US1490055A - Process and apparatus for distilling oil - Google Patents

Description

A ril: 8, 1924.

F. 'S. WOIDICH PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING OIL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 95:5 wwk Filed Apri1\4, 1921 Aprifl 8 1924. 1,490,055

1 F. s. WOIDICH PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DIS TILLING OIL Filed April 4, l92l 3 She ets-Sheet 2 (I) 1 D x. U

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F. S. WOIDICH PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING OIL Filed April 4. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 KEQcUon Tower W awmmm a o u a a on 222:: JrMmK/Whll ram Apr. s; 1924;

FRANCIS S IALES' WOIDICH, O'F SAPULPA, OKLAHOMA.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING OILI I Application filed April a, 1921. Serial No. 455,188.

re 'an' apparatus for distilling crude oil or any other complex mixture of hydrocarbons such. as fuel oil, kerosene, naphtha, etc-., in connection with casinghead gas or gasoline in a continuous process of synthesis, distilw lation, rectification and refining whereby the difi'erent constituents may be obtained immediately in a pure commercial quality without intermediate products, and without .further application of heat, or condensation, ac redistillation or refining treatment with chemicalreagents. i

L The invention further relates to a process of physicochemical changes in the molecular constitution of the heavier hydrocar- Efll hous which involves the entire change of their character chemically and means therefore a considerable increase in the recovery of lighter hydrocarbons commercially known as gasoline, na htha and kerosene. 30,

f paratus and appurtenances whereby said processes may be efficiently carried out.

. Other objects of said invention will, ap

pear from the description hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out,

in the appendedclaims.

-In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 I i have shown an example of my improved apparatus in diagrammatic form for illus-- 'B trative and descrlptive purposes conveying the idea-of progressive distillation and rectification. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic illus-- tration of a modification and Fig.3 shows a further modification. v

process in a more concise and 'snnple form,- showing the application of progressive heating from one unit of distillation to the other in contradistinction to the arrangement shown in Fig.2 which shows the processof distillation with one application of heat, and the chemical refining of the products of distillation by oneoperation only,

The invention furt er,-re1at'es to the ap- Fig. 1' illustrates the princi les. of the liberation of vision of checkerworks 7 In Fig. 1, the crude oil, fuel oil, gas oil or kerosene, separately or in a mixture c0ntaining all the crude constituents to be subjected to treatment -with casinghead gas, natural gas or casinghead gasoline for synthetic action, subsequent distillation and refining to obtain commercial products of desired quality and usual standard, is pumped from the source of supply through pump P and line 2 through the heat exchanger 3 in counter current to the hot residuum oil leaving the last unit of distillation 3 as an efficient provision of heat economy, and at the same time facilitating the total separation of water from the 011 and providlng a proper homogeneous mixture of the crude oil with adetermined quantity of easinghead gas or gasoline through the repeated breaking up of the mixture in perforatedpassage lates 30 which hold the tubular fiues 3 in their proper place and inside which the hot residuum oil is circulated and leaves the system. The casinghead gasoline may be supplied to pipe 2 by pump P and meter M.

The now preheated crude oil, etc., together with casinghead gas leaving the heat exchanger 3 through pipe 4, passes to a dehydration drum (not shown in diagram) for the above mentioned separationof water and salt and other impurities and contaminations which may be present and enters the bottom 5 of a -preheating coil 6 of the first distillation unit I which may be The oil flowing through this coil in counter current to the heating gases, is subjected at different intervals to centrifugal motion for the purpose of rapid heat transmission, thorough 'mixing and extended length of -a pipe still (or any other systems of stills) I reaction between crude oiland casinghead asoline. At difierent intervals equalizing rums or containers (not shown) may be interposed between the coils to insure an equal flow without fluctuations due to the gasoline vapors from the heated mixture. I v 1 The oil passes from 6 to the coil 7 which receives the greatest heat from the'combus tion chamber? of the still, but is at no time exposed to the action of direct flames thanks to the size of the chamber and pro- In these coils, the oil is heated to a temperature sufiicient to, butnot-materially exceeding that required to insure volatilization of the highest boiling fraction which it is desired to recover. Inpractice it has been found that it is not even necessary to heat the crude oil to the boiling point; of the heaviest cut. Thisv vaporization of a heavy fraction below its normal boiling point is presumably due to the presence in the oil of the lighter (low boiling) ingredients, which appear to assist in mechanically carrying over, because of their buoyancy, the heavier material. For example, when wax distillate having a boiling point of 600 F. is the heaviest cut, and the crude oil is heated in the manner described to from 450500 F., the entire content of wax distillate will be found to have vaporized and is recovered.

space between the outside shell of separator, 9, and the downard extension of towershell 10 into the separator, and rise upwardly in tower 10.

v This tower of reaction 10 is a cylinder having at 1O a suitable grating acting as support for the tower filling material such as the well known Raschig rings through which the vapors rise in a very tortuous zig zag way, experiencing deflections and impacts with the filling material and getting therefore into an intensive and intimate contact with-each other and the down trickling condensate spread out over a large sur- In this tower, through the efiected intimate mixture of the crude oil constituents, such as naphtha, kerosene, gas, and oilvapors, with casinghead gas or casinghead gasoline vapors, the physicochemical change in the molecular structure of the heavier oil constituents takes place by mere surface action, absorption and disintegration.

On the open chains of the molecular structure of the heavier hydrocarbons are associated the smaller molecular structure of casinghead gas such as methane, propane, butane, pentane,. etc., until this complex structure loses its physicochemical equilibrium and disintegrates into the simpler molecular structures of the lighter hydrocarbons.

