Improving the quality of fuel through the use of forced gas boiling in a vacuum

Abstract

Basic physical processes proceeding in hydrocarbon fuels during operation are the following: evaporation, stratification, contamination with impurities (gaseous, liquid, and mechanical), and settling of high-melting components during cooling, as well as the mixing of hydrocarbon fuels of various groups and grades in tanks and hauling equipment as well as during pipeline transportation. The fuel quality changes the most when products that differ significantly in their physical and chemical properties are mixed. The principle of the technology for adjusting the fractional composition of the fuel proposed in the article is as follows: a mixture of petroleum products is bubbled with gas (air, nitrogen), while the free volume is continuously pumped out by a vacuum system, a vacuum close to saturated is maintained in the technological tank, the vapor pressure of the more volatile component of the liquid mixture. The article assesses the possibility of using this technology for separating a mixture, derives a formula for determining the mass of a highly volatile liquid separated from a mixture, and gives recommendations on the technological parameters of improving the quality of fuel in terms of fractional composition by the method of forced gas boiling (PGV) in a vacuum and presents a theoretical justification of the proposed technology.