Diesel cogeneration plant using oxygen enriched air and emulsified fuels

摘要

The investigation of oxygen-enriched combustion of alternative fuels in diesel engines at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is based on information gathered from two previous Department of Energy programs. The first was the slow-speed diesel engine program which used fuels such as coal-water slurry and coal derived liquid fuels in a slow speed diesel engine. The second was the development of membrane oxygen separation equipment. The results of these programs indicated that using the new membrane oxygen enrichment technology with medium- and high-speed diesel engines would do two things. First, oxygen enrichment could reduce some emissions from stationary diesel engines, particularly smoke, particulates and hydrocarbons while significantly increasing power output. The second, was that it might be possible to use less expensive liquid fuels such as No. 4, No. 6 and residual oil emulsified with water in medium- to high-speed diesel engines. The water would (1) help to eliminate the undesirable increase in nitrogen oxide production when enriched oxygen is used, and (2) by reducing the viscosity of the heavier liquid fuels, make them easier to use in smaller industrial cogeneration applications. This program consists of four steps: preliminary feasibility study, exploratory experiments, system development, and demonstration and commercialization of an industrial cogeneration system. 3 refs., 13 figs.