An environmentally benign soybean derived fuel as a blending stock or replacement for home heating oil

The use of bio-derived materials both as fuels and/or as blending stocks be comes more attractive as the price of middle distillate fuels, especially h ome heating oil, continues to rise. Historically, many biomass and agricult ural derived materials have been suggested. One of the most difficult probl ems encountered with home heating oil is that of storage stability. High ma intenance costs associated with home heating oil are, in large part, becaus e of this stability problem. In the present research, Soygold (R), a soybea n derived fuel, was added in concentrations of 10% - 20% to both a stable m iddle distillate fuel and an unstable home heating oil. Fuel instability in this article will be further related to the organonitrogen compounds prese nt. The soy-fuel mixtures proved stable, and the addition of the soy liquid enhanced both the combustion properties, and dramatically improved the sta bility of the unstable home heating oil.