GB494980A - Process for the manufacture and production of valuable hydrocarbon products, more particularly of lubricating oils and diesel oils by hydrogenation - Google Patents

Abstract

Valuable hydrocarbon products, e.g. lubricating and diesel oils, are produced by selecting as initial materials liquid carbonaceous distillates containing asphalt which have been produced in the destructive distillation of carbonaceous materials under such conditions that the proportion of hydrogen to carbon in the distillate is more than 10 : 100 by weight and the content of asphalt is less than 2 per cent by weight, and treating said distillates with hydrogen at temperatures above 270 DEG C. and at pressures above 50 atmos. in the presence of catalysts stationarily arranged in the reaction space. Initial materials for the destructive distillation comprise coal, brown coal, lignite, peat, shale, oleiferous clay, oil sands, asphalts of natural origin, and products obtained by cracking oils. The destructive distillation may be carried out at temperatures up to 700 DEG C. but preferably between 380 and 500 DEG C. the production of unsaturated compounds being restricted by reducing the reaction time to a few seconds by the employment of scavenging gases, e.g. nitrogen, combustion gases, steam; by cooling quickly the vaporous products, e.g. by injecting water; or by partial dephlegmation so as to return the heavier fractions to the distillation zone. The hydrogenation may be carried out as described in Specification 484,127. The reaction conditions and the catalyst employed are dependent on the nature of the final products desired. In examples: (1) brown coal containing 14 per cent bituminous substances is carbonized at 550-500 DEG C. in the presence of scavenging gases; heavy tars are separated from the products in a hot catchpot and the vapours and gases issuing therefrom are cooled further by injection of water; the condensate thus obtained, which contains 1,6 per cent asphalt and has a hydrogen to carbon ratio of 12 : 100, is subjected to hydrogenation at 390 DEG C. and 220 atmos. pressure in presence of a stationarily arranged catalyst comprising sulphides of tungsten and nickel; a product is obtained comprising 14 per cent gasoline, 49 per cent diesel oil (cetene number 55), 21 per cent paraffin wax, and 16 per cent lubricating oil, (viscosity index 62); (2) a distillate obtained by the destructive distillation of Scottish oil shale at 480 DEG C. with the aid of steam is similarly hydrogenated at 400 DEG C. and 250 atmos., products boiling above 335 DEG C. being recycled; a product comprising 28 per cent gasoline and 72 per cent diesel oil (cetene number 64) is obtained.