In this way by practical test nearly 100% of the hydrocarbons forming the'commercial product, gas-oil, are changed to hydrocarbons of the kerosene group and up to and 90% of the different hydrocarbons of the commercial product kerosene are changed to hydrocarbons of the light and heavy ben' zines or gasolihes, the motor fuel of today.

In the reaction tower base, or cyclone separator, is provided a distributor, 0, for the direct introduction of wet casinghead gas, or residual gas from the system. or dry natural gas which gases are brought from the source of supply through compressor (1 through discharge line C,, to a super-heating coil C and through the line C in heated form to the distributor 9* of the tower base, or may be diverted through line C, to the oil heating coil 6 and 7 of pipe still I or may be used in both ways.

The waste heat of the first'distillation unit, a pipe still, is used for heating these gases to the proper temperature ofabsorption in the tower of reaction 10 as outlined before.

The complex mixture of lighter hydrocarbons now established in tower 10 through the synthetic action between the casinghead or other gas and heavy crude oil constituents leaves now this tower 10 through line 10 and enters the unit of rectification or fractional separation of the gasoline constituents, which consists in its simplest form of a refining tower 11 of any suitable design, of a dephlegmator D,, a dephlegmator D condensers K and K and the appurtenances for separating the water from the distillates VVS and WS and the receiving flow cups FC and FC which give direct indi ations of the gravities of the distillates and quantity run, thereby enabling easy and proper regulation.

' .The action of the gasoline refining unit is as follows: f

The complex mixture of light and heavy gasoline, naphtha and partly kerosene in vapor form enters the tower 11 at its base through 10 rises to the top of that tower by passing either through liquid sealed plates of the cup type, or perforated plates. or a tower filling material which increases .the flow path, and finally enters the bottom of dephlegmator D which consists of tubu lar fiues cooled by a circulating medium, preferably water, the vapor passing inside the flues.

Owing to loss of heat to the cooling medium, a part of this complex mixture of vapors will condense and run back to the tower, being there spread out over the rectifying plates or tower filling material in a finely divided form. Of course this partial condensation or dephlegmation will affect mostly the higher boiling hydrocarbon vapors as naphtha and kerosene, but also a part of the gasoline will be afiected, as being soluble in the other constituents only the main body of gasolines light/and heavy will escape in vapor form from said dephlegmator D whereas the heavier constitucuts will be returned in liquid form to the tower and will in a very finely divided form meet'the rising complex vapors from the tower base, which now will be subject to fractional condensations afiecting again first the higher boiling vapors of said mixture whereas the lower boilers or the lighter vapors, that is the gasoline vapors, will fiur;

ther rise to the top of the tower; and-vice versa the down flowing liquid from the] 1);, balanced conditions in form of zones will be established in tower 11 having on the bottom of the tower all heavy constituents such as kerosene and naphtha, andonthe very top of the tower the heavy and light asolines, which'finally pass dephlegmator 1 almost in their entirety, onl a part be ing condensed for the establishment of a continuous and equal amount of backrun over the tower to maintain the aforesaid iones in balanced condition, that is kerosene, na htha, groline.

1 he lig D, through pipes 12 and enter tubular dephlegmator D on the top and pass again through the cooling flues 12 to be subjected again to a partial condensation regulated by the amount of cooling water which flows outside of these tubular lines, in countereurrent to the gasoline vapors;

The intensity of this condensation can be regulated through the thermometer reading of thermometer T,; the same as the intensity of condensation in D,can be regulated by thermometer T which thermometers together with the respective valves ofthe cooling water supply are established on a service floor from which the operator can regulate the system and in fact the whole plant;

The condensation in D will mostly effect the heavy gasoline vapors or gasoline of higher boiling point which will leave, as hot liquid, through pipe 12 -the dephlegmator D and enter a tubular dripping cooler K where its cooling down to atmospheric temperature will be effected by means of cooling water entering the cooler, K through line t and heavy gasolines now leave 12, leavin through 12 to'enter the bottom erly discharge its prescribed duty of fur nishing the necessary amount of backrun for the fractional separation of the gasolines from kerosene and naphtha.

As we will see later on, the regulating amount of back-run can be easily increased through the condensing capacit of dephlegmator D and cooler K, Whose ackrun lines of condensate are interconnected and trapped back to the tower 11 and 10, through pipe 7' and r The heavy gasoline fraction extracted from the s stem by means of D and cooled down by i i, will be a marketable product of hea gasoline say of 56 B. gravity, leaving 2 through ipe 13 and entering the water separator W 1n which by means of the difference in the specific gravities between gasoline and water, the water will settle out at the bottom whence it will flow through pipe 14 to flow-funnel 15 and from there through 16 to be piped away; whereas the gasoline floating on the water will leave the water separator on top, enter a gas separator 17 in which uncondensed gasoline wlll be taken out to the main vent line 19, andto gas vent lines20 and 21 and 22 and be stored up in the gas. holder GH from which the compressor G will take it to send it either back to the system for repeated action as described before or to be recovered in a condenser coil under pressure as,- e. g., in a regular recovery plant,

The gasoline now leaves the gas se arator 17 through line 20 and flows to the ow cup FC where its flow will'be visible to the eye through glass cylinder 23. Its gravity will be continuously indicated by a hyd rometer floating in the gasoline and its quantity con-- tinuously metered .by a hydrostatic flow scale giving the number of gallons per hour extraction.

This flow cup again is vented through line 24 in to pipe 18, back to themain gas line 22 in which all residual gases from the system will be collected and stored in the gas holder, GH, as described before. E

The heavy gasoline leaves the flow cup FC through line 25 and flows to the respective storage tank by gravity.

Now We return again to dephlegmator D to follow the other part of the asoline vapors, which are the low boiling light or high gravity gasoline.

