,
The gas injection device 44 is attached to the frame holder 42 such that the bottom surface 44A is located at a position about 15 mm from the base end of the frame holder 42. The other end of the LPG supply pipe 34 penetrating from the bottom surface 44A is provided with an air intake, and the LPG is supplied via an air intake 32 for mixing the supplied LPG with air taken in from the air intake.
The LPG supply pipe 30 connected to the cylinder 28 communicates with the LPG supply pipe 30.

The upper surface 44B of the gas injection device 44 is inclined so as to descend toward the center of the gas injection device 44,
The upper surface 44B has a plurality of (eight in this embodiment) gas injection ports 44 whose gas injection direction is substantially perpendicular to the upper surface 44B.
C is formed. Therefore, the combustion gas injected from each gas injection port 44C converges to a point O near the center of the inside of the frame holder 42. The angle θ between the axis C of the frame holder 42 and the injected combustion gas is suitably about 20 to 23 degrees.

As shown in FIG. 4, the gas injection port 44C is formed in the shape of a truncated cone protruding from the upper surface of the gas injection device 44 and has a large-diameter cylindrical hole located on the gas injection side. 44D and a small-diameter cylindrical hole 44E located inside the gas injection device 44 are formed so as to communicate with each other. The height of the truncated conical portion of the gas injection port 44C is 2 to
3 mm, outer diameter of upper surface is 4-5 mm, large-diameter cylindrical hole 44
The inside diameter of D is 2.5 mm, and the inside diameter of the small-diameter cylindrical hole 44E is about 1 mm.

The distal end of a cylindrical emulsion fuel injection nozzle 50 is inserted into the center hole of the gas injection device 44 so as to be movable in the axial direction of the gas injection device 44. A rack 50A is provided on the side of the emulsion fuel injection nozzle 50.
A pinion 50B rotated by a motor (not shown) is meshed with the rack 50A. Therefore, by rotating the pinion 50B, the emulsion fuel injection nozzle 50 is moved in the axial direction of the gas injection device 44.

On the inner peripheral surface on the distal end side of the frame holder 42,
A temperature sensor 54 for detecting the temperature of the flame of the burning emulsion fuel is attached, and a temperature of a type of fire formed by burning LPG is detected at a front portion of the gas injection device 44 inside the frame holder 42. A temperature sensor 56 is mounted.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. First, for example, the total weight of the emulsion fuel is 750.
If g, it can be produced at the following ratio. The weight ratio of kerosene to water in this case is 2: 1.

Kerosene 494 g Water 247 g Sorbitan monooleate 4.5 g Polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate 4.5 g Ethylene glycol Small amount In the first stirring tank 11, water in which a hydrophilic surfactant has been mixed in advance and lipophilicity After supplying the kerosene mixed with the surfactant at a weight ratio of, for example, 1: 6, a small amount of ethylene glycol is added, and the mixture is stirred at a high speed by the stirring device 17 to produce an initial emulsion fuel.

The generated initial emulsion is supplied to the second stirring tank 12 through the emulsion supply pipe 16.
Supplied to In addition, water is supplied to the second stirring tank 12 through a water supply pipe 14, and is stirred at a low speed by a stirring device 18 to generate an emulsion fuel. The ratio between the water supplied to the second stirring tank 12 and the initial emulsion is, for example, 1: 3 by weight.

As a result, an emulsion fuel having a mixing ratio of kerosene and water of 1: 2 by weight and an average particle size of about 0.05 to 3 μm is produced.

In the above description, an example using kerosene as a raw material for the emulsion has been described. However, petroleum fuels such as heavy oil (heavy oil A, heavy B oil, heavy C oil) and gasoline can also be used.

When LPG is supplied from the LPG cylinder 28, the LPG and air are mixed in the air intake section 32 to generate combustion gas, and the gas injection port 44 C of the gas injection device 44 is provided.
Then, the combustion gas is injected so as to converge to a point O near the center of the inside of the frame holder 42. When this combustion gas is ignited, a spark is generated. The temperature of the fire is detected by the temperature sensor 56, and at least the supply amount of the LPG and the intake air amount are set so that the temperature of the fire is maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel, for example, at a temperature of 400 ° C. or higher. Adjust one. When the temperature of the fire is maintained at about 400 ° C., the amount of LPG used is about 12 to 15 g / hour.

In this state, the diaphragm valve 23 provided in the stirring tank 12 is opened, and the pressure pump 26 is driven to inject the emulsion fuel from the emulsion fuel injection nozzle 50. Thus, the injected emulsion fuel is ignited by the fire and burned. And
The temperature of the flame of the burning emulsion fuel is detected by the temperature sensor 54, and the temperature of the emulsion fuel injection nozzle 5 is determined.
The amount of 0 is adjusted so that the temperature of the flame becomes the target temperature.

