Base oil production

Laboratory experiments were first conducted using a continuous pyrolysis reactor to establish optimal conditions for lube base oil production from polyethylene (PE). A pilot plant study was then carried out in a 1-gallon-per-day unit. The main findings included ... 

Abstract The source, composition and suitability of crude oils for base oil production are reviewed. The physical and chemical properties of alkanes, naphthenes and aromatics and their characteristics for lubricant applications are examined. Properties and applications of various base oils are defined and specified. Production of conventional mineral oils is described, including the various processes to remove wax and other deleterious substances, followed by increasingly severe hydrogenation to produce base oils of increased quality and performance. The API categorization of mineral base oils, either direct from the refinery or after hydrotreatment of increasing severity, is described, together with sub-categories. 

The examples given are all crude oils regularly used to make base oils but many other crudes do not contain sufficient useful lubricant components and cannot be economically used for conventional base oil production. However, in Section 1.5, a modern catalytic process is described which upgrades distillates of less suitable origin and so creates desirable lubricant components. 

Base oil manufacture produces large quantities of by-products, the unwanted components of the crude oil. Figure 1.7 is a typical base oil production flow scheme... 

Fig. 1.7 A typical base oil production unit flow scheme...

The costs of capital tend to relate to the age of the base oil plant. A brand new plant has to be financed and since base oil production plant is very expensive to build, depreciation and interest charges will be considerable. Much present day base oil plant is at least 25 years old and so, by now, is almost depreciated. Therefore, for many base oil refineries the cost of making base oil is limited to the hydrocarbon value and operating costs, which make it generally a profitable activity. 

Source M. Daage, Base Oil Production and Processing, ExxonMobil presentation, July 2001, available at http //www.prod.exxonmobil.com/refiningtechnologies/pdf/base oil refining lubes daage france070601.pdf. With permission. 

Ushio et al. of Nippon Oil (Japan) have described some of their research work undertaken to produce group III stocks via hydrocracking distillates.12 Their process was similar to BP s, employing a fuels hydrocracker to produce the waxy lubes stream(s) by downstream fractionation of the hydrocracker bottoms. Base oil products were stabilized by furfural extraction. 

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