Solving Fuel Problems by Using Chemical Additives

A wide range of fuel performance problems can often be solved by the use of chemical additives. Although in some circumstances the additives used may be no substitute for refining processes such as hydrotreating, caustic washing, or distillation, they can provide an alternative to further processing. 

Some chemical additives such as corrosion inhibitors, wax crystal modifiers, detergents, and demulsifiers provide performance which is difficult to duplicate through refining without adversely affecting some other fuel property. Other additives such as metal chelators, fuel sweeteners, biocides, lubricity improvers, foam control agents and combustion enhancers can also be used to solve fuel performance problems. 

Recent developments and concern over the control of fuel exhaust emissions have led to the increased use of combustion system detergents, oxygenates and cetane improvers in fuel. Oxygenated blend components such as ethanol, methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl t-butyl ether (ETBE), and /-amylmethyl ether (TAME) are also used to help limit the exhaust emissions from fuel. 

Some of the most frequently utilized additives effective at solving fuel-related problems are described within this chapter. 

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The release of VOCs into the environment has widespread environmental imph-cations. Pollution by VOCs has been linked to the increase in photochemical smog and ozone depletion. In addition, many VOCs are themselves toxic and/or carcinogenic. The US Clean Air Act of 1990 was one of the first measures to call for a 90% reduction in the emissions of 189 toxic chemicals, with 70% of these classed as VOCs, by 1998. Hence, in recent years, the development of effective technologies for the removal of VOCs from the atmosphere has increased in importance with the introduction of legislation to control their release. Various methods have been proposed, and one of the best is heterogeneous catalytic oxidation. This has the advantage over the more common original thermal oxidation process, since it requires less supplementary fuel and is therefore a less expensive process. However, the characteristics of the catalyst selected for this process are of vital importance for successful operation, and potential problems such as lifetime and deactivation must be solved if catalytic oxidation is to be employed universally. Catalysts currently in use include noble metals, notably platinum and palladium, and those based on metal oxides, however, irrespective of the type of catalyst, the most important characteristics are activity and selectivity for total oxidation. 

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