When the emulsion fuel is injected under pressure, there is a possibility that the emulsion particles, which are liquid fine particles, aggregate to increase the particle size. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the rubber by the arc tip fusiform rubber tube 60 and on the circumference is composed of the rotating body 62 provided with a spherical or cylindrical plurality of projections to rotate the rotating member It is preferable to use an emulsion fuel feeder that supplies the emulsion fuel by periodically deforming the tube 60, instead of the above-described pump.

In the above description, an example is described in which the emulsion fuel is injected into the pilot flame generated by burning the gas. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. Emulsion fuel may be injected to a heated target such as a heater, or may be made to penetrate and burn the injected emulsion fuel to a cylindrical member having a coiled heater disposed on the inner peripheral surface. Further, in the above description, an example of generating a fire using LPG has been described, but a gas such as city gas may be used. Furthermore, although an example in which eight gas injection ports are provided on the circumference has been described, two to seven or nine or more gas injection ports may be provided symmetrically, or the gas injection ports may be configured by nozzles. In the above description, a horizontal emulsion fuel combustion apparatus is described as an example, but the present invention can be applied to a vertical emulsion fuel combustion apparatus.

In the above description, an example was described in which sorbitan monooleate was used as a lipophilic surfactant and polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate was used as a hydrophilic surfactant. A surfactant and a hydrophilic surfactant may be used, a surfactant may be added to one of the petroleum fuel and water, and polyethylene glycol may be used instead of ethylene glycol.

[0046]

As described above, according to the emulsion producing method and apparatus of the present invention, the initial emulsion is produced by stirring at a high speed, and then the emulsion fuel is produced by stirring at a low speed. The effect of being able to produce a modified emulsion fuel is obtained.

Further, according to the emulsion combustion apparatus of the present invention, since the temperature of the part where the emulsion fuel is injected is maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel and the emulsion fuel is burned, the structure is simple. An advantageous effect is obtained that a simple emulsion fuel combustion device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the emulsion fuel combustion apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the emulsion fuel combustion device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a gas injection port of the emulsion fuel combustion device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing another example of the pressure feed pump.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Emulsion fuel generation apparatus 12 Stirring tank 26 Pressure pump 40 Emulsion fuel combustion apparatus 44 Gas injection apparatus

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshio Kitada 2-5-25-1 Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo (56) References JP-A-57-95519 (JP, A) JP-A-56-18694 (JP, A) JP-A-57-142418 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F23K 5/12

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A petroleum fuel, water and a surfactant are mixed,
An emulsion fuel producing method in which an initial emulsion is produced by stirring at a predetermined stirring speed, water is mixed with the produced initial emulsion, and the mixture is stirred at a stirring speed lower than the stirring speed. 2. The initial emulsion may be a petroleum-based fuel and water previously mixed with a lipophilic surfactant, water mixed with a petroleum fuel and a previously hydrophilic surfactant, or a lipophilic surfactant. 2. A petroleum fuel mixed with water and water previously mixed with a hydrophilic surfactant are mixed and stirred to produce a fuel.
Emulsion fuel production method. 3. Mixing a petroleum fuel, water and a surfactant,
A first stirring vessel for producing an initial emulsion by stirring at a predetermined stirring speed; mixing the initial emulsion produced in the first stirring vessel with water; and stirring the mixture at a stirring speed lower than the stirring speed to form an emulsion. A second stirring tank for generating fuel; and an emulsion fuel generating device. 4. The initial emulsion may be a petroleum-based fuel and water previously mixed with a lipophilic surfactant, water mixed with a petroleum fuel and a previously hydrophilic surfactant, or a lipophilic surfactant. 4. A petroleum-based fuel mixed with water and water mixed with a hydrophilic surfactant in advance are mixed and stirred to produce a mixture.
Emulsion fuel generator. 5. Mixing a petroleum fuel, water and a surfactant,
Stir at a predetermined stirring speed to produce an initial emulsion,
An emulsion fuel generating apparatus for mixing the generated initial emulsion and water and stirring at a lower stirring speed to generate an emulsion fuel, wherein the temperature of the portion where the emulsion fuel is injected is equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel. An emulsion fuel combustion device, comprising: a temperature holding device for holding the temperature; and a fuel injection device for injecting the emulsion fuel generated by the emulsion fuel generation device into a portion maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point of the emulsion fuel. 6. The initial emulsion may be a petroleum fuel and water previously mixed with a lipophilic surfactant, water mixed with a petroleum fuel and a previously hydrophilic surfactant, or a lipophilic surfactant. 6. A petroleum-based fuel mixed with water and water previously mixed with a hydrophilic surfactant are mixed and stirred to produce a mixture.
Emulsion fuel combustion equipment. 7. The temperature holding means includes gas injection means for injecting a combustion gas into a portion where the emulsion fuel is injected, and burning the combustion gas to reduce the temperature of the portion where the emulsion fuel is injected. 7. The emulsion fuel combustion apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the temperature is maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the ignition point.