Lube Oil Feedstocks

Lube crudes are generally paraffinic or naphthenic in composition. A paraffinic crude is characterized by a higher wax content. West Texas and Arab Light are good quality paraffinic crudes. Naphthenic crudes are characterized by their low wax content and they make base stocks with low viscosity index, e.g. Venezuelan and Californian. 

In conventional solvent lubes the atmospheric resid (bottoms from the crude distillation tower) is upgraded to lube products through the following processes  

Molecule Structure Base Stock Quality Affected Process Involved 

2-Ring Naphthene Medium VI, Low Pour, High Acids Extraction, Hydrofinishing 

---

Let us briefly consider the propane lube oil refining process shown in figure 7.1. First the compressed liquid propane at 50°C is mixed with the residuum feed in the asphalt settler. Compressed liquid propane dissolves all the constituents of a lube oil feedstock except for the asphalt. Because the... 

The US petroleum refining industry generates sales of over 730 billion with only about 143 plants. It employs 62,000 people. About 90% of the produets used in US are fuels of whieh 43% is gasoline. Figure 13.20.1 illustrates how the produets breakdown. The proeess is described in detail in Chapter 3. Emissions of hydrocarbons to the atmosphere occur at almost every stage of the production process. Solvents are produced in various processes and they are also used to extract aromatics Irom lube oil feedstock, deasphalting of lubricating base stocks, sulfur recovery from gas stream, production of solvent additives for motor fuels such as methyl tert-butyl ether and tert-amyl methyl ether, and various... 

Simple conventional refining is based essentially on atmospheric distillation. The residue from the distillation constitutes heavy fuel, the quantity and qualities of which are mainly determined by the crude feedstock available without many ways to improve it. Manufacture of products like asphalt and lubricant bases requires supplementary operations, in particular separation operations and is possible only with a relatively narrow selection of crudes (crudes for lube oils, crudes for asphalts). The distillates are not normally directly usable processing must be done to improve them, either mild treatment such as hydrodesulfurization of middle distillates at low pressure, or deep treatment usually with partial conversion such as catalytic reforming. The conventional refinery thereby has rather limited flexibility and makes products the quality of which is closely linked to the nature of the crude oil used. 

The largest use of NMP is in extraction of aromatics from lube oils. In this appHcation, it has been replacing phenol and, to some extent, furfural. Other petrochemical uses involve separation and recovery of aromatics from mixed feedstocks recovery and purification of acetylenes, olefins, and diolefins removal of sulfur compounds from natural and refinery gases and dehydration of natural gas. 

Petroleum sulfonates have traditionally been produced by both batch and continuous treatment of petroleum oils with oleum. These processes have been covered in several reviews (138,139). Natural petroleum sulfonates are coproducts in the manufacture of a variety of refined oils, most notably white (mineral) oils, lube oils, and process oils (plasticizer oils for mbber compounding). The feedstocks are selected primarily on the basis of the desired characteristics of the refined oils which generally contain 15—30% aromatics. 

Processing residue or purchased feedstocks. Sometimes, the option of processing supplemental feed or other components, such as atmospheric residue, vacuum residue, and lube oil extract, is a means of increasing the yields of higher-value products and reducing the costs of raw material by purchasing less expensive feedstocks. 

In addition to the above-mentioned catalytic processes, there are some other related technologies wherein the catalytic cracking of plastic wastes is combined with the coprocessing of other substances, mainly coal and petroleum feedstocks (lube oil, LCO, VGO) or even a solvent. Hereafter, these technologies are explained more in detail. 

Wax product is in the heavy end of the FT synthesis product spectrum. Although most wax will be sent to a cracking process to produce shorter-chain products, the FT wax itself has a high quality. It is hard and very clean more importantly, its fusion temperature is very high (up to 170 °C, compared with less than 100 °C for wax produced from crude oil), and its good feedstocks for lube oil and other high-value products. 

Sulfur Sulfur is present in all lube plant feedstocks fractionated from crude oil and its content may be up to several percentage points. Solvent refining removes some but not all, therefore such stocks with no further treatment can contain up to several mass percent of sulfur. Hydrofinishing of solvent refined stocks can reduce this level substantially. Base stocks from conversion processes will have sulfur levels in the low parts per million (ppm) range since sulfur is relatively easily removed in severe hydroprocessing. 

FIGURE 6.7 Normal and non-normal paraffin distributions in a waxy 100N feed to dewaxing. Source R. J. Taylor and A. J. McCormack, Study of Solvent and Catalytic Lube Oil Dewaxing by Analysis of Feedstocks and Products, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., vol. 31, pp. 1731-1738 (1992). With permission. 

Aristol. [Pilot] Substituted C20-24 benzene lubricant lube oil additive chemical feedstock for sulfonation to produce emulsifiers and corrosion preventatives. 

Cracking heavy feedstocks, such as VGO, at around 370-420°C, under high hydrogen pressure, is a more costly process than the previous one, but it is also more flexible, because it can be oriented toward the production of light products (LPG and gasoline), middle distillates (jet fuel, gas oil), and lube oil base stocks. The gasoline produced has a poor octane number, but its high naphthene concentration makes it an excellent feedstock for catalytic... 

Cl2-14 alcohol glycidyl ether. See Alkyl (C12-14) glycidyl ether C6-10 alcohols EINECS/ELINCS 264-844-3 Synonyms Alcohols, C6-10 Uses Surfactant intermediate also for lube oil additives, plasticizers, surfactant feedstocks Trade Name Synonyms Alfol 610 [Sasol N. Am. http //www.sasoinorthamerica.com]-, Alfol 610 ADE [Sasol N. Am. 

Petroleum Sulfonates Most of the surfactant formulations for EOR involve petroleum sulfonates. These petroleum sulfonates are prepared from selected refinery products. Among several refinery products, the furfural extract from solvent lube operations is considered an attactive feedstock for oil recovery sulfonates. Lube oil stocks are sulfonated to separate aromatic components. The petroleum sulfonate is in short supply due to the limited demand for lube oil stocks. 

Uses include various chemical intermediates, such as alkyl ether amines, lube oil additives, metal rolling oils, plasticizers, tertiary amines, tobacco sucker control agents and surfactant feedstocks. 

---