Show REFINING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS I 1 by R C HOLMES the products of petroleum are usually divided into the following general classification gasoline and naph thas illuminating oils gas oils lubricating oils waxes and asphalt fuel oil may be added but this is not essentially a separate classification as with the exception of some stecial special fuel oils the greater quantity consumed is of the lighter brudes with the he gasoline and illuminating lumina ting fractions removed or some of the heavier brudes in their natural state each of these d divisions ivi or classifications in turn is subdivided into many different grades grade s or units to meet e et the numerous trade rade requirements refi refining ning is therefore ore a process of f fractionating or separating crude oils into 9 few or as many divisions as desired tad lid available from she e crude at hand fhe he methods employed diff differ er in many portana respects distillations or fractionations of the many divisions on the equipment for vaporizing vapor izing and condensing and the temperatures applied depend to a large extent the economy of operation and the quality of the products the refiner must determine which of the in many refineries where only gasoline illuminating oils and fuel oils are produced operations are comparatively simple A still or a battery of stills operating separately or connectedly if by continuous distillation is charged with the crude oil and gradually heated with fire the distillates til lates are produced xa MAI I 1 I 1 01 ra T AA ea tak front view of warehouse and facilities utah oil Refining Oo photo by will C higgins ue partially to the different character of he e brudes but to a larger extent to the ade or nature of the finished products 0 be manufactured actu red the principal operation of refining is e distillation of the crude and further re 77 ivice president and manager refining depts texas re as co ca products are to be given preference in the distillations the greater number of petroleum products with the general exception of cylinder oils black oils and as phalas being products of distillation or distilled tilled portions of the brudes the heat employed is fire fire and steam or steam alone 0 t in the following order as the temperatures of the charge is increased naphtha distillates til lates illuminating oil distillates and gas oil the residue or portion remaining inace in the still in this instance nee would be termed fuel oil if running also for and lubricating ri oils the refiner may transfer transi er the tar or fuel oil to other stills termed tar stills or stills although a later practice is to equip stills to run the crude oil down to C oke coke in either event additional distillates gas oil intermediate distillate and heavy distillate will be secured these fine distillates contain the lubricating oils and wax and the residue will be petroleum coke if running for cylinder stock which will of necessity be from base c rude crude fire and steam are both employed ibbe it being desirable to keep the temperature as low as possible and avoid cracking or destructive tive distillation fairly rapid distillation will be maintained until the residue has assumed the required tests and the steam spray will be well distributed over the bottom of the still a chemical treatment in equipment termed agitators for the purpose of ing deodorizing deodor izing and otherwise improving the quality the steam stills are s similar to crude stills except that steam alone is employed r tr r M 7 4 at main entrance to plant utah oil refining co photo by will 0 higgins As a result of giving cylinder oils preference the yield and quality of the illuminating oil distillate may to some extent be impaired likewise the distillate to secure the best results in further refining of part of the illum ilium mating oil distillate and possibly pcs sibly all the may be found of advantage before proceeding with the regular order ol of refining in the distillation of asphalt base brudes practically the same methods are employed if running for gasoline illuminating oil and fuel oil in all probability y fire alone will be used and the products resulting will be naphtha distillate illuminating oil distillate and fuel oil if running for asphalt much the same conditions will apply as when running par affine base brudes for cylinder stock and both fire and steam will be used the resulting products in this instance will be naphtha distillate illuminating oil distillate gas oil and lubricating oil distillate the residue may be to run finished asphalt 0 or to an asphalt flux and transferred to other equipment for final treatment some brudes and distillates containing difficult sulphur compounds require equipment and treatment out of the ordinary but in the UP usual ual order of refining after the crude distillations dist il lations enumerated above the naphtha distillates and illuminating oil distillates til lates are steam stilled first however the naphtha distillates are usually given as a distilling agent it being more effective in separating thoroughly the from the illuminating oils and otherwise giving the thorough separation which is necessary between the and illuminating oil oils also there is less discoloration than wit with fire heat thus in the process