US1954865A - Nondetonating fuel - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 17, 1934 PATENT OFFICE NONDETONATING FUEL Philip S. Danner, Point Richmond, Calif., as-

signor to Standard Oil Company of California,

San Francisco, Calif.,

ware

a corporation of Dela- No Drawing. Refiled for abandoned application Serial No. 117,153; June 19, 1926. This application June 17, 1931, Serial No. 545,077

2 Claims.

This invention relates to motor fuel, and particularly refers to motor fuel of the so-called non-detonating type.

This application is substituted for my applica- 5 tion Ser. No. 117,153, filed June 19, 1926, which lapsed for failure to pay the final fee.

The hydrocarbon motor fuels now in use all have a very definite break down or detonating point beyond which the fuels cannot be used without serious trouble arising in the operation of the internal combustion engine. When the compression pressure is raised, a definite or critical pressure is reached at which each particular motor fuel produces a decided knock. This knocking is evidenced by a pinking sound in the motor combustion chamber and is accomplished by a loss in power, overheating, and eventual pre-ignition, which, if severe, will cause the motor to stop.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a motor fuel for use in internal combustion engines which possesses less detonating properties than motor fuelsnow in use.

It has been found that certain relatively unstable organic compounds of metals, when admixed with mineral motor fuel, operate to suppress detonation in internal combustion engines operating under relatively large loads and that high compression ratios, for example, compression ratios in excess of about 4.5 to 1.0 may be employed when using such materials. Particularly, I have discovered that nickel-tetracarbonyl, Ni(C0) 4, is especially efllcient in suppressing detonation. Also, iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO)5,

cobalt tetracarbonyl, 602(00) a, and molybdenum hexacarbonyl, M0(CO)a, are of special efficiency in'the supression of detonation. Furthermore, these materials may be produced in commercial quantities in an economical manner.

Heretofore, difficulty has been met in the use of the metal carbonyls for the. purpose of suppressing detonation in that the carbonyls are more or less readily decomposed on contact withof the preferred form or forms of non-detonating fuel embodying the invention. For this purpose, I have set forth hereinafter the best examples of non-detonating fuel now known to me.

The base of the motor fuel comprises a mineral hydrocarbon oil of any desired type, such as is 6 usually obtained from petroleum oil. To this mineral motor fuel is added quantities of metallic carbonyls which may considerably vary, depending upon the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine in which it is to be employed and the particular carbonyl used. As an example of such a motor fuel, nickel tetracorbonyl, Ni(CO)4,. has been added to gasoline from Cali- .fornia crude oil in proportions of approximately 8.75 grams of the carbonyl per gallon of gasoline. The fuel thus prepared was used to operate in a motor with a compression ratio of 5.4 to 1, for a period of 20 minutes without detonation, as indicated by a standard Midgely indicator. Likewise, when iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO)5, is added to the same gasoline, a valuable fuel is prepared whose critical compression pressure will be roughly proportional to the amount of carbonyl added. I have foundthat 5.9 grams per gallon will permit a compression ratio of 5.6 to 1, while 10 grams per gallon will permit a ratio of 6.0 to l. The other carbonyls, cobalt tetracarbonyl, CO2(CO)8, and molybdenum hexacorbonyl, Mo(CO)s, may be employed in approximately the same molecular proportion or other proportions, as desired.

Some difficulty may be encountered in the use of any of these carbonyls since they arev more or less readily decomposed on contact with air and moisture, and especially when exposed to light. For this reason, I prefer to employ compounds of these carbonyls which are sufiiciently similar chemically and physically to the straight carbonyls so as not to sacrifice the beneficial characteristics of the metal carbonyls themselves. Such compounds are the nitroso bodies formed by the action of nitric acid upon these carbonyls. For example, such compounds as cobalt nitrosocarbonyl, Co(CO)3No, and iron nitroso pentradecacarbonyl, Fe4(CO)15No, are eramples of the suitable nitrosocarbonyls.

I have further discovered that the tetracarbonyl'of iron, Fe(CO)4, is also adapted to provide a non-detonating fuel and that it has special advantages in that it is relativelystable on exposure to air, moisture and light and yet is highly eflicient as a detonation suppressing agent.

.As a further embodiment of the invention, I have discovered that'the various carbonyls mentioned may be combined together to produce dou- 1 ble carbonyls which possess the advantage of the single carbonyls in preventing detonation while, at the same time, decreasing the tendency of the materials to decompose on exposure to air. As an example of this form of the invention, both iron pentacarbonyl and nickel tetracarbonyl decompose on exposure to air, moisture and light. It has been found, however, that these two compounds combine together to form a double carbonyl which is quite stable on contact with both air and water,

even on long standing. The compound formed from these two materials is the ferro nickel enneacarbonyl, FeNi(CO) 9. The double carbonyls, such as the one described, have the disadvantage of being less soluble in ordinary motor fuel than the single carbonyls. However, it may be readily dissolved in motor fuels by the employment of