What is MSAR?
MSAR is a proprietary emulsion fuel that is manufactured and supplied by Quadrise Canada.
It is made by combining a liquid heavy hydrocarbon with water and a proprietary chemical
in the Company’s custom designed processing unit, referred to as the MMU. The product is
a highly stable fuel emulsion consisting of approximately 70 to 80 percent hydrocarbon with
the remainder water. Quadrise Canada is able to manufacture MSAR from virtually any liquid
hydrocarbon and is focusing on low cost hydrocarbon residue as the primary feedstock.
Once the hydrocarbon is converted into MSAR, the fuel has a number of benefits:
- MSAR has reduced viscosity which allows the fuel to be easily handled and transported.
- MSAR burns efficiently, resulting in over 99 percent carbon burnout, minimizing the
boiler fouling. - MSAR has a very short combustion time.
- MSAR can be conveniently manufactured on-site in a portable MMU.
- MSAR can be customized to suit the application; for a once-through-steam generator used
in the oil sands industry, for a utility power boiler, or for a diesel engine. - MSAR can be adapted to the feedstock source, the transportation and handling
requirements, and the storage conditions.
In Figure 1 on the left, the drop in the diagram illustrates the combustion mechanism associated with any liquid hydrocarbon fuel, such as heavy fuel oil or straight bitumen. This illustrates that during atomization, the fuel passes through the burner tip as a drop approximately 80 to 100 microns in diameter. Combustion occurs only on the surface of the drop, and because the time in the combustion chamber can be very short, when large drops are burned, the inner material does not have sufficient time to be burned completely. The unburned material gets hot, becomes sticky, and adheres to the inside walls of the chamber, eventually filling the chamber interior and making the boiler inoperable (fouling).
Unlike the combustion above, Figure 2 on the right shows the combustion of an equivalent sized MSAR drop. During atomization, this 80 to 100 micron drop is formed that contains thousands of small MSAR droplets that are about 5 microns in size. For an equal amount of hydrocarbon feedstock, MSAR will have a surface area that is approximately 17 times larger than conventional feedstock. This gives a much larger burning surface. These small sized droplets in a stable fuel emulsion create the excellent combustion characteristics of MSAR.