Apparatus for Generating Electrolytic Gas Composite Fuel, and Method for Generating this Fuel

Abstract

An electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus is disclosed having a mixing tank in which a liquid organic compound, such as an alkane, alcohols or ether, is stored so that a gaseous fossil fuel is continuously mixed with an electrolytic gas that is supplied as bubbles, an electrolytic gas supply device for supplying bubbles of electrolytic gas, and a fossil fuel supply device for supplying gaseous fossil fuel as bubbles. The fuel generation apparatus also includes an electrolytic gas composite fuel discharge device for discharging an electrolytic gas composite fuel that is produced by continuously mixing the electrolytic gas with the gaseous fossil fuel, an elevating portion capable of ascending and descending within the mixing tank, and a controller. The present invention further discloses a method for continuously mixing an electrolytic gas, generated by water electrolysis employing a basic electrolyte, with gaseous fossil fuel, and generating an electrolytic gas composite fuel.

1 . An electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus comprising:
 a mixing tank, in which a liquid, selected from among organic compounds such as alkanes, alcohols and ethers, is stored so that a gaseous fossil fuel is to be continuously mixed with an electrolytic gas that is supplied as bubbles to the mixing tank;   an electrolytic gas supply device, for supplying to the mixing tank bubbles of electrolytic gas that is produced through water electrolysis using a basic electrolyte;   a fossil fuel supply device, for supplying gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank as bubbles;   an electrolytic gas composite fuel discharge device, for discharging to a fuel use device an electrolytic gas composite fuel that is produced by continuously mixing the electrolytic gas with the gaseous fossil fuel;   an elevating portion, which is capable of ascending and descending within the mixing tank, and on which a plurality of partition plates, in which multiple pores are formed through which electrolytic gas and gaseous fossil fuel bubbles can not pass, are horizontally positioned and integrally mounted, and are immersed in the liquid in the mixing tank, with peripheral surfaces facing interior mixing tank walls; and   a controller, for initiating or halting the supply of electrolytic gas and/or gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank, and for adjusting an amount supplied and a predetermined component ratio.   
   
   
       2 . The electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the liquid selected from the organic compounds, such as alkanes, alcohols and ethers, is either gasoline, ethanol, methyl alcohol or dimethyl ether. 
   
   
       3 . The electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gaseous fossil fuel is one chosen from among liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal gas. 
   
   
       4 . The electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a component of the electrolytic gas composite fuel generated by the electrolytic gas composite generation apparatus is a gas produced by the vaporization of the liquid, which is an organic compounds such as an alkane series member, an alcohol or an ether. 
   
   
       5 . The electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein three of the partition plates are integrally attached to the elevating portion, and wherein the lowermost partition plate is a stainless steel plate having a thickness of about 0.5 to 2.5 mm and a pore diameter of about 0.5 to 3.5 mm, and the upper two partition plates and are meshed flat plates having pore diameters of about 0.2 to 1.5 mm. 
   
   
       6 . The electrolytic gas composite generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, when multiple bubbles of the electrolytic gas and the gaseous fossil fuel have gathered on a lower face of the partition plates and upward migration of the bubbles is stagnant, or when bubbles pass through the small pores and migrate upward, the elevating portion on which the partition plates are mounted is displaced upward or downward, and the controller detects the upward or downward displacement of the elevating portion to halt or start the supply of the electrolytic gas and the gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank. 
   
   
       7 . The electrolytic gas composite generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller detects a change in a pressure inside the mixing tank, and halts or starts the supply of the electrolytic gas or the gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank. 
   
   
       8 . The electrolytic gas composite generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, when the controller has detected that the pressure inside the mixing tank has reached a predetermined pressure level, designated as a halting condition for the supply of gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank, the controller halts the supply of the electrolytic gas to the mixing tank; and wherein when the controller has detected that the pressure inside the mixing tank is lower than the predetermined pressure level, the controller starts the supply of the electrolytic gas to the mixing tank. 
   
   
       9 . The electrolytic gas composite fuel generation apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an electrolytic gas generator, for supplying electrolytic gas to an electrolytic gas supply device, that includes   an electrolytic cell, for the generation of an electrolytic gas, including
 an electrolyte inlet formed in a bottom wall, 
 an outlet, formed in a top wall for extracting a mixture of an electrolyte and a generated gas, 
 an anode plate, internally arranged near the bottom wall, 
 a cathode plate, internally arranged near a top wall, and 
 an electrolyte spinning and passing portion, which has no electric connection, for spinning and passing an alkali electrolyte in a direction leading from the anode plate to the cathode plate; 
   an electrolytic gas/electrolyte separation cell, to which the mixture of the electrolytic gas and the electrolyte, extracted from the outlet in the upper end of the electrolyte, extracted from the outlet in the upper end of the electrolytic cell, is fed, and in which gas-liquid separation is performed for the mixture to separate gas components of the electrolytic gas from the electrolyte, so that only the gas components are externally extracted, while an electrolyte component is retained, internally;   an electrolyte forcible cooling device for forcibly cooling the electrolyte that is retained in the electrolytic gas/electrolyte separation cell; and   an electrolyte circulation device, for circulating the electrolyte toward the electrolytic cell.   
   
   
       10 . The electrolyte gas composite fuel generation apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the electrolyte spinning and passing portion, which is located between the anode plate and the cathode plate in the electrolytic cell, is formed of a predetermine number of metal plates, in each of which two to six electrolyte passage openings are formed along the outer circumference, with point symmetry from the center; and wherein the metal plates are arranged by sequentially displacing the electrolyte passage openings at a predetermined angle, so that the electrolyte is passed through the metal plates while spinning is being performed. 
   
   
       11 . An electrolytic gas composite fuel generating method comprising the steps of:
 feeding, in a form of bubbles, a gaseous fossil fuel and an electrolytic gas, which is generated through the electrolysis of water using a basic electrolyte, to a mixing tank, in which a liquid, an organic compound selected from among alkanes, alcohols and ethers, is stored;   repeating and mixing process to evenly mix the gaseous fossil fuel and the electrolytic gas;   preparing an elevating portion, which is capable of ascending or descending within the mixing tank, and on which a plurality of partition plates, in which multiple pores are formed that are too small for bubbles of the electrolytic gas and the gaseous fossil fuel to pass through, are horizontally aligned and integrally mounted, and are immersed in the liquid in the mixing tank, with their peripheral faces near the inner walls of the mixing tank;   detecting an upward or downward displacement, of the elevating portion on which the partition plates are mounted, that occurs when multiple bubbles of the electrolytic gas and the gaseous fossil fuel have gathered on a lower face of the partition plates and upward migration of the bubbles is stagnant, or when bubbles pass through the small pores and migrate upward;   halting or starting supply of the electrolytic gas and the gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank, or controlling an amount supplied and a predetermined component ration, and   producing an electrolytic gas, composite fuel by continuously mixing of the electrolytic gas with the gaseous fossil fuel.   
   
   
       12 . The electrolytic gas composite generation method according to  claim 11 , wherein the supply of the electrolytic gas or the gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank is halted or started upon the detection of a change in a pressure inside the mixing tank. 
   
   
       13 . The electrolytic gas composite generation method according to  claim 11 , wherein the supply of the electrolytic gas to the mixing tank is halted upon detecting that the pressure inside the mixing tank has reached a predetermined pressure level, designated as a halting condition for the supply of gaseous fossil fuel to the mixing tank; and wherein the supply of electrolytic gas to the mixing tank is started upon detecting that the pressure inside the mixing tank is lower than the predetermined pressure level.