Nanotech-Based Emulsion Fuel Aims at Marine Market

The technology promises a new way to mix fuel and water

A new emulsion fuel technology developed by researchers in the United Kingdom could reduce marine pollution, the creators of the fuel, SulNOx Fuel Fusions, said today in an emailed press release.

The company says that the emulsion process uses nanotechnology, mixing the fuel at high speed and pressure to alter its properties at a quantum level, and then adds a stabiliser.

Cambridge University and Ricardo Engineering will help test the fuel with an eye to the possibility of commercialising it for use in the marine industry.

Emulsion, mixing fuel and water, increases the surface area of fuel particles, helping them to burn more completely, reducing particulate matter (PM) emissions, while keeping engine temperatures low enough to reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

"The benefits of adding water to diesel fuel has been known about since the early 1900s but the problem has been 'stratification' of the emulsion and the excessive cost to the consumer," said Stephen Bamford, a director of SulNOx.

"The problem is water and fuel don't mix.

"Over a relatively short period of time these two components separate and – as every engineer knows – putting pure water into a combustion engine has catastrophic results."

The company claims its process overcomes these drawbacks, and it estimates that it could reduce the NOx content of fuel by 50 percent or more, while PM could drop more than 90 percent.

"This solution has the dual benefit of cutting pollution without damaging the economy," Bamford said.

"We are trying to target the most environmentally damaging industries like shipping first, but ultimately we want every drive to switch to emulsified fuel."

The emulsion fuel technology is also designed for use in land transport engines, and says tomorrow it will will be demonstrating the fuel to an audience of politicians, business people, and the media with a test on one of London's iconic 1959 Route Master buses.

Other companies are also pursuing emulsion technologies for marine fuel.