Purifier and refiner for petroleum product

Abstract

The present invention is an apparatus that separates fuel from other foreign constituents, such as water and organic and inorganic solids and then presents the purified fuel to a catalyst to enhance the fuels performance qualities. Although the present invention pertains to any fuel filter, water/fuel separator and filter less fuel purifier in combination with a catalyst, a preferred embodiment is described herein which uses no moving parts to purify the fuel and house the refining process elements. In the present invention a fuel and all its non fuel constituents enters a container through an input port at one end of a longitudinal chamber which is contained within an essentially closed volume. The chamber forces the fuel downward forcing heavier constituents to settle to the bottom of the container and lighter fuel to rise. On the path to the output of the container the fuel is made to contact a catalyst.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising a container having an input port in fluid communication with an output port, a means for creating forces on a stream of fluid such the heavier constituents separate from lighter constituents which contact a catalyst before discharging through the output port.  
     
     
         2 . The apparatus as in    claim 1    including one or more separating chambers or more chambers whereby lighter constituents remain in the stream contacting the catalyst.  
     
     
         3 . The apparatus as in    claim 1    including one or more surfaces having the quality of the catalysts.  
     
     
         4 . An apparatus comprising a cylindrical container having an input port and an output port; a first diverter chamber attached to the input through which fluid containing differing constituents is discharged from the distal end of said diverter chamber into a settling chamber where the fluid is forced to impinge a concave surface, causing lighter constituents to remain in the current stream flowing toward the output port and heavier constituents to settle in the settle chamber and come to rest in a settling chamber of the container and a catalyst, whereby the lighter constituents remaining in the current stream contact the catalyst before the flowing through the output port.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus as in    claim 4    wherein the settling chamber discharges into a second diverter chamber and channeled in a generally downward position relative to the point the fluid rose after a first separation and contacts the catalyst before the fluid flows through the output port.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus as in    claim 1    wherein the catalyst is made from one of a group of processes utilizing metal or plastic impregnation, alloying, embedding, laminatation or plating of the catalyst material onto the internal surfaces of the apparatus.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus as in    claim 3    wherein the plates separating the catalysts is made from a group of metals having the qualities of substitutional solid solutions such as represented by the metal monel.  
     
     
         8 . The method disclosed herein is comprised of separating fuel from its contaminants, and thereafter catalyzing the fuel.  
     
     
         9 . The method as in    claim 8    wherein separating fuel from its contaminants includes the steps of creating forces on a fluid, such that when the fluid is forced into a circular motion, heavier constituents settle into a sump and lighter constituents remain in the current stream.  
     
     
         10 . The method as in    claim 8    wherein catalyzing said fluid includes the step of contacting a catalyst and thereafter discharging through an output port.