cavitation hydrocarbon cracking
TRANSCRIPT
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Investigation of Cavitation-‐Induced Hydrocarbon Cracking Max Fomitchev-‐Zamilov1,2 and Sergei Godin1
1 Quantum Potential Corporation, State College, PA 16803 2 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Abstract
Ultrasonic treatment of hydrocarbon liquids such as crude oil, fuel oil, liquefied asphalt and bitumen is known to reduce their viscosity and to increase the yield of light fraction extractable via subsequent refining or catalytic cracking. This process is generally referred to as upgradation. The upgradation due to ultrasonic treatment becomes economically viable and commercially attractive if one is able to boost the efficiency of the process by pumping higher ultrasonic energy densities into the processed liquid and to prevent recombination of the radicalized molecules. This can be achieved by using ultrasonic / hydrodynamic activators of rotary type, which are known to generate energy densities far in excess of 1MW/m2.
Although the technique of cavitation-‐induced oil cracking has been known in the Soviet Union since the early sixties the technology is virtually unknown in the west, and there are only a few small companies in Russia and Ukraine that develop, manufacture, and export the ultrasonic cavitation equipment mostly to customers in China, India, and Brazil. The U.S. petroleum industry and the American economy too stand to benefit from industrial applications of the cavitation-‐based hydrocarbon processing as it results in substantial energy savings, reduced fuel costs, and corresponds to a step towards greater energy independence (which is a matter of national security and national interests of the United States).
Because of the potential importance of the cavitation-‐based hydrocarbon processing technology we propose to study the operation of an ultrasonic activator pump by Kladov/Selivanov, which is a representative member of the family of devices used for crude oil and fuel oil upgradation. The ultrasonic activator of Kladov/Selivanov is a perfect experimentation tool due to availability of the experimental data, the existence of the detailed design plans, relative ease of construction, and high density of ultrasonic energy that it generates (1-‐10 MW/m2).
The objectives of the investigation are to study the cavitation-‐induced hydrocarbon cracking, determine the range of potential applications in petroleum processing and bio-‐fuel production, and verify their economic viability. The long-‐term goal is to achieve better understanding of the underlying sonochemical processes and to design new cavitation-‐based hydrocarbon processing equipment for U.S. petroleum industry.
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Investigation of Cavitation-‐Induced Hydrocarbon Cracking Max Fomitchev-‐Zamilov1,2 and Sergei Godin1
1 Quantum Potential Corporation, State College, PA 16803 2 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Project Narrative
Background – Crude Oil Refining
Crude oil is a natural mixture of a wide variety of light and heavy hydrocarbons from paraffins and naphthenes to aromatics and asphaltics, which must be separated (e. g. distilled) from the crude.
Distillation oil refining to this day remains to be the main step in petroleum processing and the core process of a refinery operation. Distillation amounts to heating of crude with subsequent fraction condensation in a distillation tower. Light fractions from gasoline to diesel are given higher priority due to their immense economical importance since they form the basis of virtually all motor fuels. Unfortunately, straight-‐run distillation yields only 25-‐35% gasoline while transportation demands alone require at least 50% yield of gasoline from crude [1].
To recover additional gasoline the distilled heavier fractions (heavy oil to bitumen) are subjected to catalytic cracking, which amounts to heating of heavy hydrocarbons to 450-‐650°C in the presence of catalyst powder (such as alumina) with subsequent vapor condensation in a distillation tower. The catalytic cracking (or its variations such as hydrocracking or steam cracking) allows boosting gasoline yield to 50% with the remaining fractions corresponding to kerosene (~5%), light & heavy fuel oil (~34%), and ~10% of the residuals such as bitumen, asphalt and coke [2]. In most cases the catalytic cracking allows recovering all but 5-‐10% of useful hydrocarbons locked in crude oil. However, not all refineries are equipped with the state-‐of-‐the art catalytic cracking systems as companies often lack capital or incentives to upgrade to the latest process. For instance, in Russia only 43% of refineries are outfitted with the latest catalytic cracking technology versus 58% of the U.S. and 76% of Japanese refineries [3]. Clearly, large capital expenditures required for catalytic cracking equipment as well as substantial energy requirements for powering of the catalytic cracking process negatively impact the economics of the light fraction recovery. Moreover the worldwide depletion of light sweet crude reserves forces petroleum companies to extract more and more of heavier crude, which in turn either yields less light fractions during the refining process or requires larger energy input or more expensive refining engineering to recover the same amount of light fractions as from the light crude. Clearly, other economically viable alternatives for boosting the light fraction yield from crude and maximizing the efficiency of the refining residue processing (such as heavy fuel oil, bitumen and asphalt) must be explored. Ultrasonic cavitation-‐induced cracking is one such alternative.
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Cavitation and Sonochemistry
Cavitation-‐induced chemical processing was originally developed in Russia in the early 1960s [4]. Cavitation is a process of bubble formation in liquids subjected to variable pressure. Cavitation occurs when pressure of the liquid falls below its vapor pressure and is characterized by a high temperature (104K typical, 105K and higher possible) and high pressure (10-‐100MPa) occurring with in the cavitation-‐induced collapsing bubbles [5, 6].
