A lot of the modern equipment requires oil for operation. For instance, efficient and economic operation of motors is dependent on the quality of the lubricating materials.
Selective purification is one of the stages of oil production, to remove resinous materials and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Special selective solvents are used for this purpose. The process increases stability and improves the viscosity of the oil, reducing its tendency to form carbon deposits and oxidize.
The solvents used most often are phenol and furfurol. The type of solvent defines the efficiency of the selective purification process.
A typical oil purification system with phenol works like this. The oil fraction for purification is pumped into a heat exchanger and a steam heater in the upper part of the adsorber. A mix of water and phenol vapors are supplied to the lower part. Then the oil captures phenol vapor, steam is condensed in the chiller and water is remove form the system.
Then the oil from the bottom of the adsorber is pumped through the chiller and into the middle of the extraction column. Molten phenol is supplied to the top plate of the column, and phenol water is pumped into the bottom to extract secondary refined material.
If the oil components are ranged by decreasing ability to solve in phenol, this is the list:
- resins;
- sulfur and nitrogen compounds;
- aromatic hydrocarbons;
- naphtene and paraffin hydrocarbons.
Selective purification works well at the oil production stage. The need for expensive and complex equipment is not as problematic at this point, because it is justified by the large mounts of raw material.
Using selective purification by phenol where the oil is used is not feasible. GlobeCore offers alternative mobile units which allow to remove water, solid particles and various other contaminants from the oil. The process is made efficienty by combining various processing methods: filtration, adsorption and thermovacuum purification.
GlobeCore purification equipment saves energy, its operation does not produce harmful emissions to the environment.