US1655741A - Treating hydrocarbons - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 10, 1923,

A. scmvmz TREATING HYDROCARBONS l originql me@ Feb.

, Svc/@vitez arliitrarily selected product, and While t ALEBED` SCHWARZ, OF MQNTCLAR, NEVI JERSEY, SSIGNOR, BY MESNE .ASSEGN- lENTSfTO COAL AND OIL :PRODUCTS CORORATN, OF NEW" YORK, N. Y., A COR- LEORATION OF DELAWARE.

rnna'rirro. irnnooannon's.

Original appcation iled February 13, 1923, Serial No. 618,758.

May 8, 1923.

This is a division ot my application Se rial No. 618,758, tiled February 13, i923.

In the treatment ot oils the purpose oi? treatment is manifold, and the products, ot course, are accordingly dilierent. its the crude oils occur they are conglomerations of substances which, for the diti'erent uses have to be segregated and changed into classes which. `will be adapted i'or their individual uses. We have at atmospheric conditions, gaseous hydrocarbons, liquid hydrocarbons and solid hydrocarbons. These maybe turth'er suliidivided into those containing' only carbon andy hydrogen, those containing` carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and those which contain in addition other constituents suoli as nitrogen, etc.. t l

lt is su'liicient. for the purpose of this patent application, to discuss the main classes, particularly those lirst mentioned.

ln the treatment o'lf such hydrocarbtms, We deal with two distinct basic treatments, namely, segregation oit -conngounds already existing, and the formation and segregation oi new compounds formed. Due to the conrplerity oit the chemistry oit carbon, treatments given hydrocarbons oilten result` in` the change of the composition ot' the compound, intentionally or unintentionally, when in reality only sefrregation' is thought ot. On the other hand when changes are intended, new formations` ot compounds are o'lten accomplished, either favorable or unif'a'mrable to the result intended, and `ofttimes such transformationsA are not recognized by the operator or chemist. ,l A

@ne of the objects of this invention is to aii'ord means of control ot' such a segregation and reaction during treatment.

Other purposes o'l' this invention are to produce an. arbitrarily selected product ot' a given composition with predetermined boi.,- ing point, gravity, and other properties. In order to obtain rsuch a product, compounds ol' great complexity and of varying;v properties must be combined and recombined chem4 'ically and inally separated from the `mass oi? material employed.

For the purpose ot explaining this invention, I will at present, confine myself to an operation having' tor its purpose a de'inite Serial N0. 637,617.

Divided and this application filed scribe the invention in such a manner, I do not Wish to limit myself to any such particular operation, but l merely do this in View ot thecomplcxity of the subject, and to give a specific illustration of the invention.

ln prior crude oil distillation processes, the naphtha cut i was constantly removed -from the oil under treatment, the intermediate products were used up and the operation came to a staiiidstill. Had the condi tions permitted lthe formation of new intermediates, nenv gasoline y would be pro` duced, but in View ot the tact that in the practice ot roliningl oil it has been il'ound that with more heat and pressuremore `gasoline could be obtained, the natural tendency was to apply more and moreoit both until the limit was reached.

it is necessary, for the formation ot chemical comliounds, that the equilibrium between the reagents rbe. not reached until the new compound is formed, and the reagent which. caused the` state of unequilibrium must be the one which is intluencing' the reaction in the direction of the desired product. y

In making gasoline We aim to make essentially saturated hydrocarbons. The proportion ot saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons in the raw material, therefor-e, is controlled by the composition ot the raw matcrial and its treatment. It follows, therefore, that in order to convert a certain amount ot raw mate ial into a finished product of a kn'edetermined speciiication, the composition oit saturated and misaturated hydrocarbons in the ,raw material must be properly proportioned. f

lin carryinga outy my invention it is essential to pro-vide trom some source the proper proportion ot saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. The next requirement in' 'carryinp,` out my process is that a Very intimate mixture ot the reagents should be established and maintained.

' rlhe process comprises providing a combi# nation of hydrocarbons capable of reacting,- with each other and maintaining that condition throughout the operation. It also comprises supplying),` hydrogen compounds with greater lhydrogen content to compounds with lesser lhydrogen content When it is intended to produce compounds ot higher hydrogen content and maintaining` that condition throughout the operation.

ln the accompanying drani'ing there 1s illustrated an arrangement of apparatus for cfirrying out the invention. ln the drawmg:

Fig. l shows the arrangement of apparatus, parts being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a section through the mixer.

Reference character l represents a still in Which is charged cruderor tuel oil'high in unsaturated hydrocarbons, or similar type of high boiling point oils. This still may be heated to any desired temperature, for example, S00O F. represents another still containing loiver boiling point hydrocarbons, for example, gas oil or kerosene. The oil in still l is principally unsaturated hydrocarbons, While the oil in still 2 is principally saturated hydrocarbons. Both oils are vaporized by boiling and the vapors pass through the mixing chamber 3 into the condenser Ll and trom there into the separator tank 5. Gases from 5 pass through the coinpressor (i and are returned into the mixing chamber 3 Where they are again recombined uit-h new oil vapors coming from stills l and 2. Fresh oil may be supplied to the still f2 from the tant; 7, the circulation being maintained by means oit the pump 8.