The uncondensed light or high gravity gasoline vapors leave D at bottom and enter the condenser K through line 27 at the top, flowing downwards through the cooling flues in countercurrent to the cooling medium which enters condenser K, at 26 and leaves at the top through line 27 to enter D on bottom and to leave D through 28 on top.

Iii condenser K the light gasoline constituents are condensed and cooled to a com- 'mercial quality gasoline having a gravity from 60455 B., whatever the base crude material may be from which this gasoline is derived.

This light gasoline now passes through gas separator S in which residual gases or uncondensed vapors are separated from the gasoline and collected in GH through pipes 21 and 22, whereas the liquid gasoline leaves through 29 to-the water separator \VS in which in the same manner as in WS the water derived from steam is separated from the gasoline, the gasoline in dry form passes through gas separator 30 which is vented to line 20 for the purpose of carrying oil and collecting any gasoline vapors or gas not condensed or absorbed from the system.

Finally the gasoline flows through 31 to flow cup FC where it is metered and open to inspection of color and gravity, etc.-, and is finally delivered through pipe 32 to the storage tank.

In the outlined unit of fractional distillation of gasoline we have shown the production of two commercial grades of asoline. It will be apparent that further sub ivisions of the total amount of gasoline extracted by tower 11 may be made if desired and expedient.

The regulation is very simple and can in fact be carried out automatically by means of thermostats if desired.

Assume, for instance, that the gasoline flowin on test or flow cup FC would not be of desired quality.

:To immediately improve said quality, we

. close gradually valve V, on line 12", the

gasoline extracted from D not finding exit in its entirety will rise in line 12 until it reaches the point where the line 1', branches oil of 12 and will flow through 1' forming a si hon or trap, back to tower 11 where it is distributed in a finely divided form over the tower by means of distributor d; flows downward overthe filling in the tower and meeting from below the hot gasoline vapors and steam, this gasoline backrun will be entirely re-evaporated and riseup again, pass unafl'ected dephlegmator D and return again to D where automatically a new adjustment will take place to extract now the product of desired quality.

The gasoline mixture in D being far richer now than before can easily be subjected to the desired fractional condensation, the heavy gasoline being predominant in the mixture will be condensed in a cleaner cut, without effecting the lighter ga'solines, and return again through 12 to cooler K through valve V to fiow cup F0 If th ei' gasoline now flowing meets the requirements in quality the valve'V will gradually be opened so far as to extract exactly the amount of heavy gasoline in the system.

Any excess of extraction through dephlegmator D will be sent back through 'r into tower 11 or 10 for re-evaporation and readjustment in D This baekrun from D to tower 11 acts as auxiliary backrun to dephlegmator l), to establish in 11 the proper rectification action and to keep the-zones of the different products in tower 11 in balanced condition.

In order to prevent the gasoline zone at the upper portion of the tower from extending too far downwardly if the amount of cooling backrun from D and D should increase too much. an automatic steam regulator may be used to keep the tower 11 regulated at the same pressure, and as pres sure andtemperature are correlated. therefore also at the same temperature, this steam regulator will permit more steam to enter the tower base at 11, so that the tem-,

cup FC Thus, if, for the sake of argument, the gasoline should show too low a gravity; it would indicate that in dephlegmator I) not enough-heavy gasoline were extracted through lack of cooling water, etc., the extraction valve V on line 29 would be gradually closed or the flow on test cup F C reduced to a minimum. The gasoline not finding enough exit through test cup FC will rise in line 29 until it reaches the branch line 1- which again forms a siphon in its lead to the backrun line 1, from dephlegmator D. through which lines 1", and 1- the gasoline of undesired quality reaches the top of the tower i 11 to increase here again the backrun as outlined before, and with the same results.

The cooling effect of this increased back.

11 is getting finally re-evaporated and will join'again the flow of gasoline vapors toat a lower temperature, due to the lowering of the dewpoint of a mixture which increases steadily in lighter constituents from the backrun of K through 1' Valve V can now be gradually opened until maximum extraction of light gas'o-, line is reached. the excess finding itsway' continuously back through 1' to tower 11 to establish balanced and normal conditions in D automatically without change of the cooling medium in D It will thus be evident that even if the cooling in D should become deficient through some reason, the system still yields the desired product in an automatic way by means of the backrun lines 1' and T The same would be true if D should become deficient in cooling and not supply the necessary backrun for the fractional action or rectification of tower 11. The gasoline together with naphtha and kerosene would pass D without dephlegmation and reach D and finally K for total condensation. As the products produced in D and K would greatly exceed the amount normally finding outlet through the extractions valves V3 and V the excess of distillate from I and K 'will rise in line 12 and 29 and will discharge this excess back to tower 11 where it will act as cooling back-run to bring automatically the tower back to balanced conditions; in other words D and K automatically take the place of D if the latter should get out of'order by some reason, D and K are in their'design large enough to assume this duty. Even if D and D should be out of order K alone with the large cooling surface at its disposition would be able to bring automatically the tower back into working conditions by delivering its total condensation if need be to tower 11 as rectifying phl'egma. 1

This rectifying unit requires vei .little attention due to its automatic fiexibi ity resulting from the intraconnection of the backruns to tower 11 and to extracting flow cups.

In fact the whole unit can be run without any thermometers whatever on tower or dephlegmator, which however constitute a great help for an inexperienced man.

Now we follow the material leaving the base of tower 11 and not finding exit at the to of the tower' and comprising mainly naphtha and kerosene and gas-oil constit uents.

This constituent leaves the tower base through line 33 going topump P and being pumped through line 34 into oil supply line 4 of primary still I; the eventual surplus of this backrun not returned to primary still will flow through line 35 back to towerbase of reaction tower 10 where it will be exposed in finely distributed forms to the on coming flow of vapors and hot oil colming from the primary still I through inc 8.

ight constituents of this backrun escaping extraction in tower 11'will be re-evapo rated and join again the flow of vapors through tower 10.

