CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF BASE OILS FOR

HEAVY LIQUID PARAFFINS

Savita Oil Technologies Limited

Rishen Kapoor - 210MBA Tech (Chem)

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LIQUID PARAFFIN•Liquid Paraffins are manufactured from highly

refined Base Oils and consist of saturated paraffinic and cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons.

•The refinement process ensures complete removal of aromatics, sulphur and nitrogen compounds.

•The technologies employed result in products that are highly stable over time besides being hydrophobic, colourless, odourless and tasteless.

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PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

•Liquid paraffin is an oily, transparent, colourless liquid.

•At room temperature it is odourless and tasteless. However, when heated it does have a slightly unpleasant petroleum smell.

• It does not dissolve in water, glycerol or cold ethanol. It does dissolve in benzene, ether, chloroform and hot ethanol.

• It has a density of 0.8 gm/cm3. 

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PLANT INTRODUCTION

•The heavy liquid paraffin plant is a batch operation type plant, it is active for 300 days in a year not including emergency shutdown.

• The installed capacity 900 kilo litres/month, currently the plant is working at 600 kilo/litres per month due to customer demand.

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Base Oils

Oleum 23%

Iso Propyl Alcohol

Caustic Lye

Fuller’s Earth

Raw Materials

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MANUFACTURING PROCESS

1) Oleum treatment of base oil.

2) Purification of treated oil.

3) Blending & earth filtration

4) Packing of Products.

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• Base oils are treated with oleum to convert the unsaturated aromatics present, into corresponding sulphonic acids

• the oil obtained after this step is acidic and is called sour oil, the sour oil is sent to the next stage for neutralization.

• This Sour oil is neutralised with a caustic solution and the traces of sulphonates present in the oil as impurity, are removed by extracting this oil with I.P.A.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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•This Sour oil is neutralised in the neutralizer with the addition of a caustic solution and the traces of sulphonates present in the oil as impurity, are removed by extracting this oil with I.P.A. (iso propyl alcohol)

•The resultant oil is considered to be pure .This oil is first dehydrated and then blended with other suitable oils and filtered to get liquid paraffin as desired by end-user requirements.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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OLEUM TREATMENT

Receiving base oil in the

Sulfonator from the

storage tank

Oleum Treatment

Sludge Removal

Transfer the treated oil to the

next operation

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11SR NO

PROCEDURE TEMPERATURE (DEGREES CELSIUS)

TIME (HOURS)

1 Receiving batch from storage tank Room temperature 3

2 Oleum treatment Room temperature to 55

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3 Settling Room temperature to 50

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4 Sludge separation Room temperature to 50

2

5 Sampling and quality report Room temperature to 50

6

6 Transfer to neutralizer Room temperature to 50

1

Total Time 32

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PURIFICATION OF TREATED OIL

Stage 1Receiv

e treated oil in

neutralizer

Stage 2

Neutralisation

Stage 3

I.P.A. Wash

Stage 4

Water Wash

Stage 5Flashing and Strippi

ng

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14Sr No Procedure Temperature (Degrees

Celsius)

Time (Hours)

1 Receiving batch from sulphonator RT to 50 1

2 Neutralization RT to 50 4

3 Settling RT to 40 6

4 Layer separation RT to 40 1

5 IPA wash RT 8

6 IPA layer settling 55-65 6

7 Layer separation 55-65 1

8 Water wash 55-65 4

9 Flashing 50-55 2

10 Stripping to storage tank 100-105 24

Total 57

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BLENDING AND FILTRATION ON A BED OF ACTIVATED EARTH:-

BED PREPARATON

FILTRATION PROCESS

DISCARDING OF THE USED BED

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BED PREPARATION

•Filter bed is a cylindrical vessel with dished ends and it can take about 3.0 Kg/cm2 pressure.

•The filter plate is dressed with a single layer of filter paper ,the layer is firmly fixed to the plate especially at the circumference using a fixing ring and adhesive. Over this layer activated earth is charged and levelled.

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•The activated earth used in this plant is produced domestically and costs approximately Rs 50 /kg .

•The aim in using activated earth for filtration is to completely remove any trace solids that might be present and to remove any colour that might have been imparted to the product during the process. This process also imparts a lustre/shine to the finished product. 

BED PREPARATION

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FILTRATION METHOD

•One or two such filters are used in series to effectively remove the impurities from the oil which is taken for filtration.

•The oil percolates through the activated earth by gravity and is collected in L.P. product receivers. From the first filter the filtered oil is collected in an intermediate product receiver from where it is pumped to the secondary filter.

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DISCARDING OF BED

• Samples of the filtered oil are checked periodically and filtration is continued till the filter sample confirms to speci fications. When the falling sample does not confirm to specifications, collection of oil in the product receiver is stopped.

• The remaining oil in the filter bed is collected in the intermediate product receiver, when the filtration by gravity stops. The earth is now referred to as the deactivated earth.

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•Deactivated earth still contains some absorbed oil which is removed by application of air pressure. The recovered oil is collected and sent to the storage tank.

• The deactivated earth which is freed from most of the absorbed oil is discarded. This earth is sent from the Thurbe plant to a sister plant of the Savita group wherein it is used as fuel for a boiler.

BED PREPARATION

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BLENDING

•The finished product collected in the product receiver is blended using the blending pump for a period of 1-2 hours. It is checked in the quality control department for viscosity and other special fiacre depending on the final viscosity required by the customer, it is blended with oil of required viscosity so that the blended sample meets customer requirements.

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PACKING

•The oil is packed in standard packing of 210 / 235 litres per drum. The finished product is also filled in tankers, depending on customers’ requirements.