Cavitation forms a basis of sonoluminescence, the process of cavitation-‐induced bubbles giving off visible light, and sonochemistry, the discipline for studying ultrasound / cavitation induced chemical reactions [7].
The physics and chemistry of ultrasound-‐induced inorganic chemical reactions is well understood and amounts to reaction activation due to locally increased temperature and pressure and molecular radicalization due to bond breaking by collapsing bubbles. While sonochemistry of inorganic liquids is well studied sonolysis of hydrocarbons is less studied and the sonochemistry of solutes dissolved in organic liquids remains largely unexplored [7]. Ironically, because of the rising energy needs of the world the area of organic liquids – crude oil, plant oil, and plant biomass – is the area of the most promise and importance as far as commercial and industrial applications of sonochemistry are concerned.
Regardless of the type of the processed liquid (or a mixture of liquids) these are the most common effects of cavitation [4, 7, 8]:
-‐ Homogenization of liquids (important for emulsion preparation); -‐ Breakage of solid particles (important for suspension preparation); -‐ Radicalization of molecules (important for depolymerization, lysis); -‐ Chemical reaction acceleration (due to the locally increased temperature in
collapsing bubbles and the availability of radicals).
All of these effects have a numerous commercial application from wastewater treatment and sterilization to cement preparation and food processing. For the remainder of the discussion we will focus on petrochemical and hydrocarbon applications of cavitation.
Application of Cavitation to Hydrocarbons – Depolymerization
As far as the established petrochemical and the emerging bio-‐fuel industry concerned depolymerization and hydrocarbon cracking are the most important effects that follow directly from the process of cavitation. Naturally occurring crude oil is characterized not only by the composition of the compounding hydrocarbons but also by the van der Waals interaction between the molecules, which gives oil elastic polymer-‐like structure that negatively impacts the viscosity. Thick viscous oil requires more energy for transportation and processing (e.g. in terms of pump station power and
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heating necessary to prevent oil from freezing in winter). In the same time heavy polymerized fuels burn less efficiently and produce more pollutants [9].
Therefore depolymerization of crude or the resulting petroleum products (such as diesel and fuel oil) due to the breakage of van der Waals forces between the molecules is an important use of cavitation – Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Depolymerization of fuel under the influence of ultrasonic cavitation.
According to Kavitus [9] the diesel / fuel oil deploymerization results in smoother engine operation, fuel economy of up to 18%, and the reduction of ash/soot by over 50%.
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The cavitation-‐induced depolymerization also impacts crude oil rheology. E.g. [10] reports 5-‐fold reduction of viscosity in crude oil at room temperature after 5-‐hour cavitation processing – Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Reduction of the viscosity of crude oil after cavitation treatment in an ultrasonic activator [10].
EkoEnergoMash reports fuel 20-‐30% fuel oil viscosity reduction and 5-‐10% flash point temperature increase after cavitational treatment [11] – Table 1. Corroborating the claims by Kavitus [9], EkoEnergoMash [11] also reports 3-‐5% reduction in soot and ash emission from burning of the cavitationally processed fuel oil.
Table 1. Fuel oil viscosity decrease and flash point temperature increase after cavitation treatment.
Application of Cavitation to Hydrocarbons – Cracking
The possibility of hydrocarbon break up by ultrasonic cavitation has been well-‐known for several decades [12]. The only contentions point is the efficiency of such process: since sonochemical reactions are enacted by collapsing bubbles the efficiency
Fuel Oil Parameters
Viscosity flow equivalent, s, T=60°С Flash point, °С Density, kg/m3 Fuel Oil Sample
Start Finish Delta, % Start Finish Delta, % Start Finish Delta, %
Karabashsky 155 90 42 120 127 5 925 920 0,5
Shukrovsky 38 23 39 105 115 9 915 915 0
Nizhnekamsky 165 120 25 145 135 -‐ 7 920 920 0
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of the process is directly proportional to the density of bubbles, which in turn is proportional to the density of the ultrasonic energy. According to [13] an energy approaching 1MW/m2 will render further increase of ultrasonic power useless due to vapor / bubble formation around the ultrasonic transducer in contact with the liquid while at lower energy densities the efficiency of the bond cracking process is minuscule (in part due to radical recombination) and economically non-‐viable. The objection, however, applies only to conventional ultrasonic equipment that relies on piezoelectric transducers or sonotorodes for liquid excitation. To achieve the requisite ultrasonic energy densities on the order of 1-‐10 MW/m2 a rotary pulsation apparata [4, 8] are used where ultrasound excitation is generated by means of a rapidly rotating perforated rotor. Such designs allow generating very high-‐density ultrasonic pulses over a wide surface area (around the rotor) thus producing much larger cavitation volume and higher energy density when compared to the traditional piezoelectric transducer or sonotrode-‐based devices.
