US596437A - Process of refining oil - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. SMITH, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

PROCESS OF RE-FINING on...

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 596,437, dated December 28, 1897.

Application filed February 13,1897.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of' Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of Refining Oil, of which the following is a specification,the principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

The following description sets forth in detail one mode of carrying out the invention, such disclosed means constituting but'one of various ways in which the principle of the invention may be used.

My invention has for its object refining crude petroleum or distillates thereof; and it consists in a process or method of treatment hereinafter described.

The process may be applied to the refinement of any of the numerous petroleum distillates, but is especially adapted for refining oils containing sulfurous compounds, such as are found in the Lima district in Ohio, Canada, (to. The sulfurous compounds and other refractory substances contained in said oils if not eliminated or subdued cause during combustion disagreeable odors and deposit deleterious matter on the wicks, thereby reducing the candle-power of the lamp and the value of the oil.

The oil or distillate to be treated is introduced into an ordinary oil still or retort, such as is used in the usual process of refining oil, and there is then added to it spirits of turpentine in the proportion of one gallon of spirits of turpentine to every five hundred gallons of the product to be treated. When neutral or heavier distillates are used, rosin may be substituted with advantage for spirits of turpentine in the proportion of three pounds of rosin to every eleven hundred gallons of distillate. The turpentine or rosin havin g been added to the distillate the mixture is heated until the temperature reaches a point immediately beyond which distillation of said mixture begins-that is, to a temperature just below the point where distillation begins.

The turpentine or other substance may be introduced into the distillate either before or after it is heated or while it is being heated,

Serial No. 623,299. (No specimens.)

but I prefer to introduce it before the temperature is raised to a considerable degree- The liquid is then allowed to cool, so that it can be handled with safety, and is then pumped into agitators and treated in the same manner as is employed in the treatment of ordinary Pennsylvania oilthat is, as follows:

After removing the distillate from the still it is introduced into an'agitator and subjected to abath of sulfuric acid, the mixture being agitated by blowing air theretlirough. The acid is then drawn oif and the above operation repeated until no further effect of the acid on the distillate is noted. The distillate is then washed with water blown through it in the same manner as was used to agitate the mixture of acid and distillate. This substantially removes the excess of turpentine, rosin, or other vegetable substances heretofore introduced into the mixture. After drawing off the water a small quantity of sodium hydrate in solution is introduced into the distillate and neutralizes any small amount of acid that might remain behind after the acid treatment. Liquid ammonia may be substituted for the sodium hydrates.

Terpenes and their oxygen derivaties other than above stated may be used with more or less satisfactory results.

It should be understood that I can use the fair equivalent of the substance .terpene, and I include as an equivalent for said substance any oxygen derivative thereof, and hence whenever terpene appears in any claim I hereby include as an equivalent thereof any hydrocarbon having the common formula (0 11 or any oxygen derivative thereof.

In this specification I use the word turpentine in its broad signification to include not only the turpentine of commerce, but also to include, broadly, the exudations obtained from all trees of the order of coniferae. This term then includes not only rosins, but also liquid hydrocarbons, mixtures of both of which exude as oleoresinous juice from the bark of the trees belonging to the order of coniferae.

The proportions above stated may be varied, and other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, provided the step I the oil or distillate to be refined, subjecting the mixture to a temperature below the point of distillation, removing terpene, whereby the oil or distillate is rendered amenable to further treatment, substantially as set forth.

3. In an oil-refining process the following steps: introducing into the oil or distillate to be refined spirits of turpentine, or any one of the herein-named equivalents thereof, subj eating the mixture to heat, removing turpentine or equivalent substance, whereby the oil or distillate is rendered amenable to further treatment, substantially as set forth.

.4. The process of treating oils for the elimination of sulfurous compounds, which consists in the application to the oil or distillate to be refined, of heat, and of a substance characterized by the formula (O H or any oxygen derivative of said substance, removing (O Hgln or said derivative, whereby the oil or distillate is rendered amenable to further treatment, substantially as set forth.

5. The process of refining refractory oils, consisting in the introduction into the oil or distillate to be refined, of a terpene, subjecting the mixture to-a temperature immediately beyond which distillation begins, permitting it to cool to a point ofsafety, subjecting it to a bath of sulfuric acid; after removal of the acid, washing with water, neutralizing any residue of acid therein, substantially as set forth.

6. A series of steps in refining refractory oils, consisting in introducing into the oil or distillate to be refined, a terebinthinate substance, subjecting the mixture to heat, re moving terebinthinate substance, whereby the oil or distillate is rendered amenable to further treatment, substantially as set forth.

7. In a process of refining oils containing sulfurous compounds, the following steps: introducin g into the oil or distillate, from which it is desired to remove or in which it is desired to subdue the sulfurous compounds, an oleoresinous substance or its product, subjecting the resultant mixture to a temperature approximating the point of distillation, removing the oleoresinous substance or its product, whereby the oil or distillate is rendered amenable to further treatment, substantially as set forth.

8. A step in a process of refining oils containing sulfurous compounds, consisting in introducing into the oil or distillate to be refined, exudations of the coniferze or products thereof, heating the resultant mixture, allow ing it to cool to the point of safety, removing therefrom said coniferous exudations, whereby the oil or distillate is rendered amenable to further treatment, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 12th day of February,

WV. A. SMITH.

Attest:

LUTHER A. ROBY, A. E. MERKEL.