of distillation the portion distilled from the illuminating oil distillate will go into naphtha distillate and the distillate coming from the naphtha d dis til lation will be divided into the various grades of varnish nap thas etc and from some of these distillates texaco spirits and texene th the e distillates are chilled witt with refrigerating machinery which solidifies the th wax an and d in this condition con diton they are pumped through filter presses to separate the th crude from the oil this process has tw objects first to recover the wax chic by separate refining equipment is avo ork e U up p into different grades of refined paraffin wax second that without the removal 0 the wax the distillates would be unsuited ei for the manufacture of lubricating oils 0 01 account of their tendency to chill or co con geal at ordinary working temperatures the pressed distillate or dis tillage with the wax removed is then frac fra tiona ted by steam and fire distillation co cori denser separations and reductions into th endless variety of lubricating oil stocks which by chemical treatment filtering compounding etc become finished products these separations also yield some addi dional gas oil which goes into the genera gener stock from other operations of the refinery refiner lubricating distillates from most of the th Y 41 pr MI mii i az Y k 4 28 aa 7 ta man ai LIZ ki 04 kerosene and crude oil storage tanks utah oil Refining Co photo by will C higgins better results the temperature of a steam still will probably never exceed degrees fahrenheit which is ia sufficient to vaporize the naphtha products without vaporizing vapor izing the illuminating oil fractions thereby malting making asphalt base brudes are handled in a manner except that containing no par P fine and being naturally of a i low dw cold te tea they do not require pressing and avo avoid id straight fire or destructive dist lila to a large extent harmful charmf ua to the which aich is quality quality an and d yield of lubricating oils 11 r all of these a and nd the many other op of producing petroleum products erat rations orations iOns there must be some definite aim or purpose end of each of these many divisions Es s the fining filling in this country that portion portio n of the naphtha cut used for air gas and for carbonization with water gas to give illuminating power was termed gasoline and an d ranged in gravity between 80 degrees and 90 degrees de grees beaume ulm P E P 1 1 L UM te ERG 5 1 finished oil and gasoline storage tanks utah oil refining co photo by will 0 higgins or separations this is usually in the form of a specification or an outline of the chem leal ical and physical tests which each product must meet and is usually intended to in sure essential qualities or fitness for a particular purpose unfortunately many specifications are based on products from some one particular crude often making it impracticable to bring products from other brudes to conform and yet maintain the desired elements of quality gasoline naphtha was originally the term applied to shale oils and petroleum indiscriminately ina tely but now is used in a general and vague sense and has no specific application scientifically to any particular liquid commercially merci ally it is understood to apply to volatile distillates of crude mineral oils and eoal coal tar and sometimes to similar products from distillation of india rubber bones peat and wood in the petroleum industry the term is generally applied to the first t or unrefined division of petroleum under distillation lighter than illuminating oils s also to the heavier portions of the sanie distillate when refined at the present time gasoline is the general term erm applied to the product used mainly as fuel for automobiles and motor boats and tor for gasoline stoves dry cleaning etc cin r england and english colonies it is kalovin as petrol and on the european continent nt as benzine or essence ring the earlier development ot of re other divisions of the naphtha cut were Rig olinell of about 90 degrees beaume used for surgical purposes and as a re and the heavier ones for paint and varnish h making and tor for oilcloth oil cloth etc in all of these L as now the range or ai limit mit of distillation or degree of volatility was in reality the determining factor whether determined by actual use or by laboratory test and cravi gravities ties varied to some extent with di different ff manufacturers although all used crude from the pennsylvania fields the anly source of supply until about 1885 with the introduction of the gasoline st stove ove the divisions were more generally known as 76 gasoline stove gasoline and varnish arnish naphtha the stove gasoline ranged from 66 degrees to 70 degrees beaume the uses for gasoline and naph thas are s such u ch that when used as a liquid satisfactorily they are required eventually to entirely evaporate leaving no oil or gasoline equipment quip ment for consumption in stoves and in automobiles and other internal combustion engines is designed to consume the product as a gas or in a vaporous form and unless readily and entirely vaporized vaporizer the results are not satisfactory aside from the requirement that gaso lines and naph thas shall be free from objectionable odors sulphur carbon forming and other foreign matter