Nesterenko and Berlizov [14] estimate that even if the cavitation bubbles occupy 10% of the volume of the processed liquid then 360 liters of petroleum products will be necessary to pump in order to crack one mole of hydrocarbons (µ = 100-‐300) equivalent to 100-‐300g. Thus highly efficient multiple-‐stage cavitation processing is required in order to achieve economically attractive cracking. Fortunately, according to [4, 8] such multi-‐stage processing is possible with the help of loop-‐back rotary/pulse-‐driven devices.
Another approach to boosting the efficiency of cavitation is to conduct the ultrasonic excitation in the presence of an electric field [15]. Electrostatic charge generated within the bubbles assists radical formation due to covalent bond breaking, which generate chain reactions in hydrocarbons with the end-‐result being low molecular-‐weight compounds and aromatics [15].
More recently the use of ultrasound was proposed for the petroleum residue upgradation [17], including asphalts [18]. In these studies study ~20% of asphaltene was converted into smaller molecules after 60-‐120 minute exposure. These heavy resinous residues are a byproduct of catalytic cracking, which cannot be easily decomposed due to boiling temperatures far in excess of 500-‐600°C used in catalytic cracking. While ultrasonic cracking of these substances is possible economic viability is yet to be demonstrated.
Promtov [16] draws attention to the efficiency of the pulsed rotor units in rupturing C-‐C bonds under vigorous long-‐term cavitation conditions and gives the results of the experimental investigation of one such machine at Tambov State University. The study found that ultrasonic processing of a mixture of a heavy fuel oil with small addition of kerosene or light diesel results in a modest decrease of the kinematic viscosity by 1-‐2 mm2/s and equally small decrease in the flash point temperature by 4-‐6°C. In the same time cavitation cracking of crude allows reducing atmospheric distillation temperature of crude by 10°C, while reducing the 50% distillation temperature by 63°C, a huge energy saving – Table 2.
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Table 2. The reduction of distillation temperatures of the cavitationally treated crude with respect to untreated one.
Laboratory findings of Promtov lend some credence to claims made by the equipment manufacturers. E.g. Ukrainian company Kavitus [9] advertises 50-‐60% coagulation temperature and 20-‐25% of viscosity reduction of ultrasonically treated diesel fuels, which results in 8.3% fuel economy and 30% reduction in harmful emissions for their MobiLine Italian customer and 10.2% fuel economy for Zaporozhstal diesel locomotive depot.
Russian company New Technologies 2000 [10] publicizes the increased light diesel yield from the ultrasonically activated crude – Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. The increased yield of light diesel after the installation of an ultrasonic activator at La Libertad refinery, Ecuador [10]. In 2006-‐2007 trials diesel fraction output increases from 26% to 40% or by 1000-‐1400 barrels per day. The increase was attained solely by ultrasonic excitation of crude at the expense of 37 kWh of continues power required for operation of the ultrasonic activator pump.
Similar encouraging results were obtained by Selivanov [10] when cracking heavy sour fuel oil. Fig. 4. shows that after the ultrasonic treatment the processed fuel oil thermally decomposes into lighter fractions at markedly reduced temperatires, e.g. 10% yield is achieved at only 440°C as opposed to 720°C for untreated oil.
These intriguing results point to economic viability of ultrasonically / cavitationally assisted hydrocarbon cracking and clearly warrant further study combined with an independent laboratory confirmation of the reported results.
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T,°C
% Vol
Fig. 4. The results of thermal cracking of the ultrasonically cracked (red line) and unprocessed heavy fuel oil (yellow line). The ultrasonically treated compound yields 6% of light fractions almost with no heating (100°C) and gives off 19% of light fractions when heated to 440°C (compare to over 700°C required by the untreated oil). Blue line is a mixture of virgin and processed oil.
The Equipment – Ultrasonic Activator
Our interest in cavitation-‐based devices stems from the work by Russian inventor A. F. Kladov (1939-‐2003) on a device he dubbed ‘ultrasonic activator’ [19]. Kladov graduated from Moscow State Aviation Institute (MAI) majoring in nuclear rocket propulsion systems and worked at Lavrentiev Hydrodynamics Institute at Novosibirsk. The focus of Kladov’s work was ultrasonic / cavitation cracking of hydrocarbons and his patent application [20] claims the ability to make crude yield up to 90% of light fractions by repeated pumping of crude through the ultrasonic activator under 2-‐5 MPa pressure and with addition of 2-‐3% by volume of dispersing gas.
The key feature of Kladov’s apparatus is the ability to generate enormous sonic energy densities on the order of 1-‐10MW/m2 by virtue of both ultrasonically and hydrodynamically-‐induced cavitation and multi-‐stage design that allows repeated processing of the liquid to maximize the cavitation effect. Another clever feature of Kladov’s design is the addition of dispersing gas (e.g. hydrogen, carbon dioxide, air, or methane) that facilitates bubble formation and participates in chemical reactions with the cracked hydrocarbon radicals thus preventing them from recombining. The infusion of H2 or CH4 effectively enables C-‐H bond formation in place of ruptured C-‐C bonds. Another key feature of Kladov’s design is the claimed ‘resonant’ mode of operation, which maximizes the conversion of the mechanical energy of rotors mixing the fluid into the ultrasonic energy of cavitating bubbles, which in turn results in cracking of C-‐C bonds.
