Emulsions of liquid hydrocarbons with water and/or alcohols

• US 4,482,666 A
• Filed: 03/02/1983
• Issued: 11/13/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/1982
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apace Research Limited, Lease Engineering Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: Apace Research Limited
• Inventors: Reeves, Russell R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Schofer, Joseph L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sarofin, N.
• Application Number:
  US06/471,536
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 524/389, 524/577, 524/475, 524/801
• US Class Current: 524/389
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 23/00 Use of substances as emulsifying, wetting, dispersing, or foam-producing agents
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 23/42 Ethers, e.g. polyglycol ethers of alcohols or phenols
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 1/32 consisting of coal-oil suspensions or aqueous emulsions or oil emulsions
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 1/328 Oil emulsions containing water or any other hydrophilic phase

Abstract

Emulsions of hydrocarbon liquids such as automotive distillate and water, or water and alcohols, are formed using an emulsifier which is a block copolymer of ethylene oxide type monomers and styrene type monomers. The stability of the emulsions is improved by the addition to the emulsion of a coupling agent which is soluble in the continuous phase of the emulsion and will couple with that portion of the emulsifier which is solvated by the continuous phase of the emulsion. Preferred coupling agents for water in oil type emulsions are copolymers of butadiene and styrene.

Claims

1. An emulsion having in one phase a hydrocarbon liquid and in the other phase water and/or an alcohol, characterised in that the emulsion contains an emulsifier comprising a block copolymer containing at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer selected from the group comprising styrene and ring substituted styrenes and at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer selected from the group having the formula:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">H(O--R).sub.n OH

wherein

R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and

n is a number between 4 and 4000.

2. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the one phase containing the hydrocarbon liquid is the continuous phase of the emulsion and the other phase containing water and/or an alcohol is the discontinuous phase of the emulsion.

3. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the other phase of the emulsion contains an alcohol and water, the water being present in an amount of from 0 to 10% by volume of the alcohol.

4. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the hydrocarbon liquid has a boiling point of from 190°

C. to 480°

C.

5. An emulsion as claimed in claim 4 in which the hydrocarbon liquid has a boiling point of 230°

C. to 315°

C.

6. An emulsion as claimed in claim 2 in which the discontinuous phase of the emulsion contains water and no alcohol, the discontinuous phase being present in an amount of from 1 to 10% by volume of the emulsion.

7. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the two types of monomer are present in the emulsifier in a weight ratio of from 1:

2 to 2;

1.

8. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsifier comprises a single polymeric block of each monomer.

9. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsifier comprises at least two polymeric blocks of at least one type of monomer and at least one polymeric block of the other type of monomer.

10. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsifier comprises a block copolymer containing at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer selected from the group comprising styrene and ring substituted styrenes in which the or each substituent group is an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer having the formula:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">H(OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2).sub.n OH

where n is a number from 5 to 3400.

11. An emulsion as claimed in claim 10 in which n is a number from 110 to 340.

12. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which one end of the polymeric block of monomers selected from the group having the formula H(O--R)_n OH is esterified prior to being joined to the polymeric block of the other monomer.

13. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsion also contains a coupling agent which is soluble in the continuous phase of the emulsion, which is substantially insoluble in the discontinuous phase of the emulsion, and which will couple with that part of the emulsifier which is solvated by the continuous phase of the emulsion.

14. An emulsion as claimed in claim 13 in which the coupling agent is a copolymer of butadiene and styrene.

15. An emulsion as claimed in claim 14 in which the butadiene and styrene are present in the coupling agent in a weight ratio of at least 2:

1.

16. An emulsion as claimed in claim 14 in which the coupling agent has a molecular weight of 50,000 to 500,000.

17. An emulsion as claimed in claim 14 in which the emulsifier and the coupling agent are present in the emulsion in a weight ratio of from 1:

3 to 3;

1.

18. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsifier is present in the emulsion in a weight ratio of from 0.1% W/V to 1% W/V.

37. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsifier is such that polymer moiety formed from monomers having the general formula H(O--R)_n OH is replaced by a polymer moiety formed from a polar monomer containing a vinyl radical, the degree of polarity of the monomer being such that the polymer moiety will be solvated by the water and/or alcohol phase of the emulsion.

38. An emulsion as claimed in claim 37 in which the polar monomer is selected from the group comprising vinyl acetate, vinyl alcohol and the alkyl methacrylates.

39. An emulsion as claimed in claim 1 in which the emulsifier is such that the polymer moiety formed from styrene or a ring substituted styrene is replaced by a polymer moiety formed from a diene monomer which contains two carbon-carbon double bonds on either side of a carbon-carbon single bond.

40. An emulsion as claimed in claim 39 in which the diene monomer is selected from the group comprising butadiene and isoprene.

19. A method of forming an emulsion having in one phase a hydrocarbon liquid and in the other phase water and/or an alcohol, comprising mixing the hydrocarbon liquid with the water and/or alcohol in the presence of an emulsifier comprising a block copolymer containing at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer selected from the group comprising styrene and ring substituted styrenes, and at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer selected from the group having the formula:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">H(O--R).sub.n OH

wherein

R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and

n is a number of from 4 to 4000.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the one phase containing the hydrocarbon liquid is the continuous phase of the emulsion and the other phase containing water and/or an alcohol is the discontinuous phase of the emulsion.

21. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the other phase of the emulsion contains an alcohol and water, the water being present in an amount of from 0 to 10% by volume of the alcohol.

22. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the hydrocarbon liquid has a boiling point of from 190°

C. to 480°

C.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22 in which the hydrocarbon liquid has a boiling point of 230°

C. to 315°

C.

24. A method as claimed in claim 20 in which the discontinuous phase of the emulsion contains water and no alcohol, the discontinuous phase being present in an amount of from 1 to 10% by volume of the emulsion.

25. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the two types of monomer are present in the emulsifier in a weight ratio of from 1:

2 to 2;

1.

26. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the emulsifier comprises a single polymeric block of each monomer.

27. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the emulsifier comprises at least two polymeric blocks of at least one type of monomer and at least one polymeric block of the other type of monomer.

28. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the emulsifier comprises a block copolymer containing at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer selected from the group styrene and ring substituted styrenes in which the or each substituent group is an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and at least one polymeric block of at least one monomer having the formula:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">H(OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2).sub.n OH

where n is a number from 5 to 3400.

29. A method as claimed in claim 28 in which n is a number from 110 to 340.

30. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which one end of the polymeric block of monomers selected from the group having the formula H(O--R)_n OH is esterified prior to being joined to the polymeric block of the other monomer.

31. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the emulsion also contains a coupling agent which is soluble in substantially the continuous phase of the emulsion which is insoluble in the discontinuous phase of the emulsion and which will couple with that part of the emulsifier which is solvated by the continuous phase of an emulsion produced by the present method.

32. A method as claimed in claim 31 in which the coupling agent is a copolymer of butadiene and styrene.

33. A method as claimed in claim 32 in which the butadiene and styrene are present in the coupling agent in a weight ratio of at least 2:

1.

34. A method as claimed in claim 31 in which the coupling agent has a molecular weight of 50,000 to 500,000.

35. A method as claimed in claim 31 in which the emulsifier and the coupling agent are present in the emulsion in a weight ratio of from 1:

3 to 3;

1.

36. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the emulsifier is present in the emulsion in a weight ratio of from 0.0% W/V to 1% W/V.