Oil emulsion

Abstract

[Object] To provide an oil emulsion which can be readily ignited using a conventional, commercially available burner without need of a specific type of device and which has a high ratio of water to an oil and is inexpensive.[Solving Means] An oil emulsion is obtained by mixing under agitation an oil, an emulsifier and a specific type of water obtained by initially passing water through an ion exchange resin, passing either tourmaline or a silicon dioxide-rich rock selected among igneous rocks and further passing the other. The oil emulsion obtained by mixing the oil, the emulsifier and the water is inexpensive and is able to maintain a stable emulsified state.

Description

[0001]This application is a U.S. national stage of International Application No. PCT / JP2008 / 056762 filed Apr. 4, 2008.[0002]This invention relates to an oil emulsion in which oils such as a waste oil, a waste edible oil, light oil, a mixture of light oil and kerosene, heavy oil, a mixture of heavy oil and kerosene, kerosene, gasoline and a petroleum-based dry solvent, coal tar, asphalt (melt) and the like are emulsified with water.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Emulsion fuels obtained by emulsifying oils and water are conventionally known. A prior art technique of making an emulsion fuel is proposed in Patent Literature 1. In this technique, mixed matters are removed from a waste oil, and the resulting waste oil, water and a surface active agent are placed in an apparatus, followed by subjecting the waste oil, water and surface active agent to high-speed mixing under agitation in a magnetic field to provide an emulsion fuel.[0004]For an instance of mixing ratios in the emulsion fu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is an oil emulsifier that is made by mixing an oil, an emulsifier, and a specific type of water. The specific type of water is obtained by passing through an ion exchange resin and a silicon dioxide-rich rock. The weight ratio of the oil to the emulsifier is 100%, and the weight ratio of the specific type of water to the oil is between 10% and 70%. The invention is characterized by the use of a plant oil made of castor oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, rice oil, or a mixture of these oils, and the addition of methanol, ethanol, or oleyl alcohol in small amounts. The invention can be used in various applications such as waste oil, heavy oil, and kerosene. The specific type of water used in the invention can be obtained by passing through an ion exchange resin and a silicon dioxide-rich rock. The invention is also characterized by the use of a silicon dioxide-rich rock in the circulation path of the water.

Problems solved by technology

It has also been known that a more increasing amount of water results in the facilitated separation of emulsion and the increasing latent heat of evaporation, thus being unsuited for practical application.

More particularly, with an emulsion fuel prepared by mixing an oil, water and a surface active agent, there has arisen a disadvantage that ignition is unlikely to occur at normal temperatures.

However, if a burner having such two fluid nozzles is used, the drawback that an emulsion fuel is unlikely to ignite could not be overcome completely.

However, these methods are disadvantageous in that a high temperature combustion unit or a facility for the combustion environment becomes necessary, so that plant costs run up.

In the technique of Patent Literature 1, a disadvantage is involved in that expensive facilities of several tens of millions of yen are necessary for forming a magnetic field and carrying out high-speed agitation so as to emulsify a waste oil and water using the waste oil, the water and a surface active agent.

In addition, emulsion fuels have a drawback in that combustion calorie is lower than 100% fuel because water is contained.

Because of the lower calorie of the emulsion fuel than that of 100% fuel, a prolonged combustion time over 100% fuel is necessary, with an attendant poor combustion efficiency.

With conventional emulsion fuels, they cannot be easily ignited by means of commercially available burners, or cannot be completely combusted, and a fuel odor is smelled in a combustion gas after combustion.

To avoid this, where conventional emulsion fuels are combusted, a specific type of expensive burner or a specific combustion method has to be used, with the attendant disadvantage that combustion costs become high or CO2 cannot be reduced.

Expensive surface active agents have been conventionally employed as an emulsifier for the preparation of emulsion fuels, so that cost reduction cannot be attained with emulsion fuels using such surface active agents.

Where an emulsion fuel using a surface active agent as a chemical product is combusted, dioxine generates thereby causing environmental pollution.

Images