A lubricant is a substance introduced to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact,

which ultimately reduces the generated when the surfaces move.

It may also have the function of transmitting forces, transporting foreign particles, or heating or

cooling the surfaces.

The lube oil base stocks are prepared from selected crude oils by distillation and special

processing to meet the desired qualifications.

The additives are chemicals used to give the base stocks desirable characteristics which they

lack or to enhance and improve existing properties.

The properties considered important are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Viscosity
Viscosity change with temperature (vicosity index)
Pour point
Oxidation resistance
Flash point
Boiling temperature
Acidity (neutralization number)

 The first step in the processing of lubricating oils is the separation on the

crude oil distillation units of the individual fractions according to viscosity

and boiling range specifications.
The heavier lube oil raw stocks are included in the vacuum fractionating

tower bottoms with the asphaltenes, resins, and other undesirable materials.
The raw lube oil fractions from most crude oils contain components which

have undesirable characteristics for finished lubricating oils.

These must be removed or reconstituted by processes such as liquidliquid

extraction, crystallization, selective hydrocracking, and/or hydrogenation.

The undesirable characteristics include high pour points, large viscosity

changes with temperature (low Viscosity Index), poor oxygen stability, poor
color, high cloud points, high organic acidity, and high carbon- and sludgeforming tendencies

 The processes used to change these characteristics are:

1.
Solvent deasphalting to reduce carbon- and sludge-forming tendencies
Solvent extraction and hydrocracking to improve viscosity index
2.
3.
Solvent dewaxing and selective hydrocracking to lower cloud and pour points
4.
Hydrotreating and clay treating to improve color and oxygen stability
5.
Hydrotreating and clay treating to lower organic acidity
The lighter distillate feedstocks for producing lubricating oil base stocks can

be sent directly to the solvent extraction units, but the atmospheric and
vacuum still bottoms require deasphalting to remove the asphaltenes and
resins before undergoing solvent extraction.
In some cases the highest boiling distillate stream may also contain sufficient

asphaltenes and resins to justify deasphalting.

PROPANE DEASPHALTING
Coke-forming tendencies of heavier distillation products are reduced by removal of

asphaltenic materials by solvent extraction.

Liquid propane is a good solvent (butane and pentane are also commonly used).
Deasphalting is based on solubility of hydrocarbons in propane, i.e. the type of
molecule rather than RMM as in distillation.

Vacuum residue is fed to a countercurrent deasphalting tower. Alkanes dissolve in

propane whereas asphaltenic materials (aromatic compounds),coke-precursors do not.

Asphalt is sent for thermal processing.
Propane usually is used as the solvent in deasphalting but it may also be used with
ethane or butane in order to obtain the desired solvent properties.
Propane has unusual solvent properties in that from 100 to 140F (40 to 60C)
paraffins are very soluble in propane, but the solubility decreases with an increase in
temperature until at the critical temperature of propane [206F (96.8C)] all
hydrocarbons become insoluble.
In the range of 100 to 206F (40 to 96.8C) the high molecular weight asphaltenes
and resins are largely insoluble in propane.

 Separation by distillation is generally by molecular weight of the components and

solvent extraction is by type of molecule.

Propane deasphalting falls in between these categories because separation is a

function of both molecular weight and type of molecular structure.

The feedstock is contacted with 4 to 8 volumes of liquid propane at the desired

operating temperature.
The extract phase contains from 15 to 20% by weight of oil with the remainder

solvent.
The heavier the feed stock, the higher the ratio of propane to oil required
A typical propane deasphalting unit injects propane into the bottom of the treater

tower, and the vacuum tower bottoms feed enters near the top of the tower.
As the propane rises through the tower, it dissolves the oil from the residuum and

carries it out of the top of the tower.

Between the residuum feed point and the top of the tower, heating coils increase

the temperature of the propaneoil extract phase thus reducing the solubility of
the oil in the propane.

 This causes some of the oil to be expelled from the extract phase creating a reflux stream.
The reflux flows down the tower and increases the sharpness of separation between the oil

portion of the residuum and the asphaltene and resin portion.

The asphaltene and resin phase leaving the bottom of the tower is the raffinate and the

propaneoil mixture leaving the top is the extract

 Two-stage flash systems or supercritical techniques are used to recover the propane from the raffinate

and extract phases.

In the flash system, the first stages are operated at pressures high enough to condense the propane

vapors with cooling water as the heat exchange medium

In the high pressure raffinate flash tower, foaming and asphalt entrainment can be a major problem.
To minimize this, the flash tower is operated at about 550F (290C) to keep the asphalt viscosity at

a reasonably low level.

The second stages strip the remaining propane from the raffinate and extract at near atmospheric

pressure.
This propane is compressed and condensed before being returned to the propane accumulator drum.
The propane deasphalting tower is operated at a pressure sufficiently high to maintain the solvent in

the liquid phase.

This is usually about 500 psig (3448 kPa).
The asphalt recovered from the raffinate can be blended with other asphalts into heavy fuels or used

as a feed to the coking unit.

The heavy oil product from vacuum residuum is called bright stock.
It is a high-viscosity blending stock that, after further processing, is used in the formulation of heavy-

duty lubricants for truck, automobile, and aircraft services.

SOLVENT EXTRACTION AND DEWAXING

Solvent treating is a widely used method of refining lubricating oils as well

as a host of other refinery stocks.

Since distillation (fractionation) separates petroleum products into groups

only by their boiling-point ranges, impurities may remain.

These include organic compounds containing sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen;

inorganic salts and dissolved metals; and soluble salts that were present in
the crude feedstock.
In addition, kerosene and distillates may have trace amounts of aromatics

and naphthenes, and lubricating oil base-stocks may contain wax.

