Chapter 20

PURIFICATION OF
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

Contents

Aim of Purification
Sweetening Process
Dewaxing Process
Deoiling of Wax
Deasphalting Process
Dearomatisation of Kerosene

(Processes involved are discussed w.r.t.

Petroleum Industry)
2

Aim of Purification
Minimising

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Acid and corrosion

Carbon residue
Catalyst deactivation
Gum formation

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Burning characteristic of kerosene, diesel fuels

Lead susceptibility and octane number of petrol
Pour point of diesel.
Color and odour.

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Hydrogen sulfide and mercaptans

Alkyl phenols
Naphthenic acids
Sulphonates and nitrogen bases

Improving

Recovering

Sweetening Process
Removal of sulfur and its compounds like
sulfides and mercaptans etc.
Due to presence of sulfur, the oil is sour.
Petroleum products are termed as sweet if
they pass Doctor Test.
Important sweetening processes are:

Doctors sweetening process

Copper chloride sweetening process
Solutizer process
Catalytic desulphurization process
Hydrofininf process
4

 Thedoctor
sweetening
processis
an
industrialchemical
processfor
convertingmercaptansinsour gasolineinto disulfides.
Sulfur compounds darken gasoline, give it an offensive
odor and increase toxicsulfur dioxideengine emissions.
However, this process only reduces the odor.
Lead oxide (litharge) dissolves in reasonably concentrated
solutions of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide
owing
to
formation
of
a
soluble
compound,
sodiumplumbite:
When this alkaline solution is agitated with petroleum,
any mercaptan in the oil will unite with an equivalent
amount of the lead (which then passes into the
petroleum) to form what is called a lead mercaptide

Catalytic desulfurization
Process
Catalysts like Bauxite and activated clay
catalyze the conversion of mercaptanes to
H2S
Ethanethiol + HydrogenEthane+Hydrogen
sulfide

C2H5SH + H2C2H6+ H2S

Used for sweetening of gasoline and karosine.
The most advance process is
hydrodesulphurization unit. In this process,
Hydrogen is used as catalyst along with
molybednum oxide or cobalt oxide at 350-450
C and 20-50 atm.
6

Dewaxing Process
Removal of wax from petroleum products mainly
lubricating oil.
Waxes are solid hydrocarbons soluble in crude oil and
cant be separated by distillation.
At lower temperatures, presence of waxes in diesel fuels
reduces the fluidity and hence needs to be dewaxed.
Three methods of de-waxing are used:
1. Chilling and Pressing process
2. Solvent Dewaxing process
i. MEK Dewaxing
ii. Propane Dewaxing
3. Urea Dewaxing Process

Deoiling of Wax
To remove the oil left in the wax produced in
dewaxing process.
Oil content are upto 50%.
Finished wax contain not more than 0.5% oil.
Three types of de-oiling wax process:
1. Sweating Process (heating in a perforated plate)
2. Resettling Process (wax is diluted with naphtha+
crystallized by chilling and then removed by
centrifuging)
3. Solvent Extraction (MEK and Propane s used as in dewaxing)
9

Deasphalting Process
High molecular weight compounds present in
petroleum with concentration 0 65 % (High
boiling range of lube oil and Heavy gas oil).
They are undesirable in catalytic cracking.
Solvent deasphalting is a refinery process for
extracting asphaltenes and resins from heavy
vacuum gas oil, atmospheric residue and
vacuum residue to produce valuable
deasphalted oil.
The deasphalted oil (DAO) can be used to make
lubricants
10

Dearomatisation of Kerosene
Removal of aromatic compounds from
kerosene.
Presence of aromatic compounds in
kerosene makes it smoky.
Aromatic compounds are removed by
solvent extraction technique.
Process is called Edeleanu Process.
Upto 82% aromatic compounds are removed
commercially.
11