Development Of Microemulsion Fuel Formulations, And Microemulsion Structure

Microemulsion, which are made from water, an organic solvent,a surfactant and a cosurfactant,are transparent, low viscosity, isotropic and thermodynamically stable dispersion systems. Microemulsion has been applied in many fields as its excellent properties. In this paper, its application in microemulsion fuel was studied. As the fuel additive, it has many advantages, for example, improving burning efficiency and reduce environment pollution.First, a new excellent microemulsion diesel oil, which was composed by CTAB, oleic acid, ammonia and alcohols, was successfully prepared with the theory of surfactants composite and the theory of the microexplosion. The main factors that effect the stability and the maximum water solubilization of the microemulsion were studied. The microemulsion diesel oil, we prepared, was clear and transparent. It doesn't turn turbid with the superfluous water. It was sill steady after a long time. It can save energy and protect environment. The flow chart is very sample and the microemulsion diesel oil suit for industrial production.In the next section, a microemulsion gasoline which includes oleat, butanol and methanol or ethanol, was successfully prepared. The main factors that effect the stability and the maximum water solubilization of the microemulsion were studied. Then the best component of microemulsion was confirmed. The microemulsion which we prepared was clear and transparent, and it was still steady after a long time.At last, we studied the structure of microemulsion by pseudoternary phase diagram, conductivity and FT -IR Spectrometry. The behavior of the cetane/iso-pentanol/CTAB+NH₄OA/water system was described on pseudoternary phase diagram, in which the weight ratio of surfactant and cosurfactant was fixed. It showed four states sequentially with the increase of the water content: W/O microemulsion, BC microemulsion, liquid crystal and O/W microemulsion; while the n-octane system experienced two states: W/O microemulsion and BC microemulsion. there is no O/W microemulsion compared to the cetane system. To convince the results of the pseudoternary phase diagram, we tested the conductivity of the two systems with the consurfactant of n-butanol and iso-pentanol respectively. The two systems agree with percolation model as the consurfactant is n-butanol ,but they agree with nonpercolation model when we use iso-pentanol. In FT -IR, by the -OH frequency and the change of stretch vibrational peak -CH₃, -CH₂, we can understand the state of water phase and oil phase, consequently determine the structure of the microeumlsion.