Hydrocarbon Fuel Marking via Distillation-Resistant Marker Ratios
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Solution Overview
Problem
Marking hydrocarbon fuels with traditional methods is ineffective due to their complex composition and boiling point ranges, making it difficult to accurately identify and quantify the marked product after distillation, as the marker concentrations change, leading to challenges in distinguishing original from adulterated products.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of multiple markers with distinct distillation ranges, where at least one marker's range covers the entire product distillation range, ensuring that distillation does not eliminate the markers and allows for accurate quantification even after dilution, by maintaining their distinctive ratios in both distillate and residue fractions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single marker is added to hydrocarbon fuel for identification, then the product can be marked for tracking purposes, but the marker can be removed by distillation or its concentration changes during distillation, making accurate quantification impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple markers (at least two different markers) into a single marking system for hydrocarbon fuels. This combination creates a unique code that remains identifiable even after distillation, as the relative proportions of different markers change predictably during distillation processes, allowing original product identification through ratio analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes changes in marker concentration ratios as a parameter for identification. By measuring the relative proportions of multiple markers before and after distillation, the system can identify the original marked product despite concentration changes, transforming the distillation challenge into an identification opportunity
2Measurement precision
If multiple markers are added to create a unique code, then identification accuracy improves, but if the fuel is distilled, the code is lost because each marker has different boiling and distillation behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embraces rather than resists the parameter changes that occur during distillation. By monitoring how the ratios of multiple markers change during distillation (a controlled parameter change), the system can trace the origin of the marked product even after the original concentration code is altered, converting information loss into identification data
3Manufacturing precision
If distillation is performed to purify or fractionate the fuel, then the fuel quality improves, but the marker concentration changes make it impossible to determine the original product identity and quantity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the predictable parameter changes in marker concentrations during distillation as identification data. By analyzing the ratio changes of multiple markers through distillation fractions, the system can determine both the original marked product identity and the extent of dilution or adulteration, maintaining information integrity throughout the purification process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables reliable identification and quantification of the marked product in unknown samples, even after distillation and potential dilution, by maintaining the original marker ratios, thus overcoming the limitations of previous methods.
Implementation Method 1
A problem associated with marking hydrocarbon fuels is that they typically consist of a large number of different organic compounds which have a range of boiling points... distillation of the marked product will result in fractions containing different concentrations of marker
Data Source
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AI summary
A marking method which is a method of marking a product having a distillation range is disclosed. The method comprises the step of adding to said product a first marker, a second marker and optionally one or more further markers. Each marker has a distillation range including a minimum boiling point (Min BP), a maximum boiling point (Max BP) and a maximum distillation boiling point (Max DBP) which is the temperature at which the maximum volume of the marker distils. Each marker has a different distillation range from each other marker and at least one marker has a Max DBP which is within the distillation range of the product. The first marker has a distillation range in the marked product which extends over the whole of the product distillation range.