The remaining part will join the hot oil coming from still I which leaves at the bottom of cyclone separator through pipe line 36 flowing to the second distillation unit II which is shown in the diagram as a cylindrical fire still with an ordinary brick setting suitable for this purpose.

Before we follow the course of the oil in the second distillation unit 11 we consider.

for a moment the reason why the backrun of tower 11 is returned back through pump P to the primary still I. i

As we saw at the start of our description the crude base material together with casinghead gasoline or gas alone is supplied to the primar still for the purpose of synthetic reactlon in thevreaction tower 10. As

this reaction is a function of the time factor or in other'words' a function of the length of the active path of intimate contact and furthermore a function of the surface over which the acting constituents arespread out in finely divided form both in liquid and in vapor form, it is apparent at first sight that only the time factor or the length of travel is a mutable factor which can be profitably increased to obtain maximum synthetic conversion from heavier to lighter hydro carbonsthe factor of surface being constant and immutable.

It is therefore apparent that the return of condensation from tower 11 to still I will increase the time factor for a maximum conversion and transformation.

Furthermore the return of hydrocarbon constituents through the first distillation unit, which belong mostly to the kerosene group (naphtha and kerosene), will so enrich the original constituents of the base material to be transformed to lighter constituents, that the s nthetic action on an enriched mixture wil be more effective and performed in less time than in a mixture containing these constituents in a diluted form.

Practical experience confirms this conception and the amount of condensate to be returned by pump P can easily be, determined through the amount of residual gas appearing in the gas holder GH through the indication of a low-pressure gauge PG on the gas holder.

If gas appears in an increased quantity in said gas holder, the pressure will rise, compressor C will have to be speeded up to establish the proper plus, minus or zero pressure condition in that container.

The indication of gas means a decreased synthetic absorption in the reaction tower 10 for the simple reason that-the base oil might not contain the necessary amount of constituents to absorb this gas.

By speeding up return pump P and, as we will see later on, also pumps P and P (when the stills 2 and 3 are used) the mixture will be enriched with enough heavy constituents to absorb the gas and to es tablish maximum transformation.

These pumps play an important part in the performance of this process or in other words the return of condensate for the enrichment of the original base oil is vital and can be done by gravity or pumping, etc. Furthermore the enrichment of the crude material with these constituents facilitates the quantitative extraction of gasolines, naphtha and kerosene from the refining units for reasons outlined later on.

The residual oil from tower 1O deprived of its gasoline constituents flows now throu h line 36 to still II, fired at39, entering t e still in front at valve 37flowing inthe whole length inside of still towards the bottom of still and during its return flow from rear to front of still, will be deprived in its entirety of the next heavier constituents forming the commercial product termed naphtha.

The oil deprived of naphtha is taken out through a plunger pipe from the bottom of still II in front and leaves, through valve 38, to continue its way to the next distillation unit III, a still of the same kind.

Valve 40 in front of still II serves as a by-pass in case the still should need to be cut out from the circuit through repairs, etc.

The complex vapors of naphtha plus kerosene taken out of said still II leave dome 41 and enter through pipe 42 the base of tower 43 of a similar design to tower 11, in which this complex mixture of vvapors undergoes a similar fractional sparation and rectification. as in tower 11, the only difference being that the elements of refining making up the second unit of fractional distillation, can be of a simpler design, due to the decreased vapor tension of the hydrocarbons forming the naphtha; so the dephlegmator on top of tower 11 can be dispensed with.

The complex mixture of vapors rises through tower 43, leaves the tower through line 44 and enters the dephlegmator D at the top, passes through the cooling flues as explained in the'first unit, is subjected to a partial condensation affecting mostly the heavier naphtha hydrocarbons and kerosene which leave in liquid form at the bottom an adequate supply of backrun for the proper fractional distillation-and separation of naphtha from the heavier kerosene 'constituents.

The part extracted through sight glass 46 after tower 43 is in proper operation, will constitute a' finished product, a heavy naphtha of, say 45 B. gravity, of commercial quality and will be cooled in condenser (tubular) K, to atmospheric temperature, flowing through water separator W5, and finally to flowmeter test cup FC in which it is open to control and inspection of color, gravity and quantity etc. and from which it flows by gravity to the storage tank.

The rest of the naphtha hydrocarbons forming a higher gravity product leaves dephlegmator D through pipe 48 and will be condensed and cooled in condenser K finding its exit through line 49 going to water' separator S and flowmeter-test cup FC,,, from where it is piped to the storage tank.

This product termed a light naphtha will have a gravity of 50 B., depending on the crude base material run, from which it is derived, etc.

All the residual vapors escaping condensation and cooling are collected as in distillation unit I, and piped to line 22 and the gas holder GH from where they can either be recovered separately or returned to system as outlined in distillation unit I. The regulation of unit II is in principle the same and as easy as unit I.

The kerosene constituents which together with the naphtha vapors had entered tower 43 for proper fractional separation find exit in liquid form at the tower base in hot form and through pipe 50 and return pump P and line 52 will either bereturned in its entirety to the primary pipe still for repeated synthetic action as outlined before or will flow back through 51 to still 11 as the occasion may demand.

The residual oil from still II flows through line to still III the last unit of fractional distillation for kerosene.

