Renewable fuel/lubricant mixture for use in a two-stroke internal combustion engine

Abstract

A method is provided, which includes operating a two-stroke engine with a lubricating fuel, the lubricating fuel including at least one fuel selected from the group including C1-6 alcohol, gasoline, ether, ketone, nitromethane, and a mixture thereof, and at least one lubricant selected from the group including biodiesel, lipid, fatty acid alkyl ester, fatty acid, and a mixture thereof. Lubricating fuel compositions are also provided.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is based on, and claims priority to, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 660,330, filed Mar. 11, 2005, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND [0002] 1. Field [0003] The invention relates to lubricating fuels, their preparation, and their use. [0004] 2. Discussion of the Background [0005] A wide variety of equipment is powered by two-stroke internal combustion engines such as leaf blowers, string trimmers, outboard motors, watercraft, motorcycles, chain saws, lawnmowers, snowmobiles, etc. The main reason for their wide application is their high ratio of horsepower to weight. The reason for the increased horsepower is that two-stroke motors ignite on every stroke of the engine unlike four-stroke engines that ignite fuel every other stroke. Another advantage to two-stroke engines over four-stroke engines is 2-stroke engines require less valves and as a consequence are much simpler...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, this increase in horsepower comes at the price of increased concentrations of pollutants in the exhaust gases.

This type of operation results in unused fuel, lubricant, and carbon monoxide being released in the exhaust stream into the atmosphere.

MTBE is a suspected hazard to human health and is water-soluble and therefore poses a threat to water sources.

This problem tends to worsen as the engine ages.

Although two-stroke engines produce more horsepower, they are significantly less efficient than four-stroke engines in terms of fuel efficiency, and they release greater amounts of environmental pollutants.

Unfortunately, gasoline / ethanol fuel cannot be used in a two-stroke engine without the A addition of a lubricating agent.

This is not surprising given that traditional lubricants used in spark ignited two-stroke engines are immiscible in ethanol, and operating these engines without the lubricant would result in immediate engine failure.

Unfortunately, traditional two-stroke engine lubricants are not miscible with all of the aforementioned fuels.

For example, ethanol is not miscible with petroleum derived two-stroke engine oil and cannot be used unless a suitable lubricant is mixed in with this fuel.

Fuels containing other alcohols, ethers, or mixtures thereof will face the same immiscible issues.

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