Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
CA 02354330 2001-07-30
GROUND ORGANIC FUEL
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fuel produced from drying and grinding organic
matter
and in particular to dried organic matter which is ground and pulverized to
micron particle
sizes to form a combustible fuel.
Background
In the prior art of which applicant is aware, organic fuels have been mixed
with
another fuel, for example, natural gas, fuel oil or other petroleum products
to ensure
combustion of the mixture. As an example, applicant is aware of a wood waste
fuel developed
in Sweden and marketed under the trademark Elenol. Applicant is also aware of
United States
Patent No. 4,358,292 which issued to Battista on November 9, 1982 for
Stabilized Hybrid Fuel
Slurries which teaches extending petroleum fuel oils by forming a slurry with
mixtures having
varying compositions of finely ground coal, particles of carbon black less
than one micron,
finely ground newsprint, sawdusts, cellulose, and clean organic energy-rich
waste materials.
In the present invention, a non-oil fuel is produced from grinding and
pulverizing materials
which include the same raw material used to produce ElenolTM or hogged fuels,
the difference
being, again, in the present invention, the ground material is not mixed with
a petroleum or gas
fuel product.
There are currently in use a number of methods to extract the useable BTU's
from waste wood, including the extraction of methane gas. True, the processes
have been
successful in extraction of the methane gas, which is subsequently burned in a
jet turbine to
produce electricity. Unfortunately, a great deal of energy is consumed to
extract methane and
the remaining material is burned as charcoal, an inferior fuel.
1
CA 02354330 2001-07-30
After research into production of the non-oil fuel of the present invention
from
agricultural waste, applicant discovered that two pounds of such non-oil fuel
equalled one
pound of gasoline or kerosene in terms of BTU content. It was also found that
the BTU
content of one pound of wheat straw was very similar to one pound of wood
waste,
approximately 8,600 and 9,700 BTU. Research indicates that wheat and bark
contain
approximately 10,000 BTU per pound. This is to be compared to gasoline or
kerosene, which
contains approximately 19,000 BTU per pound.
All carbon based matter, whether straw, bark, wood, sugar cane etc., when
ground to 10 microns, has the same specific gravity of 1.5. The specific
gravity of water is
62.5 lbs per cubic foot, thus a cubic foot of non-oil fuel weighs 93.75 lbs.
All organic matter
is composed of roughly 48% carbon, 6% hydrogen, 43% oxygen, plus trace
minerals and
water. Organic matter weighs differing amounts per cubic foot because of the
number and size
of airspaces within the material. For example, Balsa wood weighs 10 - 12 lbs
per cubic foot
while Lignum Vitae weighs 70 lbs per cubic foot. However, when both are
micronized, they
will weigh 93.75 lbs per cubic foot.
What follows is a comparison of the useable BTU in each. For this purpose,
calculations are based on a cubic meter ( 35.31 cubic feet equaling 1 cubic
meter).
Non-Oil Fuel - 10 Microns in size Kerosene jet fuel
93.75 lbs per cubic foot 50 lbs per cubic foot
10,000 BTU per lb 19,000 BTU per lb
937,500 BTU per cubic foot 950,000 BTU per cubic foot
33,103,125 BTU per cubic meter 33,544,500 BTU per cubic meter
98% burning efficiency 82% burning efficiency
32,441,062 useable BTU per cubic meter 27,506,490 BTU per cubic meter
3,310 lbs per cubic meter 1,765 lbs per cubic meter
2
CA 02354330 2001-07-30
Thus, non-oil fuel is a more economical fuel than jet fuel by approximately
18% by volume. The current price of kerosene is $694.40 per cubic meter in
Canadian funds.
Applicant estimates, at present day costs, the maximum cost to produce non-oil
fuel to be $20
- $30 per cubic meter Canadian.
