Preparation and Application of Diesel Microemulsion

Abstract

The formation of water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion with a water phase and diesel oil as the oil phase, with the cationic surfactant oleinic acid and linoleinic acid and alcoholic cosurfactant, has been examined. The various factors that influence the amount of water added are studied. The experimental result shows that the quantity of ammonia and alcohol, the alcoholic cosurfactant chain length, and the concentration of the inorganic salt have substantial effects on the formation of the microemulsion and the amount of water added. The neutralization value of ammonia to oleinic acid has an optimum value at which the amount of solubilization water is the largest. The alcohols that have moderate carbon chain length can achieve a larger amount of solubilization water, among which n-butanol has the best effect. The addition of a certain amount of inorganic salt can increase the amount of water added. The mixed surfactant is superior to the single surfactant and there exists an optimum proportion. The amount of surfactant added could be decreased considerably by mixing the cationic surfactant and anionic surfactant together in a certain proportion. The action of ammonia, alcohol, and inorganic salt in the formation of the microemulsion is explained theoretically. The mechanism of interaction between the cationic surfactant and anionic surfactant is depicted in detail. The condensed diesel microemulsion was made and the method of the industrial application is discussed.