It enters in front of still III through valve 54, flows again in its full length inside tothe rear of the still towards the bottom and on its way back to the front of still, flowameaoea The inherent liquid heat of the hot fuel oil will .now be imparted in heat exchanger 3 to the fresh crude oil supplied by pump oil" in still III as described before leave the still through line 59 to enter the fractional tower dephlegmator D and to, circulate outside of' tubular cooling flues in a tortuous way through this apparatus and be subjected here to partial condensation for the purpose of fractional distillation and separation of kerosene from gas-oil or paraf fin oil constituents, etc.

The dephlegmator shown in diagram is an air dephle' ator, the cooling means being air is supp ied through the draft of stack 60 through the tubular flues (S1.

'On account of the low vapor tension of kerosene this simple element of rectification is perfectly satisfactory. The amount of dephle ati'on can easily be regulated throng damper 62 allowing more or less. cooling air through the lines.

In the passage of the kerosene vapors through D, either a series of bafile plates 63 compel the vapors to pass in a tortuous path for a more efiicient heat transmission to the cooling medium air, or the space between shell and the line may be filled with a tower filling material like that used in our previous mentioned refining tower, adding in this way a more intimate contact between vapors and backrun and through this a better fractional separation.

The kerosene vapors freed from gas-oil constituents leave now D, through pipe ea to enter the tubular condenser K where either the kerosene vapors can be condensed and cooled as one product or be subdivided in two fractions as we saw being done with the gasoline and naphthas, producing, for example, a-kerosene of 38-40" gravity or 10-42 etc.

In the diagram shown only one product is roduced. The kerosene condensed and coo ed in K fiows through line 65 to water be back trapped to 64 through line 67 if the access to flow cup FC is constricted or reduced through valve V and from D, the backrun containing gas-oil constituents mostly will leave through line 68 and will either flow back to the still III through line' 69 or will be pumped back through pum P, and line 70 to the primary still I, for tie very same reason as outlined before re'peated synthetic reaction with casinghead gas or' asoline for the purpose to changethe mo ecular structure of the gasoil constituents to that of kerosene, naphtha and gasoline. A practical experience with thisprocess shows nearly of the gasoil constituents, are changed to those of kerosene of water white color and other characteristics.

We now-describe the apparatus shown in Fig. 2'. The .same process is carried out therein with the exception that further improvements will be shown in regard to heat economy and chemical refining to produce products, free from any contaminations of sulphur compounds, nitrogen compounds and unstable hydrocarbons which under the influence of light and air (oxygen) 'have a tendency to resinify and discolor the products and make them unfit for extended storage and exportation to foreign countries.

We will also show the same principles applied to a simplified mode of fractional distillation carried out with the application of one heat only instead of progressive heating from distillation unit to unit, superheated steam being used onl 'irrthe tower bases to counteract the unavoidable losses of heat through radiation. All. apparatus and appurtenances used in this mode of refining are installed in a closed tower building and insulated with aheat non-conducting material such as asbestos, magnesia, etc.

In diagram Fig. 2 we have on the top floor of the tower building the crude oil tank T receiving through line 71 and a pump (not shown) continuously from the source of supply the crude material such as fuel oil, or crude oil, or gas-oil or all three mixed together with a certain amount of casinghead gasoline, or for straight refining crude Oll alone, which leaves the tank through line 72;'passes feed"-regulating valve 73 and oil meter OM where the exact amount of oil run through the system is metered, the oil meter being by-pa ssed through valves 74, 75, 76; enters heat exchanger at the bottom at 77 and flowing outside the tubular fines 7 8 in counter current to the hot residuum oil, leaving the system throu h line RL, leaves the heat exchanger H preheated through line 79, enters now the preheating coil 80 of the only and primary still of the system, passes then through main coil 81 in counter-current to the fire gases from farnace 82, the still PSt, having the same featit tures of construction as outlined in the description of diagram Fig. 1.

The oil in this still is heated to such a temperature 'that all constituents from gasoline togas-oil inclusive will go off in vapor form when reduced to atmospheric pressure and liquid crude oil is separated from its vapors.

' The crude oil mixture leaves the still PSt through line 83 highly heated to the kerosene tower KT and passes here, at the bottom of tower KT, a tubular heater KH, flowing outside the fines, while through the fiues is passing liquid kerosene extracted from tower KT as will appear later. Part of the excess heat of the crude oil and vapors is transmitted to the kersosene for the proper action of tower KT, the heat being regulated through thermometer T at the top of that heater. By means of the valves 84, 85 and.86 the exact amount of heat can be supplied to the evaporator KH by by-passing through valve 85 a proper amount of hot oil and vapor.

The oil leaves through line 87 or bypass 85 and enters the top of a cyclone separator CS tangential to the outside shell and is thus subjected to a centrifugal motion, as before described.

The liquid parts will be thrown towards the outside shell, thereby bursting the numerous oil bubbles and releasing the vapors which leave the annular space between the outside shell of the separator and the inside extension of tower shell and riselupward through the reaction tower RT, in which now occur the synthetic and disintegrating reactions between casing head gas or gasoline and the oil constituents, such as naphtha, kerosene and gas-oil, which in the order named will be built down to the next lower boiling series of hydrocarbons. Naphtha will betransformed to gasoline, kerosene to naphtha and heavy gasoline, gas-oil to kerosene, naphtha and gasoline.

The dark colored gas-oil constituents will disappear in their entirety and yield lower boiling products from kerosene to gasoline, and be absolutely water white.

From the top of tower RT, an adequate amount of back-run will be distributed over the tower-filling through distributor d and valve of regulation R this back-run coming from the bottom of gasoline tower GT and consisting mostly of naphtha and kerosene. Through the intimate contact between vapors, gas and back-run over the large surface of the tower filling, the reaction attains its optimum. The temperature at the tower base is controlled by thermometer T and has to be kept so high that all constituents above mentioned will enter the tower of reaction in vapor form in order to obtain the maximum of transformation from high boiling to low boiling hydrocarbons.

meaoes all volatile contaminations distilled 03 from the crude base materials. The quantity of these bodies, which consist of bad smelling sulphur compounds, nitrogen compounds as pyridine bases, etc., and unsaturated and unstable hydrocarbons which easily change color under the'infiuence of light and atmospheric oxygen, depends altogether upon the location and surrounding geological strata from which the crude oil is obtained.

