| US 7,449,034 B1 | ||
| Continuous dehydration of alcohol to ether and water used as fuel for diesel engines | ||
| Svend-Erik Mikkelsen, Vaerlose (Denmark); Peter Lehrmann, Birkerød (Denmark); and John Bøgild Hansen, Copenhagen (Denmark) | ||
| Assigned to Haldor Topsoe A/S, Lyngby (Denmark) | ||
| Appl. No. 10/19,485 PCT Filed Jun. 07, 2000, PCT No. PCT/EP00/05275 § 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Apr. 17, 2002, PCT Pub. No. WO01/02515, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 11, 2001. |
||
| Int. Cl. C10L 1/18 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 44—302 [44/446; 44/448; 44/451; 431/2; 431/356; 123/25 E; 123/1 A] | 6 Claims |
| 1. A method of operating a compression ignition engine on an oxygenated diesel fuel composition comprising methanol, dimethyl
ether and water, said method comprising the step of injecting the fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine and combusting
the fuel with air, wherein the fuel is obtained by dehydrating methanol containing from 0 and up to 20% w/w water by converting
50 to 95% of the methanol to dimethyl ether and water according to the reaction scheme:
2CH3OHDME+water
resulting in equilibrium mixtures containing 30 to 68% w/w dimethyl ether, the equilibrium mixtures having at least 5% w/w
methanol and at most 50% w/w methanol, and the balance being at least 14% w/w water and at most 40% w/w water;
wherein the dehydrating takes place on board in a vehicle at a temperature between 200° C. and 450° C. and at a pressure between
10 and 400 bar; and
wherein the air for combustion is preheated to a temperature of at least 60° C.
|