FUEL COMPOSITION RICH IN AROMATIC COMPOUNDS, PARAFFINS AND ETHANOL, AND USE THEREOF IN PARTICULAR IN COMPETITION MOTOR VEHICLES

Abstract

The present invention relates to a fuel composition comprising: (i) 60 to 94% by mass of a hydrocarbon mixture comprising: (a) 35 to 55% by mass of aromatic compounds; (b) 30 to 50% by mass of a mixture of n-paraffins and iso-paraffins containing at least 5 carbon atoms, with a ratio of the amount of iso-paraffins to the amount of n-paraffins greater than or equal to 3; and (c) 5 to 15% by mass of naphtenes; (ii) 5 to 36% by mass of ethanol; and (iii) 1 to 10% by mass of butane. This composition is useful for fuelling a spark ignition engine in motor vehicles intended for use by the general public or in competition.

Claims

1. A fuel composition comprising: (i) from 60 to 94% by weight of a hydrocarbon mixture comprising: a) from 35 to 55% by weight of aromatic compounds; b) 30 to 50% by weight of a mixture of n-paraffins and iso-paraffins containing at least 5 carbon atoms with a weight ratio of the amount of iso-paraffins to the amount of n-paraffins greater than or equal to 3; and c) from 5 to 15% by weight of naphthenes; (ii) from 5 to 36% by weight of ethanol; and (iii) from 1 to 10% by weight of butane.

2. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the hydrocarbon mixture (i) represents from 65 to 90% by weight, preferably from 70 to 85% by weight, still more preferably from 70 to 80% by weight, relative to the total weight of the fuel composition.

3. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the aromatic compounds (i)a) are selected from alkyl-benzenes comprising from 7 to 12 carbon atoms, and preferably from mixtures of alkyl-benzenes comprising from 8 to 10 carbon atoms.

4. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the content of the aromatic compounds (i)a) ranges from 40 to 53% by weight, preferably from 45 to 52% by weight, relative to the weight of the hydrocarbon mixture (i).

5. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the paraffins (i)b) are selected from paraffins comprising from 5 to 12 carbon atoms, preferably from 5 to 9 carbon atoms, and more preferably from 5 to 8 carbon atoms.

6. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the hydrocarbon mixture (i) contains from 5 to 10% by weight of n-paraffins and from 20 to 45% by weight of iso-paraffins.

7. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the content of paraffins (i)b) ranges from 32 to 45% by weight, preferably from 35 to 42% by weight, relative to the weight of the hydrocarbon mixture (i).

8. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the naphthenes (i)c) are selected from cyclic alkanes containing from 5 to 10 carbon atoms, and more preferably from 6 to 9 carbon atoms.

9. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the content of naphthenes (i)c) ranges from 7 to 13% by weight, preferably from 8 to 12% by weight, relative to the weight of the hydrocarbon mixture (i).

10. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that its ethanol content ranges from 10 to 30% by weight, preferably from 20 to 25% by weight, relative to the total weight of the fuel composition.

11. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that its butane content ranges from 1.5 to 8% by weight, preferably from 2 to 6% by weight, relative to the total weight of the fuel composition.

12. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises at most 2.5% by weight of olefins, preferably at most 2% by weight of olefins, more preferably at most 1% by weight of olefins, still more preferably at most 0.5% by weight of olefins.

13. The composition according to claim 1, characterised in that the hydrocarbon mixture (i) is derived from plant raw materials.

14. Use of the composition as defined in claim 1, for fuelling a spark ignition engine.

15. The use according to claim 14, for fuelling an atmospheric or turbocharged spark ignition engine, or a hybrid engine, and preferably an engine employed in a racing vehicle.

Description

EXAMPLES

Example 1

[0102] This example has been carried out using a biosourced hydrocarbon base B derived from transformation of bio-alcohol derived from transformation of biomass.

[0103] Base B has the following composition:

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Base B Compounds Content (% by weight) Olefins 2.50 C.sub.6 to C.sub.11 aromatic compounds 46.6 C.sub.5 to C.sub.9 N-paraffins 6.3 C.sub.5 to C.sub.11, including 29.8 C.sub.5 to C.sub.7, iso-paraffins 22.3 Naphthenes 12 Butane, including 2.8 n-butane 1.5 iso-butane 1.3

[0104] A fuel composition C according to the invention has been prepared by mixing: [0105] 83.8% by weight of base B; [0106] 10.5% by weight of bioethanol; [0107] 3.8% by weight of butane; [0108] 1.9% by weight of bionaphtha.

[0109] The bionaphtha used has a density at 15? C. (according to standard NF EN ISO 12185) of 682.9 kg/m.sup.3 and a distillation profile (according to standard NF EN ISO 3405) with a point E70=28.1? C.; E100=70.8? C. and E150=99.5? C.

[0110] Engine tests have been carried out using fuel C according to the invention on the one hand, and a commercial fuel of the SP95 E10 gasoline type (unleaded gasoline 95 of petroleum origin containing 10% by volume of ethanol) on the other hand.

[0111] During these tests, fuel C according to the invention, containing a very high proportion of a biosourced base, enabled satisfactory performance in terms of engine power to be obtained. Furthermore, compared with conventional SP95 E10 fuel, a 53% reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions has been observed.

Example 2

[0112] Two fuel compositions C1 and C2 have been prepared by mixing two hydrocarbon bases with 32% by weight of bioethanol.

[0113] Composition C1 is in accordance with the invention and has been prepared using a hydrocarbon base in which the weight ratio of the amount of C.sub.5+ iso-paraffins to the amount of C.sub.5+ n-paraffins is 3.47 (24.66:7.11).

[0114] Its composition is detailed in Table 2 below.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Composition C1 Compounds Content (% by weight) Olefins 0.95 C.sub.6+ aromatic compounds 26.65 C.sub.5+ N-paraffins 7.11 C.sub.5+ iso-paraffins 24.66 Naphthenes 6.35 Butane 2.0 Bioethanol 32.0 Other (especially C.sub.3 paraffins) 0.28

[0115] Composition C2 is a comparative composition, which has been prepared using a hydrocarbon base in which the weight ratio of the amount of C.sub.5+ iso-paraffins to the amount of C.sub.5+ n-paraffins is 2.14 (21.85:10.22).

[0116] Its composition is detailed in Table 3 below.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 composition C2 Compounds Content (% by weight) Olefins 0.96 C.sub.6+ aromatic compounds 26.55 C.sub.5+ N-paraffins 10.22 C.sub.5+ iso-paraffins 21.85 Naphthenes 6.36 Butane 1.97 Bioethanol 32.0 Other (especially C.sub.3 paraffins) 0.09

[0117] The RON (Research Octane Number) of each of these compositions has been measured in accordance with the method described in EN ISO 5164. The results obtained are detailed in the table below:

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Results Composition RON (EN ISO 5164) C1-invention 103 C2-comparative 100

[0118] Thus, composition C1 according to the invention has a very significantly higher measured RON than the comparative composition C2.