As we saw before, the vapors from tower RT leave through pipe 89 and enter at bottom of sulphuric acid tower or digester SD and as now thru a series of seals of sulphurlc acid through which the vapors percolate in finely divided form for the precipitation of all impurities and contammations mentioned above.

This scrubbing of the vapors in sulphuric acid seals is arranged in counter current principle; the fresh vapors with the maximum amount of impurities meet on the first seal an almost spent acid which however is still able to act on the concentrated impurities. As the vapors percolate through the higher seals, they meet from seal to seal a stronger acid, precipitating more and more the impurities of the vapors and this process of precipitation will be finished on the top seal, where the vapors pass through fresh concentrated sulphuric acid, supplied through siphon feed line 90 from the sulphuric acid container T The sulphuric acid flowing to the top seal of diges'ter SD is metered and made visible to the eye through a flow meter sight-glass feeder SF regulated by valve 91. i

The sealsof digester SD can be of any construction suitable to finely percolate the vapors through the various seals. In diagram Fig. 2 cup seals are indicated, the cups 92 being fixed over apertures 93 and are serrated on their circumferences for the intimate and fine distribution of vapors through the seals.

Only one cup is shown in diagram, in practice up to 12 and more per seal are used, depending from the size of the digester and running capacity of plant.

'The used acid together with the resinous bodies of precipitation forming the sludge acid flows from seal to seal and finally through digcster ND.

leaves the digester SD through pipe 95. To

digester SD. Here the vapors are subjected in the various seals of sodium hydroxide to a scrubbing process having for its purpose the neutralization of acid traces which might be carried over mechanically by the vapors and also to saponify possible products of sulplwnation from the acid digester. This scrubbing process is also carried out in counter currentprinciple for-the most effective use of the caustic soda. The caustic soda in a diluted solution is supplied from a tank through a metering sight glass feeder SF regulated by valve 97, to-the top seal of digestcr ND through siphon line 98, flowing by gravity over thevarious seals and leaving the bottom of ND as sludge lye through the siphon line 99, to be mixed with the sludge acid of line 95 coming from acid digester SD or to betreated as outlined later, separately from the sludge 'acidr At the reunion of sludge acid with sludge:

lye in pipe 05, a chemical reaction will take place forming from acid and soda, sulphate of sodium,provided enough soda is suppliedto neutralize the acid completely. This solution of sulphate ofsoda with the resinous parts of the impurities eliminated in both digesters will now enter the bottom of tubular evaporator E.

The waste liquid rises in the tubular'fiues upwards, outside the fines heated by superheated steam" and through the resulting evaporation any condensed oil will be driven out again in vapor form through line 100 to join again with the current of vapors On top of the evaporator aseries of bafiie plates are shown for the separation by impact of liquid particles carried mechanically with the oil vapors;

The solution of sodiun'l-sulphate now freed by any oil condensate leaves the evaporator E through line 101 which is vented through line 102 to the atmos here, and

now appears on the sludge sight ox SL for inspection and test. Line 103 is a by-pass line of the evaporator, to be used for drainage otl if the sludge contains no oils.- It will be mostlyduring the starting operations of the plant when evaporator E wi ll be used before the apparatus attain their balance of heat. y

All the complex oil vapors now having received in SD and ND a thorough chemical treatment for the elimination of all impurities are'now properly prepared for the fractional separation in their respective units of distillation or rectification; in other words tobe separated to different grades of gasolines, naphthas and kerosene.

This vapor leaves ND, through a separator- S where mechanically entrained parts of liquid are separated from the vapor current through violent impacts, leave said separator through line 106 and enter the first unit of fractional separation. The tower GT with its dephlegmators D and D and condenser C and cooler C perform the fractional separation in the same way as previously outlined in connection with Fig. 1.

D will separate the heavy gasoline, the cooling will e done in C the water separated in WS, and the heavy or low grade gasoline flow into flow meter test cup GL The residual gas or gasoline vapors are conducted through lines g g g and G to gas holder GH. 4 v

The light gasoline will be condensed and cooled in condenser'C and flow through line 109 over water separator WS and flow meter test cup GL as outlined previously. t t t,,, are the regulating back trap lines for the automatic regulation of tower GT.

- Now having separated from the complex mixture of hydrocarbons in tower GT heavy and light gasolines, the rest of hydrocarbons forming naphtha and kerosene will leave tower GT at its base in liquid form but at boiling temperature through line 110, forming asiphon, pass regulating valveB and enter the tower of fractional distillation KT about in the middle of its height. Here the. fractional separation of naphtha and kerosene takes lace, the lighter naphtha constituents belng taken out at the top of tower whereas the kerosene will be. extracted at the bottom. Naphtha. and kerosene will flow down the tower from the point 0% entrance and being. spread out in finely divided form over'the tower-filling or plates will finally reach the heating 'flues of evaporator KH and by flowing down inside of the fiucs in fine films, the heat from the crude oil coming highly heated from the still PSt through line 83 and flowing outside of the flu'es, will evaporate the liquid naphtha constituents to rise in vapor form towards the top' of the tower in continuous and intimate contact with the downpouring backrun from dephlegmator D, and the backruns from tower GT through line 110. By thermometer T the heat is so regulated that no naphtha will be allowed to pass. at the bottom of tower KT. Valve R regulates the amount of backrun from GT to tower KT to establish balanced conditions in the system. The amount of backrun from GT not finding exit through R will be diverted in two ways: First, part of this backrun regulated by valve R, will be returned through line 111 and distributor d over tower RT for the effective operation of this tower so that only readjusted and desirable fractions of vapors forming gasoline, naphtha and kerosene can pass said tower for further treatment in SD and ND and fractional separation in GT and KT and also to effectively help to QStZl'l)? lish the proper conditions for the synthetic and disintegrating reaction as outlined before.

