Engine exhaust particulate removal and utilization

A system for recycling partially combusted particulate materials from an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine having a fuel system, including:

• a receptacle for receiving partially combusted particulate materials removed from said engine exhaust system;
• a first conduit for transporting said particulate materials from said receptacle to said fuel system wherein said particulate materials are combined with a fuel to form a combined fuel;
• a second conduit for feeding said combined fuel to said internal combustion engine;
• and
• a first valve fluidically connecting said first conduit and said second conduit, said first valve having an open condition and a closed condition;
• wherein said partially combusted particulate materials pass from said first conduit, through said first valve, and into said second conduit when said first valve is in said open condition.

A method of recycling partially combusted particulate materials from an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine comprising the steps of:

• a. collecting said partially combusted particulate materials having an original particle size in a settling tank and allowing said partially combusted particulate materials to settle and agglomerate as collected particulate materials that are collected within said settling tank and have a second particle size greater than said original particle size;
• b. combining said collected particulate materials collected in said settling tank with a fuel supplied by said fuel system to form a combined fuel for use by said internal combustion engine;
• c. intermittently feeding said combined fuel into a fuel system and supplying said combined fuel to said internal combustion engine;
• d. deagglomerating said collected particulate materials to deagglomerate said collected particulate materials to a third particle size smaller than said second particle size prior to said feeding of said combined fuel to said internal combustion engine;
• and
• e. discontinuing said feeding of said combined fuel and then feeding said fuel system with said fuel which is supplied from a main fuel tank.

A system for recycling partially combusted particulate materials from an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine having a fuel system, including:

• a settling tank defining a receptacle, which is engagable with an engine exhaust system to receive partially combusted particulate materials carried by engine exhaust that is removed from said engine exhaust system, said receptacle defining a volumetric space allowing said particulate materials to agglomerate to a larger particulate size and settle within said receptacle as collected particulate materials;
• a first conduit communicating between said settling tank and a fuel system, which permits mixing of said collected particulate materials and a fuel in said fuel system to form a combined fuel which is transportable to said internal combustion engine;
• a second conduit communicating with said first conduit for feeding said combined fuel to said internal combustion engine;
• and
• a deagglomerator which produces pressure waves to deagglomerate said particulate materials in said combined fuel to a particle size consumable by said internal combustion engine.