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From the design point of view Kladov’s activator is essentially a centripetal pump where the processed liquid is accelerated by a rapidly rotating perforated rotor wheel (9) and then forced by the impellor (8) through slots (12) in the perforated cylindrical stator (9) – Figures 5-‐6.
Fig. 5. Kladov’s ultrasonic activator’s rotor and stator cross-‐section (left) and the rotor’s slots (right). The impeller (8) forces the liquid through the slots (10) in the rotor (9); the accelerated liquid flows through slots (12) in the perforated stator (12).
Fig. 6. Kladov’s four-‐stage activator housing a shaft with the attached four perforated rotors, each within its own stator. En electric AC motor drives the shaft (not shown). Four impellers (8) drive the liquid through rotors’ slots and then through stators’ slots. The rotor and the stator slots are of the same size; the width of blanks between the slots is the same as the width of the slots. Circulation line (13) with valve (17) can be used to send a portion of the pumped liquid into repeated processing through the activator.
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In addition to four-‐stage activator a single-‐stage apparatus is also possible. In the case of a single-‐stage design sufficient rate of cavitation processing is achieved by looping back portion of the processed fluid back into the activator (e.g. via the loopback line (13) on Figure 6). In all cases 30-‐300 kW (depending on the number of stages) 3-‐phase electric AC motor drives the shaft housing the rotor(s) and the impeller(s).
Kladov’s design is representative of a wide variety of rotary / pulse-‐based cavitation machines employed in Russia and Ukraine, and their hydrodynamic and ultrasonic characteristics are described in depth in [4] and [8]. These rotary devices feature perforated rotors and cylindrical or conical stators and are capable of generating of massive amounts of cavitation far in excess (>100 times) of the amounts accessible via conventional ultrasonic excitation via a piezoelectric transducer or sonotrode. Hence if cavitation hydrocarbon cracking is to be economically viable a rotor / pulse-‐based cavitation machine has to be used.
Technical Description
The extremely interesting results of cavitation-‐induced hydrocarbon cracking and oil upgrading listed in the previous sections of this proposal merit an independent laboratory confirmation of the results reported by the manufacturers. Positive confirmation will justify the adoption of the cavitation-‐induced oil cracking technology in the U.S. with the economic advantages amounting to the reduced power requirements for catalytic cracking and the increased yield of light fractions (e.g. due to heavy crude / heavy fuel oil upgradation).
Fig. 7. Selivanov’s variant of Kladov’s activator (far left), electric motor (right) and bearing unit (middle) is also shown. In Selivanov’s version of the activator the stator is not perforated and corresponds to an entirely smooth cylinder enclosing the perforated rotor. The replacement of perforated stator with a smooth one is the only principle modification from Kladov’s original design.
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To conduct the study we propose to build an ultrasonic activator, which corresponds to Selivanov’s modification of the original Kladov’s design [24] – Figure 7.
The choice of Selivanov’s design was dictated by the following key factors:
-‐ Availability of detailed construction plans with exact measurements [24]; -‐ Relative ease of construction: to recreate the design one can simply retrofit an
existing centripetal pump; -‐ Consultation and availability of the inventor (Selivanov); -‐ Familiarity of our company with this particular design due to our prior
involvement with Selivanov’s activator and cavitation technology; -‐ Availability of proprietary data indicative of the successful activator applications
for oil cracking / upgradation projects in Russia, Ecuador and India [10]; -‐ The industrial deployment of the Selivanov’s activator technology in India backed
by Swiss-‐Indian financiers indicates real savings and clear economical viability of the cavitation-‐induced upgradation (economic effect from a single refinery is estimated to exceed $150,000/day [27]).
The only principal difference between a single-‐stage Kladov’s and Selivanov’s activator is in the replacement of the perforated stator with a smooth cylindrical one in Selivanov’s version. From our extensive operational experience this modification does not affect the activator’s primary function: for many years Selivanov has been building the activators, which differ only by their resonant properties as defined by rotor and stator measurements and have successfully applied the technology for crude oil cracking and petroleum processing in Russia, Ecuador, and India [10]. Overall view of Selivanov’s activator in industrial setting is shown on Figure 8, and a close up of another model highlighting the perforated rotor design is shown on Figure 9. In a typical implementation the rotor is driven at 3,000 RPM by a 30kW 3-‐phase electric AC motor. According to Kladov and Selivanov’s own work [24] only rotor and stator configuration and rotor revolution speed is critical to activator’s operation.
Fig. 8. Slivanov’s activator in industrial setting at a refinery in Ecuador.
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Fig. 9. Close-‐up of Selivanov’s activator demonstrating perforated rotor (top left) and mysterious marks on internal stator surface (top tight) probably caused by the standing ultrasonic waves.