The further excess of backrun from tower GT not finding exit through valves R and R, returns through line 112 valve R and accumulating or equalizing tank E pump P oil meter OM to main return pump line RPL to the heating coil of the primary still PS1? for the same reason as previously mentioned in diagram Fig. 1.

For the starting operation valve R will be closed, and R, and R, be open, and tower GT with its accessories of apparatus will'be regulated to yield the proper gasoline in quantity and quality.

The backrun of GT will be returned through R, and R to the system until bala-nced conditions are established in this part of the system.

This condition will be established by means of test cooler TC and test flow meter TL connected to backrun line 112. This test cooler will take out continuously a small amount of distillate and make it accessible to inspection for gravity, color and doctor test etc. As soon as the test cooler and tester TL show that a proper product is obtained as residue from tower GT, the second unit of fractional distillation KT will be brought into play by means of valve R. ,gi\ iiig' access to backrun to tower KT.

As we have seen already the naphtha constituents will be extracted on top of tower KT and be classified by means of dephlegi'nator D and condenser G, into heavy and light naphtha of any desired gravity, initial and endpoint.

The heavy naphtha being cooled in cooler C separated from its water in water separator WS, and open for inspection and control at sight flow box NL.

The light naphtha is condensed and cooled at C and separated from its water at water separator VVS and accessible for inspection at the flow meter test cup or sight flow box NL, before going through line a" to storage tank, etc.

The kerosene freed from the naphtha is extracted from the tower base after passing the tubular evaporator KH through line 114, connected to a worm cooler C where it is cooled to atmospheric temperature passing through valve 113 to water separator TVS, and finally flowing to flow meter test cup or sight flow box KL for inspection.

In case of undesired quality,'valve 115 can be either closed entirely or flow reduced to -minimum, the excess of kerosene now leaving through siphon 111 to equalizing tank E whence it will be returned to the system by means of pump P oil meter OM and main return line RPL. The gauge glass 115 on top of siphon 114 and connected to base of tower KT will indicate the liquid level for the control of pump P Pump P will take during normal run of system an adequate amount of kerosene and return it to the primary still for the reason as outlined in diagram Fig. 1.

The proper regulation of all relining units of fractional,distillation in regard to temperatures will be done automatically by steam regulators to equalize losses of heat through 'adiation. Needless to say. all refining units are covered with heat. insulating materials except the accessories intended for partial or total condensation.

Steam can be supplied at base of tower GT at 116 and at base of tower KT at 118 to counteract the above mentioned losses of heat for the effective performance of the refining action and separation.

As can be seen from diagran'i Fig. 2.1111 apparatus and appurtenances are vented properly, for the collection of lighter constituents and residual gas not absorbed in the system indicated thru the lines y 9,, and G all leading to the gas holder GH. Eventual condensation of gasoline in the gas holder GH are trapped back through line 119 from bottom of GH to the top of reaction -tower RT to repeat the cycle. From the gas'holder the gas. as return gas from the system together with fresh gas, natural or casinghead gas supplied from the source of supply through feed line 120 is now taken in through line GS by compressor C, thence discharged through line GD, through an equalizing tank (not shown) into super-heater SH where it is heated by waste heat from the primary still to the pro-per temperature of absorption. From here through line GD, this gas is in jected by means of a perforated coil 121 into the flow of oil and vapols coming through line 87 from the primary still PS2 or it can be discharged through line GD,-

into the heating coil of pipe still 80 and 81-or both. As a matter of fact. the residual easily absorbed vapors from the system will go the first way, whereas the more stable gas (natural gas, being -most-1y methane) will take the second way, requiring therefore two sets of gas holders and conipressors and heating coils, etc. For S1111- plicity only one set is shown in the drawings. The quantity of gas supplied to the system will be metered. for the purpose of efliciently controlling the system and establishing the proper conditions of absorption and reaction in the above described process.

.The process which we have outlined in phase, can of course be used for the refining of straight crude oil as well, with better results and higher yields than are obtained with thepresent day refinery practice. The reason for this is obvious. The continuous returns of anadequate part of the backruns from the refining towers to the primary still perform the following functions as proved by practical experience with this process and governed by respective physical laws regarding complex mixtures of vapors which are intersoluble.

(1) First, the lighter gasolines of the crude oil are brought into constant intimate contact in liquid and vapor form with the backrun returns of all refining towers or units and to a limited degree, the same action of association of lighter hydrocarbons to the heavier hydrocarbons of more complex molecular structure is taking place, extending the molecular structures on the open chains until they reach a stage of chemical instability with the inherent tendency to disintegrate into hydrocarbons of a simpler molecular structure.

In this way gas-oil is built down to kerosene and naphtha or heavy benzine, and kerosene to gasoline, thus increasing the amount of lighter fractions over the natural contents of same in the crude oil.

Long'extended tests show that the lighter gasolines of crude oil, e. g., pent-anes, and hexanes and their isomers almost entirely disappear in this process; which is indicated by the fact that the initial boiling point of gasoline is increased higher and higher above the original boiling point of gasolines contained in crude oil. If for instance the initial boiling point of gasoline natural to crude oil is 100 F. the

initial boiling point after being refined and extracted in said process, will step up to 150 and even' 200 F. depending upon the amount of backrun' from the towers and the content of open chain hydrocarbons of complex molecular structure present in, the

original crude oil.