Fig. 2 shows a torm of mixing chamber 3. Any design ot' a mixer, however, may be used. In the apparatus shown the reaction takes place largely in the condenser 4 or at last during the period when the tivo vapors are mixed and gradually cooled. It is immaterial to the process Whether the vapors get their reaction temperature during the period downward from heating to cooling, or upward from hot to cold, as long as they are passed through a series of heat conditions in a thorough mixture of properly proportioned raw materials, and, at one stage or another, are subjected to the proper temperature conditions. lt is, ot course, understood that this system, the same as all other systems, can be elaborated upon by subdividing` the one large step illustrated into a series ot vsmaller steps it so desired.

` lt is to be understood that the system may be conducted as a batch process. In order to provide the necessary hydrogen to reach the desired gravity and boiling points of the end product, it is necessary to continue the operation until in still l, only heavy tar or coke is formed. ln other Words, until in still l a suiiicient amount of carbon is extracted trom the molecule to provide a proper hydrogen balance. It should be noted also that the vapors from still 2 are constantly circulated and this is done in order to provide all classes ot intermediates to contact with each other. 'iVhen gravity and boiling points are 'reached then the liquor may be drawn ott' from condenser t directly to a storage tank and new batches may be charged into the stills l rand instead ot distilling to carbon in the still l handling the crude or heavy oil, l may distill only to tar in this still and obtain qualitatively the same results. but of course, in that case I Will not obtain the lull hydrogen 'content of the oil into the motor fuel product but a portion will be carried oii in the tar.

Ylnster-.d ot passing` the mixture from the mixer 3 directly to a condenser, this mixture in be heated to increase its temperature to any desired point in any convenientway as tor example by passing the pipe carrying the mixture through a Yfurnace or any other convenient heating device, after which the m` ure led to the condenser 4.

it ithout intending to commit myself to any particular theory to account tor the results that have been obtained. I may say that the results have led me to believe that iu a series ot hydrocarbons ranging say `from asphalt to gas, when heat is applied the hydrocarbons of loiver hydrogen content tend to combine with those of a higher hydrogen content, which iu turn tend to combine With hydrocarbons o't the next higher series and so on provided the proper proportions ot saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons exist at each step. Therefore, it is to be expected that hydrogen must be turnished. This, in eiiiect, canbe accomplished by increasingl the proportionate content of hydrogen, as for example, by removing carbon from 'the hydrocarbons in any convenient ivay such as by cracking, thereby leaving a proportionately higher percentage ot hydrogen in the hydrocarbon which is available for. combination with 'the lower range or series ot hydrocarbons.

*While l believe that it is necessary to have given proportions ot saturated and unsaturated h vdrocarbous. l do not'limit myself to any particular degree ot saturation but l carry out my process through the mediui'u ol' constantly diluting'heavy tractionsfwith lighter fractions. and l believe that reactions take place incorporating the bigger molecules, with A the smaller molecules of the lighter oils.

By my process individual hydrocarbons or groups ot hydrocarbons may be vaporized under predetermined pressure and may be afterwards mixed under entirely diti'erent pressure conditions, the temperature ot the mixture may be controlled independent oit the vapor formation temperature of the component eompounds, thereby obtaining products determined by experience and experimentation to be the ones desired as the end product ot theprocess. yi'his process theretore (litters from prior attempts in that specially selected analyzed oils are vaporized under given temperature and pressure or vacuum conditions, the vapors are then mixed in a suitable mixing' chamber and may then be subjected to a third pressure and temperature condition designed to produce the results desired.

As a specific ilh'istration ot this invention it may be mentioned that about 20% to 40(7) ot saturated hydrocarbon vapors may be mixed with about 80% to 60% oit unsaturated hydrocarbon vapors, the mixture subjected to this treatment and large yields of li Q'hter or .lower boilingpoint hydrocarbons may be thereby obtained.

I claim:

1. The process which comprises Vaporizin;- )redeteru'iinod proportions of low boili no; saturated hydrocarbons and high boiling unsaturated hydrocarbons, mixing the vapore intimately, condensing the saine and returning uncondensed hydrocarbons after compressing the same to the vapors that are being` mixed.

2. The process which comprises distilling oil containing sul'istantial amounts of unsaturated hydrocarbons snbstantially to dry ness. mixing the vapors therefrom With va-r,

pors of low boiling'hydrocarbons containing a high percentage of saturated hydrocarbons that are being),l continuously replenished by fresh low boilingl hydrocarbons, condensing,r the mixture and returning uncondensed vapors tothe vapors that are being mixed.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specili ation, this 5 day ot May,

ALFRED SCHVARZ.

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