distillation is the all important test and gravity is of little consequence except as it may indicate a range of distillation and other tests of products of any one particular crude tho the lower the gravity the greater the amount 3 ML as ak G W K ai ali 4 ic Q MN ali photo by will C higgins agitators and distillate tanks utah oil refining co fri gerant and 2 a product still lighter produced in very small quantities the heavier divisions termed naphtha ranged in gravity arom 76 degrees to about 62 degrees beaume the lighter ones for treet street lamps etc were Y re used largely i of power or heat units providing the distillation til lation is the same in january of this year the general electric company issued i a small pamphlet treating the subject of fuel for foi its gas electric motor oro cars indicating i 64 ting a careful study of the subject from a consumers standpoint from it I 1 quote as follows As the first naphtha or gasoline used in internal combustion engines was obtained from eastern base petroleum the general impression gained was that to specific gravity naphtha was necessary for satisfactory operation this impression is erroneous and unjust to the western and asphalt base which are now furnishing by far the greater portion of the worlds supply of naphtha the annual consumption of naphtha and other petroleum products is constantly increasing and new fields of supply are being discovered therefore it is imperative pera tive that a reliable means for comparing the various be brought to the attention of the general public and strenuous steps taken to point out that gravity by beaume scale or otherwise tells fahr fahr 20 over at fahr fahr 30 over at 40 over at F fahr ahr fahr fahr fahr 5 50 0 rao over at fahr fahr 60 0 over at fahr fahr 70 over at 80 over at fahr fah r fahr fahr fahr 90 over at 95 over at F fahr ahr end fahr fahr 98 over at A striking example which may be cited is that of the U S navy they formerly had specified only specific gravity tor for naphtha for their motor boats and launches and soon were utterly handicapped in purchasing this in various parts of the world for instance while they could easily obtain a product of 70 degrees beaume specific gravity on the eastern coast this was an impossibility on the western coast and in other countries be kerosene 1 the essential quality of a kerosene is its illuminating properties and this can best be determined by burning under conditions in the ordinary domestic lamp fractional distillation however is also an important test in determining the quality Ke are usually divided into three grades water white prime white and standard white many of our states and municipalities have laws or regulations governing the tests of oils used for illuminating purposes these laws usually regulate only flash and fire the fire test ranging from degrees to degrees fahrenheit A fire test of degrees fahrenheit insures the removal of all naphtha or volatile products and is 18 about as high as can be made without seriously interfering with the illuminating W 17 J 48 glimpses of a modern oil laboratory testing bolor gravity and viscosity of lubricating oil typical intermittent steam stills nothing in regard to the relative suitability of the naph thas the following extract from a paper of the american society for testing materials illustrates this fact As a striking example of the irrelevancy of specific gravity as a criterion for the actual use of gasoline products there is given below a comparative distillation test between two naph thas of different origin both of which will of course give equally good results in any motor but one of which would be rejected by most of the present specifications on account of its low spec specific cefic gravity the comparative distillation test test no 1220 1226 specific gravity 0 beaume distillation boiling point pahr fahr fahr 10 over af arr fahr fahr cause the pacific and other western oils are very much heavier than pennsylvania oils although the gasoline and naphtha products obtained from them are equally volatile and perhaps more useful the volatility of two being equal preference might well be gi given v e n to the heavier one as it has been shown recently that gasoline sp which for equal volatility have a higher percentage of carbon are atre the most efficient because they give a stronger expansion stroke this of course is based on thermo chemical conditions the details of which are precluded by the limits of this paper at any rate it is a fact that the purchaser who buys gasoline by specific gravity alone not only oni y unnecessarily narrows the source of supply which of course raises the price but frequently deprives himself wm self of the better product quality such regulations without question are proper and very important as a safety safet provision and mean that the oil as carried carrie or stored in ordinary receptacles for domestic consumption will not generate sufficient icier gas to ignite and hum burn under this temperature standard white kerosene is almost entirely an export product for usually in the cheaper lamps and tot torches ches where quality is of little consideration a compared with price in kerosene as in gasoline gravity alon is an unreliable guide or indication 0 quality some of the illuminating oil specialties special tiei tie |