Catalytic dehazing of heavy lube oil - A chevron case history
In the fall of 1984, Chevron started up a new plant in Richmond, California, to make high-V.I. lube base oils. After about eight months onstream, the heavy neutral product became hazy. The haze was caused by wax which had leaked into the oil through tiny holes in the canvas filter cloths at the solvent dewaxing plant. The haze was difficult to detect and control because it required many days to form and it resulted from parts per million quantities of wax. The haze problem was intermittent and unpredictable, occurring as filter cloths aged. Consequently, the solvent dewaxing plant was limited in capacity and flexibility because of the need to reprocess hazy oil. To improve operating economics and product quality, Chevron developed a dehazing process. The process uses a catalyst downstream of the solvent dewaxer to remove inadvertent wax contaminants. The catalyst was loaded in the upper portion of an existing hydrofinishing reactor so that there were no expenditures for new equipment. Since the process went onstream in the fall of 1985, the heavy neutral lube oil has been consistently haze free.
- OSTI ID:
- 6588528
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-871113-
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting, New York, NY, USA, 15 Nov 1987; Other Information: Technical Paper 46B
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
LUBRICATING OILS
DEWAXING
CATALYSTS
FABRIC FILTERS
FOULING
OPACITY
PROCESSING
REMOVAL
WAXES
FILTERS
LUBRICANTS
OILS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
020400* - Petroleum- Processing
023000 - Petroleum- Properties & Composition