Our initial investigation of Selivanov’s activator revealed a surprisingly large excess heat. The evidence of extreme heating was present even on the outer surface of the activator: the stator developed thermal oxidization spots evenly distributed along the stator’s outer surface – Figure 10. While these marks can probably be attributed to the cavitation-‐induced heating no such marks were present on the inside surface of the stator or rotor. On the other hand the rotor was also perfectly intact.
Fig. 10. Thermal oxidization marks evenly distributed on the outer surface of the activator’s stator. Inner stator surface was free of thermal oxidization films, which could have been chemically removed. Both the stator and the rotor are made of the same brand of stainless steal equivalent to U.S. type 420.
Other unusual phenomena recorded in our initial trials of the activator included:
-‐ The presence of substantial magnetic field (10-‐50 mT) around the operating activator – Figure 11 – indicative of charged plasma (charged chemical radicals?) circulating within the activator. We suspect the formation of the Ranque-‐Hisch vortex tube;
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-‐ Occasional unexpected excess pressure build up within the activator resulting in damage (i.e. cracking) of the activator’s rotor and stator;
-‐ Odd coloration marks on the internal surface of the stator. The coloration marks correspond to images of rotor slots and are somehow synchronized to activator’s ground position and orientation and cannot be disturbed even by a groove machined in the stator’s surface in attempt to disrupt the pattern – Figure 12. The pattern, however, did shift when the activator was moved to a new location. Our conclusion is that the marks are indicative of a standing acoustic wave possibly locked onto a resonant Ranque-‐Hisch vortex tube, which is ‘pinned down’ by magnetic field of the Earth or laboratory.
Fig. 11. Magnetic field generated by the operational activator.
Fig. 12. Mysterious coloration marks on the internal surface of the stator corresponding to rotor slots. Note that the marks are simply changes in color and not indentations. The dark groove in the middle of the picture was machined in attempt to influence the pattern. However, the coloration pattern did not
The Working Hypothesis
Kladov’s/Selivanov’s activator generates acoustic waves when the fluid exits through the rotor’s slots – Fig. 13. In such configuration each slot can be viewed as a Helmholtz resonator forming a chain capable of accumulating large ultrasonic energy. The so-‐
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trapped ultrasonic energy stimulates powerful cavitation that in turn causes chemical disassociation / radicalization of molecules, which is evident from the creation of a stationary magnetic field around the operating activator – Fig. 11. While ionization of vapors (e.g. the creation of plasma [26]) inside collapsing bubbles will create a momentary magnetic field one can reasonably expect no net effect due to random orientation of the transient magnetic fields caused by the multitude of bubbles. However, the actual distribution of bubbles may not be random due to stable vortices pinned in the rotor’s slots. Due to cavitation these vortices will be full of streaming bubbles. If we view each individual bubble as a microscopic capacitor where the charged ‘plates’ are formed by ionized gasses, the bubble vortex becomes analogous to a multi-‐stage Marx generator where the breakdown of dielectric in between the bubbles will result in massive discharges with voltages easily reaching into MV range [27]. Assuming modest polarization energy of 1 eV (which is consistent with our estimate of bubble charge based off oscilloscopic measurement of cavitation-‐induced discharges in mineral oil – Fig. 14), Rodionov estimates that the bubble growth during the expansion phase will result in voltage build-‐up up to 10kV per bubble [27]. Consequently it takes only 100 closely packed bubbles forming a multi-‐stage Marx generator-‐like discharge to reach the voltages on the order of 1MV, which no doubt assists molecular ionization/radicalization and contributes to the increased efficiency of the activator when compared to conventional sonotrode-‐based ultrasonic activators.
In our own work with cavitation in mineral oil we were able to verify experimentally that Radionov’s estimate was not far off-‐the mark: we have observed 40kV/cm discharges between the glowing stream of cavitation-‐induced bubbles and the grounded brass nozzle by pumping mineral oil through the narrow opening in the nozzle at 50 m/s – Fig. 14. The presence of the bubble discharge currents is the most likely cause of the magnetic field detected around the activator.
Fig. 13. Liquid flow through activator’s slots. The liquid existing the slots forms resonant vortices. Rotor motion direction is given by V.
Rotor
Stator
The flow directing from the rotor’s
center
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Fig. 14. 40 kV/cm discharge (short and thin zigzagging line) between the charged luminous cavitation-‐induced bubbles (long blue streak) and the grounded nozzle (cone on the right) emitting a 50 m/s flow of mineral oil.
Conclusion
The ultrasonic activator of Kladov/Selivanov is capable of highly efficient transformation of mechanical energy into ultrasonic energy with density on the order of 1-‐10 MW/m2. This colossal energy stimulates profuse cavitation, confined to slots of the rotor. The massive sonic energy forms plasma within the bubbles, the bubbles form Marx generator-‐like discharges, which further contribute to molecular radicalization and hydrocarbon breaking. To prevent recombination of radicals and reduce the formation of aromatics the addition of hydrogen or methane is required to the processed mixture. Fortunately, the addition of gasses also stimulates cavitation thus further intensifying the process. Therefore, the combination of all these factors makes efficient cavitation-‐induced hydrocarbon cracking feasible (at least in principle) and thus potentially economically important.
