Systems and methods for manufacturing emulsified fuel
Methods and systems for manufacturing emulsified fuel include: adding surfactant to fuel; blending the surfactant and fuel together in a first mixing chamber for a first mixing period; subjecting the blended surfactant and fuel mixture to a dwell period following the first mixing period; introducing water into the blended surfactant and fuel mixture following the dwell period; and blending the surfactant, fuel and water together in a second mixing chamber for a second mixing period. The surfactant is selected to exhibit an HLB rating in the range of 8.75 to 8.83.
1. A method of manufacturing and delivering a water-in-diesel-emulsion (WiDE) to a combustion chamber, comprising:
adding a predetermined quantity of a surfactant having a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) value in the range of about 7 to 10 to a predetermined quantity of diesel fuel;
blending the surfactant and diesel fuel together in a first mixing chamber;
subjecting the blended surfactant and diesel fuel mixture to a dwell period of about 1 to 5 minutes following the first mixing period;
following the dwell period, transferring the blended surfactant and diesel fuel mixture to a second mixing chamber different than the first mixing chamber;
introducing water into the blended surfactant and diesel fuel mixture in the second mixing chamber following the dwell period;
blending the surfactant, diesel fuel, and water together in the second mixing chamber; and
pumping the twice-blended diesel fuel mixture from the second mixing chamber to the combustion chamber through an in-line heater;
wherein the in-line heater is configured to adjust the temperature of the fuel mixture to a range of 37-40° C.; and
wherein the fuel component comprises one of diesel #2, diesel #6, and heavy fuel oil (HFO).
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mixing period is in the range of about 3 to 5 minutes.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first mixing chamber comprises a sheering blade operating in the range of about 1000 to 1200 RPM.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the HLB value is in the range of about 8.7 to about 8.9.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein blending the surfactant and fuel together further comprises blending the surfactant and the fuel with naphtha in the range of about 0.5 to 2% by volume and nitrate in the range of about 0.5 to 2% by volume.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the nitrate comprises at least one of one of 2-ethlyhexalnitrate and isopropyl nitrate.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emulsified fuel comprises:
about 60% to 80% of the fuel component;
about 20% to 30% of the water component; and
about 0.5% to 5% of the surfactant component.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant comprises a detergent.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant comprises an ethoxylated alcohol.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the surfactant comprises an HLB value of 8.7 to 8.8 and comprises about 2% by volume of the emulsified fuel.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant, the first mixing period, the dwell period, and the second mixing period are selected to yield a shelf life for the emulsified fuel of at least 3 months.