Summary of the Invention
The non-oil fuel of the present invention may be produced with relatively
minimal cost and without the loss of any BTU. More importantly, the burning
efficiency of
such non-oil fuel approximates 98 percent, which compares favourably to the
burning
efficiency of bone-dry wood at 80 percent. Although the non-oil fuel of the
present invention
may of course be combined with petroleum products in a slurry, the fuel of the
present
invention is not combined with any other fuel to produce combustion. Such non-
oil fuel may
be ignited by a spark or by a natural gas pilot flame as an example. It has
been applicant's
experience that combusting the non-oil fuel of the present invention does not
produce harmful
emissions in the manner of fossil fuel combustion.
It may be possible to utilize the non-oil fuel of the present invention as a
fuel
for electrical generation depending on the fuel delivery system and ignition
system in the
electrical generator turbine engine. Applicant has noted that, because the non-
oil fuel is finely
ground, that when it is dry it tends to stick together.
In summary, the organic fuel of the present invention includes dried organic
material ground to a particulate size of substantially less than 300 microns.
The particulate
material may advantageously be of less than or equal to 10 microns. The
organic matter may
be chosen from the group containing agricultural waste or wood waste, wherein
the
agricultural waste may include waste straw and wherein the wood waste may
include bark.
3
CA 02354330 2001-07-30
The method of producing the organic fuel of the present invention includes the
steps of drying organic material and grinding or otherwise pulverizing
(hereinafter generically
referred to as grinding) the organic material into particulate form having a
particulate size of
substantially 300 microns or less. The method may include the step of grinding
the organic
material so as to form particulate sizes of less than or equal to 10 microns.
Again, the organic
material may include agricultural or wood waste, although this is not intended
to be limiting
but, rather, illustrative of carbon-based material including carbon-based
waste material.
Detailed Description of Embodiments of the Invention
The non-oil fuel of the present invention is produced by drying, grinding and
pulverizing organic matter to produce particles having a size of less than 300
microns, and in
one preferred embodiment, less than 10 microns. The organic matter may be any
organic
matter, including although not limited to, agricultural waste such as wheat
straw, wood waste,
bark, so long as it may be dried, ground and pulverized into a fine powder.
As stated above, the non-oil fuel of the present invention may also be
combined
with petroleum fuels for example as a slurry with kerosene. It has been
applicant's
determination that in such an embodiment the non-oil fuel of the present
invention can
represent at least 75 percent of the combined volume of the fuel. It has also
been applicant's
observation that micronized non-oil fuel of the present invention weighs more
than kerosene
by a ratio of 1.88. Applicant's calculations indicate that, for the same
volume of non-oil fuel
as compared to kerosene or gas, non-oil fuel has more useable BTU content than
either
kerosene or gas. It has also been applicant's observation that when mixed with
kerosene, the
micronized non-oil fuel of the present invention flows as a fluid without
particulate adhesion,
that is, the particles of the non-oil fuel do not cling together.
It is applicant's belief that the non-oil fuel of the present invention may be
used
as a fuel as a substitute for petroleum product fuels. As compared to such
petroleum product
4
CA 02354330 2001-07-30
fuels, the cost of the non-oil fuel of the present invention is negligible in
that it turns organic
waste into fuel. This also presents the advantage that, by using organic waste
as fuel,
conventional waste disposal problems are eliminated or at least reduced. So
too, the pollution
produced by burning fossil fuels is also either eliminated or reduced. It has
been applicant's
observation that the by-products left from the burning of the non-oil fuel of
the present
invention are water vapour, and ash, the latter component being reduced to
between 0.02 and
0.08 percentage of the original volume of the fuel. Applicant has had success
in ignition of
flour particles entrained in a stream of air. Once such a stream was ignited,
it proved to be
self perpetuating. The dry flour particles were fed from a hopper by the use
of an auger which
emptied into a stream of air propelled under pressure at about 6 psi.
Applicant observed that
once the stream was initially ignited, the flame continued to burn and
appeared to be
reasonably pure so as to indicate nearly complete combustion of the
particulate material of the
non-oil or organic fuel.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing
disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of
this invention
without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of
the invention is
to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following
claims.
5