Experimental Setup and Objectives of the Research
We propose to build a replica of the ultrasonic activator according to Kladov / Selivanov and study cavitation-‐induced hydrocarbon cracking in lab conditions. The main objective of the study is to determine the amount of hydrocarbon cracking (e.g. via gas chromatography), measure the viscocity and density changes, measure the energy requirements and estimate the economical viability of the application of the method at refineries for crude upgradation or as a step for post-‐catalytic upgradation of distillation residue.
The proposed experimental setup is shown on Fig. 15. The activator is connected to a hermetically sealed and well-‐insulated plastic barrel forming a closed-‐loop circuit. Valves on input and output pipes control the pressure gradient within the activator. We will monitor the flow rate and the pressure using the appropriate pipe-‐mounted gauges. The activator is powered by a 50HP 3-‐phase 120V AC motor rated at 3,600RPM. To
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detect the resonance mode of operation we will control the activator’s driving motor’s frequency via a 60HP Varispeed unit (controllable by computer via RS-‐232 serial interface). The resonant mode of operation is characterized by a spike in the motor’s power consumption and the reduced throughput of the pumped liquid.
Fig. 15. Experimental setup.
We will install a high-‐accuracy Fluke power meter with USB logging capability on the power line leading to the activator’s AC motor.
To measure the thermal output of the activator we will install 1-‐2 dual-‐digital thermometers with USB logging capability in the barrel to collect temperature data from various locations in the barrel (sufficiently fast liquid pumping rate should achieve adequate mixing minimizing errors in temperature readings).
The feed rate of gases (CO2, H2, air, and CH4) will be controlled by the input line valve cut into the activator input line and connected to a gas tank.
We will use Hall-‐effect probe to measure the configuration and strength of the activator’s magnetic field.
RS-‐232
Varispeed
3 phase AC 120V / X Hz
Plastic Barrel
AC power meter
Closed loop circulation
Activator
3 phase AC 120V / 60Hz
Dual-‐Digital Thermometer
Flow meter
Pressure meter
Flow control valves
Computer
USB USB
Gas tank Hall Effect Meter
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We will experiment with a broad range of hydrocarbons, including various types of heavy crude and heavy fuel oil.
During Phase I funding of the project we plan to achieve the following:
1) Build a replica of the ultrasonic activator according to Selivanov using the construction plans in our possession and the inventor’s consultation;
2) Detect the necessary resonant modes of operation and attune the activator to them my varying rotational frequency of the motor;
3) Measure electromagnetic fields generated by the operating activator; 4) Vary pressure within the activator; 5) Vary gas feed rate and the dispersing gas composition; 6) Determine viscosity and gravity changes in the processed liquid depending on
the processing time; 7) Determine hydrocarbon content in the processed liquids (via gas
chromatography) depending on the processing time; 8) Measure electric power consumption and calculate the fluid processing rate; 9) Repeat measurements 4-‐7 for various types of hydrocarbons including common
grades of heavy crude and heavy fuel oil. 10) Perform distillation analysis of the processed samples.
At the end of Phase I of the project we plan to obtain conclusive data with regard to economical viability of the crude and heavy fuel oil upgradation.
During Phase II of the project we plan to launch an expanded inquiry into the application of the cavitation processing to bio-‐diesel production and engage the U.S. petroleum industry (via our university contacts) in field trials of the activator in order to demonstrate economic viability of the technology in industrial setting. The objective of the Phase II of the project is to develop commercially viable activator prototypes for useful for U.S. petroleum industry.
Potential Post-‐Applications
The confirmation of economical viability of ultrasonic / cavitation treatments of hydrocarbons will correspond to a significant step towards the increased fuel economy, the increased light fraction yield, and the reduced energy requirements of the refining process, thus giving the U.S. petroleum industry and the American nation an economic advantage over the global competition via more efficient utilization of hydrocarbon resources while enabling the reduced carbon footprint.
