Oxygen refining

Oxygenate refining was limited to chemicals recovery from the Fischer-Tropsch aqueous product and acidic isomerization of the C5-C6 naphtha. The naphtha and distillate range oxygenates were removed by hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) in hydrotreaters, before further refining. 

Apart from the oxygenate refining performed by the COD process, the oxygenates in the Fischer-Tropsch aqueous product are refined to alcohols. These alcohols are recovered and may be blended with the transportation fuels or sold as chemicals. 

Like hydrogen, carbon monoxide is mainly produced by steam reforming and partial oxidation of hydrocarbon or organic raw materials. However, it is also present in many industnal wastes from which it can be isolated (gases from blast furnaces, oxygen refining... 

If, to give a second example, a tetrahydrofuran molecule in a structure is not coordinated to a metal atom, it can be difficult to tell which of the five positions corresponds to the oxygen. Refining all five positions as carbon atoms will result in four atoms that have about similar [/eq values and one atom with a significantly lower value for t/eq- The atom with the smaller sphere is the oxygen atom, while the four about equal atoms are carbon. Figure 4.1 shows such a case. 

The development of catalytic converters for combustion of unburned hydrocarbons prohibits a return to lead compounds and henceforth refiners are turning to oxygenated compounds that must be used as a gasoline component therefore, in amounts much greater than those of lead compounds. 

Refiners will turn to reformulated motor fuels where the octane number will be increased by alkylate or oxygenated compounds. It has indeed been shown for a long time that oxygenated compounds, alcohols, ethers and ketones Improved the octane number of hydrocarbon-based blends (Whitcomb, 1975). 

The process of extraction requires first smelting (to obtain the crude metal) and then refining. In smelting, iron ore (usually an oxide) is mixed with coke and limestone and heated, and hot air (often enriched with oxygen) is blown in from beneath (in a blast furnace). At the lower, hotter part of the furnace, carbon monoxide is produced and this is the essential reducing agent. The reduction reactions occurring may be represented for simplicity as ... 

Although the majority of molecules in cmde oils and refined products are hydrocarbons, the U.S. Clean Air Act amendment of 1990 mandated the addition of oxygenated compounds to gasoline in many parts of the United States. The requirement is usually that 2% (w/w) of the fuel be oxygen, which... 

Deeper contamination may be remedied with bioventing, where air is injected through some wells, and extracted through others to both strip volatiles and provide oxygen to indigenous organisms. Fertilizer nutrients may also be added. This is usually only a viable option with lighter refined products. 

The Huron-Dow Process. The Huron-Dow (H-D) process is a refinement of the cathodic reduction of oxygen in an alkaline electrolyte yielding low strength hydrogen peroxide directiy. Earlier attempts reHed on neutralizing the excess caustic or forming insoluble metal peroxides (92). The two reactions involved are... 

Pure iron is a silvery white, relatively soft metal and is rarely used commercially. Typical properties are Hsted in Table 1. Electrolytic (99.9% pure) iron is used for magnetic cores (2) (see Magnetic materials, bulk). Native metallic iron is rarely found in nature because iron which commonly exhibits valences of +2 and +3 combines readily with oxygen and sulfur. Iron oxides are the most prevalent form of iron (see Iron compounds). Generally, these iron oxides (iron ores) are reduced to iron and melted in a blast furnace. The hot metal (pig iron) from the blast furnace is refined in steelmaking furnaces to make steel... 

In 1986 Britannia Refined Metals (Northfleet, U.K.) introduced technology for the treatment of Parkes cmst, a triple alloy of Ag, Zn, Pb, which by 1992 had been adopted by seven lead refineries (22). The technology consists of a three-stage process in which the silver-rich cmst is first Hquated to reduce its lead content, then placed in a sealed furnace where the 2inc is removed by vacuum distillation and, finally, the silver—lead metal is treated in a bottom blown oxygen cupel (BBOC) to produce a Htharge slag and dorn metal. 

Impurities can be removed by formation of a gaseous compound, as in the fire-refining of copper (qv). Sulfur is removed from the molten metal by oxidation with air and evolution of sulfur dioxide. Oxygen is then removed by reduction with C, CO, in the form of natural gas, reformed... 

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