Solvent refining processes including solvent extraction and solvent dewaxing

usually remove these undesirables at intermediate refining stages or just

before sending the product to storage.

SOLVENT EXTRACTION
The purpose of solvent extraction is to prevent corrosion, protect catalyst in subsequent

processes, and improve finished products by removing unsaturated, aromatic hydrocarbons from
lubricant and grease stocks.
The solvent extraction process separates aromatics, naphthenes, and impurities from the product

stream by dissolving or precipitation.

The feedstock is first dried and then treated using a continuous countercurrent solvent

treatment operation.
In one type of process, the feedstock is washed with a liquid in which the substances to be

removed are more soluble than in the desired resultant product.

In another process, selected solvents are added to cause impurities to precipitate out of the

product.
In the adsorption process, highly porous solid materials collect liquid molecules on their

surfaces.
The solvent is separated from the product stream by heating, evaporation, or fractionation, and

residual trace amounts are subsequently removed from the raffinate by steam stripping or
vacuum flashing.

SOLVENT EXTRACTION
Electric precipitation may be used for separation of inorganic compounds.
The solvent is regenerated for reused in the process.
The most widely used extraction solvents are phenol, furfural, and cresylic acid.
Other solvents less frequently used are liquid sulfur dioxide, nitrobenzene, and 2,2'

dichloroethyl ether.
The selection of specific processes and chemical agents depends on the nature of the

feedstock being treated, the contaminants present, and the finished product requirements.

AROMATIC SOLVENT EXTRACTION UNIT

SOLVENT DEWAXING

Solvent dewaxing is used to remove wax from either distillate or residual basestock at any
stage in the refining process.

There are several processes in use for solvent dewaxing, but all have the same general
steps, which are:

mixing the feedstock with a solvent;

precipitating the wax from the mixture by chilling; and
recovering the solvent from the wax and dewaxed oil for recycling by distillation and steam
stripping.

Usually two solvents are used: toluene, which dissolves the oil and maintains fluidity at low
temperatures, and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), which dissolves little wax at low temperatures
and acts as a wax precipitating agent.

The ketone processes use either a mixture of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) with methyl
isobutyl ketone (MIBK) or MEK with toluene.

The solvents act as a diluent for the high molecular weight oil fractions to reduce the
viscosity of the mixture and provide sufficient liquid volume to permit pumping and
filtering.

The process operations for both solvent processes are similar but differ in the equipment
used in the chilling and solvent recovery portions of the process.

 About 85% of the dewaxing installations use ketones as the solvent and the other 15% use

propane.
The comparative advantages and disadvantages of the processes are:

Propane
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Readily available, less expensive, and easier to recover.

Direct chilling can be accomplished by vaporization of the solvent, thus reducing the capital and
maintenance costs of scraped-surface chillers.
High filtration rates can be obtained because of its low viscosity at very low temperatures.
Rejects asphaltenes and resins in the feed.
Large differences between filtration temperatures and pour point of finished oils [25 to 45F (15 to
25C)].
Requires use of a dewaxing aid.

Ketones
1.

Small difference between filtration temperature and pour point of dewaxed oil [9 to 18F(5to10C)].
a.
b.
c.

2.
3.

Lower pour point capability

Greater recovery of heat by heat exchange
Lower refrigeration requirements

Fast chilling rate. Shock chilling can be used to improve process operations
Good filtration rates but lower than for propane.

 The raffinate from the solvent extraction unit in a traditional lube plant

contains a considerable amount of wax.

To recover the wax, the raffinate is mixed with a solvent, usually propane, and

cooled in a series of heat exchangers.

Further cooling is provided by the evaporation of propane in the chiller and

filter feed tanks.

The wax forms crystals, which are continuously removed, filtered, and washed

with coldsolvent. The solvent is recovered by flashing and steam stripping. The
wax is purified by heating with hot solvent, after which it is re-chilled, refiltered and given a final wash.
Paraffin waxes are used to make candles and coated papers for use as bread

wrappers, cold-drink cups, and beverage cartons.

They are also used in building materials.

 There are two types of selective hydrocracking processes for dewaxing oil, one uses a

single catalyst for pour point reduction only and the other uses two catalysts to reduce
the pour point and improve the oxygen stability of the product.
For the pour point reduction operation, both processes use synthetic shapeselective

zeolite catalysts which selectively crack the n-paraffins and slightly branched paraffins.
Zeolites with openings about 6 A in diameter provide rapid cracking rates for n-

paraffins with the rate decreasing rapidly as the amount of branching increases.
The Mobil Lube Dewaxing Process uses a fixed-bed reactor packed with two catalysts,

and the process flow is similar to that of hydrotreating unit.

Severity of operation is controlled by the furnace outlet temperature (reactor

temperature).
Essentially no methane or ethane is formed in the reaction.
A similar British Petroleum (BP) process produces propane, butane, and pentane in the

ratio 2 :4 : 3 by weight.

 Dewaxed oil from the dewaxing unit contains sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, and organometallic

compounds, which must be removed to improve the quality of LOBS.

Sulfur is present as mercaptans and as heteroatomic hydrocarbons in oil and is responsible for

the corrosive effects.

Nitrogen compounds are responsible for the colour of the lube.
Metallic compounds are responsible for unwanted deposition and may cause degradation of

metallic surfaces in contact with the lube.

Corrosiveness due to the presence of oxygen compounds for the formation of acid may occur.
High molecular weight olefinic or unsaturated compounds, especially diolefins, may give rise to

poor oxidation stability.

In the hydrofinishing unit, catalytic hydrogenation is carried out in a fixed bed reactor.
A nickelmolybdenum or tungsten catalyst is used at a high partial pressure of hydrogen.

Temperature and pressure are maintained at around 350C and 5080 kg/cm2, depending on
the feedstock to be treated.