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Work Schedule: 6 months
As a part of Phase I funding we plan to do the following:
Phase I funding received, project begins (week 1)
1) Comprehensive review of project documentation, equipment acquisition a. 20 hours of PI time b. 40 hours of engineer time
2) Materials and equipment ordered, prototype construction begins a. 40 hours of PI time b. 80 hours of co-‐investigator time c. 320 hours of machine shop time
Milestone 1: Activator built, equipment received, trials begin (week 6)
3) Construction, testing and refining of the experimental setup a. 40 hours of PI time b. 80 hours of co-‐investigator time
Milestone 2: Experimental setup complete, resonance search begins (week 8)
4) Resonant mode of operation search begins. Motor speed is varied, power consumption is measured until a spike in power consumption is detected and liquid throughout drops
a. 40 hours of PI time b. 80 hours of co-‐investigator time
Milestone 3: Resonant mode of operation identified (week 10)
5) Various hydrocarbon liquids are pumped through the activator, pressure within the activator and the gas feed rate varied, power input, viscosity and chromatography changes measured, magnetic field monitored; samples distilled
a. 100 hours of PI time b. 600 hours of co-‐investigator time
Milestone 4: Experiment concludes (week 25)
6) Final report preparation a. 40 hours of PI time b. 40 hours of co-‐investigator time
Milestone 5: Project concludes, nuclear fusion confirmed (week 26)
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[13] Suslick, private communication
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[16] Promtov, M.A., Cavitation Technologies for Quality Improvement of Hydrocarbon Fuels, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, 44, 1-‐2, 2008
[17] Sawarkar et al., Use of Ultrasound in Petroleum Residue Upgradation, The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 87, 3, pp. 329-‐342, 2009
[18] Lin, J.R., Yen, T.F., An Upgrading Process through Cavitation and Surfactant, Energy and Fuels, 7, pp. 111-‐118, 1993
[19] Kladov, A.F., Ultrasonic Activator, WO/1994/0009894, 1994
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[20] Kladov, A.F., Process For Cracking Crude Oil And Petroleum Products And A Device For Carrying Out The Same, WO/1994/01026, 1994
[24] Selivanov, N.I., Method and Device for Conditioning Hydrocarbon Liquid, WO/2003/093398, 2003
[25] Selivanov, N.I., Private communication, 2010
[26] Flannigan, D.J., Suslick, K.S., Internally confined plasma in an imploding bubble, Nature Phyrics Letters, 6, 2010, DOI:10.1038/NPHYS1701
[27] Rodionov, B.U., Acceleration of ions and nuclear reactions in cavitating liquids, in proceedings of the 3rd All-‐Russian Conference on Science and Technology, p. 125-‐127, 2002, http://library.mephi.ru/data/scientific-‐sessions/2002/3_Konf/1132.html
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Facilities
Quantum potential has necessary facilities to conduct the project work outlined in this proposal, except for the metal hanger that must be rented for the purpose of this project. The hanger must be rented for safety reasons and because the industrial 100kW 3-‐phase 220V power required to drive the equipment.
Equipment
Quantum potential has necessary tools and equipment to conduct the project work outlined in this proposal. We propose to purchase an aftermarket gas chromatograph (e.g. Varian CP-‐3800) since it will be more economical in the long run than the 3rd party chromatography fees (e.g. available via Penn State Energy Institute public laboratory services).
Budget Justification
1. Gas chromatograph (e.g. Varian CP-‐3800): $10,000 2. Centripetal pump for retrofitting, used: $1,280 3. Varispeed 3-‐phase frequency control unit, used: $900 4. Miscellaneous parts: pipes, fittings, flow detectors, pressure gauges: $5,000 5. High-‐Accuracy temperature acquisition system with USB data logging capability:
$2,500 6. Machine shop fees: $9,800 7. Stainless steel slabs for machining: $1,500 8. Hanger rental with 3-‐phase 100kW commercial power, 6 months: $9,000 9. Third-‐party consultation fees: $10,000 10. Crude / oil sample freight and costs: $4,000 11. Travel (estimate): $10,000 12. Publication: $500 13. Lab-‐assistant compensation, 6 months: $18,000 14. Co-‐investigator compensation, 6 months: $36,000 15. PI compensation: $18,000
TOTAL: $145,310
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Max Fomitchev-‐Zamilov, Ph.D.
Director, Quantum Potential Corporation
861 Willard St, State College, PA 16803, 814-‐235-‐9785, max@quantum-‐potential.com (preferred)
Assistant Professor of CS&E, Pennsylvania State University
111J IST, University Park, PA 16802, 814-‐863-‐1469, [email protected]
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Fomitchev-‐Zamilov is the director of and the vision behind the Quantum Potential corporation. The mission of the company is identification, analysis and exploration of promising yet neglected lines of research with the focus on high-‐risk/high-‐payoff projects (very much inline with the recent SBIR and DoE initiative). During the past decade Quantum Potential has amassed a vast portfolio of research, sponsored and launched a number of research project and obtained patent-‐pending commercializable results. Currently Quantum Potential is actively pursuing cooperation with NASA, NIH and DoE.
Dr. Fomitchev-‐Zamilov’s role is that of a physicist, engineer, and administrator. Having cultivated broad encyclopedic knowledge from various disciplines in science Dr. Fomitchev-‐Zamilov is working on pursuing collaboration between like-‐minded individuals and organizations in order to facilitate the nucleation of the next technological breakthrough.
Under Dr. Fomitchev-‐Zamilov’s guidance Quantum Potential has established strategic partnerships and collaborations with Superconductive Microelectronics Laboratory (SCME) at Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering (MIEE), Central Scientific Research Institute at the Smolensk State Medical Academy (SGMA), EarthTech corporation operated by renown physicist Harold Puthoff and others.
With several new projects scheduled to launch in 2011 Quantum Potential is expanding and moving closer towards accepting private investments and spinning off of the developed projects.
Education
2000-‐2001, Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering, Ph.D., Computer Engineering
1997-‐1998, The University of Tulsa, Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science
1992-‐1997, Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering, M.S., Computer Technology
Positions
2006-‐present, Pennsylvania State University, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
2002-‐present, Quantum Potential Corporation, Director
Patents & Publications
Dr. Fomitchev-‐Zamilov has authored two books and dozens of papers and articles in the field of computer science, engineering and physics; he also holds two patents.
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Relevant Publications
Fomitchev, M.I., US6167758, Ultrasound Imaging Device that Uses Optimal Lag Pulse Shaping Filters, issued 01/02/2001.
Fomitchev et al., Ultrasonic Pulse Shaping with Optimal Lag Filters, International Journal of Imaging Systems and Technology, 10, 5, pp. 397-‐403, 1999
Grigorashvily, Y.E., Fomitchev, M.I., Ultrasound System with Pulse-‐Shape Control, Izvestia vuzov, Electronika, 2, pp. 70-‐74, 2000
Fomitchev, M.I., Introduction into Wavelets, Matematicheskaya Morfologiya, Smolensk, 3, 1, 1998
Fomitchev et al., Cost-‐Effective Ultrasound Imaging Apparatus that Uses Optimal-‐Lag Pulse Shaping Filters, 1999 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings, 1, pp. 691-‐694, 1999
Grigorashvily, Y.E., Fomitchev, M.I., Ultrasound System with Pulse-‐Shape Control, In Proceedings of International Conference “Sensor-‐2000”, Sudak, pp. 112, 2000
Fomitchev, M.I., Dark Matter and Dark Energy as Effects of Quantum Gravity, http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.1369, 2010
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Sergei Godin R&D Director (Quantum Fusion & Quantum Vortex), Quantum Potential
861 Willard St, State College, PA 16803, 814-‐235-‐9785, sergei@quantum-‐potential.com
Biographical Sketch
Mr. Godin is an experienced practitioner and an exceptional experimentalist. He is an expert in electrical engineering, digital / analog electronics, measurement devices and experimental setup design. Prior to joining Quantum Potential Mr. Godin has worked as an engineer at the Central Research Institute for Communications (Moscow), then as a research associate at IMASH (Moscow) and for the following 12 years as a research associate at the Institute for High Temperatures (IHT) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. During his tenure at IHT Mr. Godin was a key investigator in a number of research projects focused on sonoluminescence, cavitation, plasma discharges, and nuclear fusion.
Because of his prior experience with hydrodynamic cavitation and oil cracking pumps (especially those of Kladov/Selivanov design) and his personal friendship with Mr. Selivanov , Mr. Godin is a necessary co-‐investigator for the project described in this proposal.
Mr. Godin has a valuable experience of research commercialization and has a knack for discovering multiple practical applications of scientific ideas. He leads a diverse group of cross-‐disciplinary researchers. Besides his duties at Quantum Potential Mr. Godin servers as a consultant on a oil cracking research project for a large Russian oil and gas company.
Mr. Godin has co-‐authored a book on fundamental physics, numerous research papers and holds several patents.
Education
1988-‐1989, Moscow State University, MechMat, Ph.D. Candidate
1982-‐1983, Moscow Institute of Radio-‐engineering and Automation, Certificate of Accomplishment in Signal Processing
1976-‐1981, Moscow Institute of Communications and Informatics, M.S., Electrical Engineering
Positions
1996-‐2008, Institute for High Temperatures of Russian Acad. of Sci., Research Associate
2010-‐present, Quantum Potential Corporation, Research Associate
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Relevant Publications
1. Karimov, A.R., Godin, S.M., Coupled radial–azimuthal oscillations in twirling cylindrical plasmas, Physica Scripta, 80, 3, 2009
2. Godin, S.M., Botvinsly, V. V., Measurements of displacement current with fammeter, Radiotechnology & Electronics, 54, 9, 2009, 1049-‐1152
3. Godin, S.M., Rodionov, B.U., Savvatimova, I.B., Inspection method to check quality of nuclear transmutation media, The 13th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, 2007, Dagomys, Russia
4. Roschin, V.V., Godin, S.M., Orbiting Multi-‐Rotor Homopolar System, US Patent #6,822,361, 2004
5. Klimov et al., On the possibility of electrostatic relativistic dimano, Radiotechnology and Electronics, 49, 11, 2004, 1237-‐1243
6. Klimov et al., The use of the relativistic effect for obtaining negative permittivity, International Conference on Antenna Theory and Techniques, Sevastopol, Ukraine, vol. 1, 2003, 171 – 172
7. Klimov et al., The model of creation of rotating stationary electromagnetic formations in vacuum, International Conference on Antenna Theory and Techniques, Sevastopol, Ukraine, vol. 1, 2003, 173 – 177
8. Zolotarev, V.F., Roschin, V.V., Godin, S.M., On the Structure of Space-‐Time and Certain Fundamental Interactions, Moscow, 2000, ISBN 5862030875