The same pertains to the constituents of naphtha and kerosene participating in the reaction of synthesis and disintegration. Kerosene for instance natural to crude oil with a flash testof 110-120 F. after being extracted and refined through the above process will show a flash test stepping higher and higher when affected by the above outlined reaction and reaching up to 190200 F. flash test under certain conditions.

In this process a way is found to make high flash test safety oils from a straight run without relying on steam stills or blowofi' stills for repeated distillation and rec'- tification. ,5 i i This action is of course far more pronounced in its consequences by the use of casinghead gas or gasoline or natural gas with at least 75-80% methane.

The explanation is, that the open chain hydrocarbons constituting kerosene are built down to lighter fractions as naphtha or gasoline whereas only cyclic hydrocarbons of kerosene of highenboiling points and lower gravity are left. The same applies to naphtha or heavy benzine.

(2) Second, the continuous return of the backruns from the refining towers back to the primary still will cause an enrichment. of the original. crude oil with the constituents of heavy benzine or naphtha and kerosene which will cause a considerable change in vapor tension and the average boiling points ofhydrocarbon mixtures to be refined and separated. Due to the intrasolubility of the various hydrocarbons a strict or clean cut of this group of hydrocarbons making up the respective commercial products as gasoline, naphtha and kerosene, ac-

cording to their boiling points is a thing of impossibility under the usual practice of fractional distillation.

With the practice however of increasing or enriching the original crude material with constituents which are intended to be separated by quantity in the respective unit of fractional distillation, the vapor tension of this enriched constituents will so increase and emerge from the action of intersolubility that a cut by quantity or a separation by quantity is'almost as easy a thing as if no action of intrasolubihty were present and a separation by the respective boiling pointsis a reality. v

In this way it is for instance easy to produce heavy benzinc at a gravity of it-45 B. with an end point of 44O- l5O F., boiling between 330-and 440 F. Such a performance is impossible with any of our prestures for the efficient performance of a straight crude oil refinery.

I have found that casinghead gas or casinghead gasoline or wet natural gas introduced into the distillation 'ducts of a straight run crude refinery has the effect of breaking up, by substitution, the sulfur and nitrogen compound, etc, with the result that these contaminations are eliminated from the refined product, so that no chemical treatment whatever is required to manufacture refined products of technical and commercial purity.

In other words, the application of easing head gasoline in the distillation ducts ap-' pears to produce the same effect as do sulfuric acid and caustic soda,onl v without any refining loss, so that even the treatment in vapor phase with H SO and NaOI-I, as outlined in the description of Fig. 2, may be saved and obviated, except in the worst cases, when the application of this vapor phase treatment can'be reduced to a minimum.

Where the crude starting material to be subjected to distillation contains natural gasoline or other low-boiling hydrocarbons, these products are preferably first removed as in a toppingtower. If permitted to remain inthe crude product, the gasoline acts as a diluent to the action of casinghead gas on the heavier hydrocarbons, and by first removing it, nearly 100% more casinghead gas will be absorbed by the oil, and there results a corresponding increase of gasoline, naphtha, etc.

It will be understood that the process which has been described is not a cracking process, in the ordinary acceptation of that term, but, rather, a straight distillation and refining process in which through the action of casinghead gasoline and casinghead gas introduced into the distillation ducts and towers, physical and chemico physical changes in the primary heavy hydro-carbons are produced.

These changes are evidenced by the char acter of the refined products, which, as a rule, have a pure aromatic odor and are free from the bad smells due to unsaturated hydrocarbons and sulfur and nitrogen compounds attached to these unsaturated compounds. Nor do these products require chemical treatment with sulfuric acid, caustic soda, sodium plmnbite, etc., with subsequent redistillation in steam stills to make them fit for commercial use.

Further, there has been found in the practice of my process, a practically complete absence of carbon in the distillation ducts and stills, in contradistinction to the results produced in the common refinery practice, where the stills have to be cleaned at intervals to remove carbon deposits, due to overheating the oil, lack of circulation and other causes. Prolonged continuous day and night operation in accordance with our method has shown that the ducts and stills are as clean as at the start.

These results indicate that the gasoline or gas hydrocarbons from the butane series up to the octane and nonane series with their iso-intermediates act in the vapor phase in the presence of a contact surface of a certain size in such a way on the primary or crude hydrocarbons to be distilled that they first saturate all unsaturated hydrocarbons of unstable molecular constitution into stable compounds; second, they agglutinate themselves to the open chains of hydrocarbons with an open chain structure, by this synthetic action prolonging the chain structure to such an extent as to make the complex molecular structure unstable and unbalanced and producing a tendency toward disintegration into hydrocarbons of smaller molecular structure, such as form the main constituents of gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, etc.; third, they break up, through a process of substitution, the sulfur and nitrogen compounds in the primary oil. thus compelling the sulfur and nitrogen and their compounds either to escape in gaseous form or to go into solution with the water in the process of final condensation, thus freeing the distillates (gasoline, naphtha, or kerosene) from these contaminations, which, in ordinary refinery practice, necessitate treatment with sulfuric acid, soda, sodium plumbite, etc. and Water, and redistillation.

The cracking process in contradistinction to our process, tends to break down heavy hydrocarbons of a complex molecular structure, through the influence of heat and pressure, into hydrocarbons of smaller molecular structure.

As the casinghead gas hydrocarbons comprise the most stable hydrocarbons, which do not disintegrate under high heat and pressure, it appears to be evident that their presence in the primary oil to be distilled, is responsible for preventing cracking during my process of distillation and rectification of the crude or other primary oil, ac cording to my method.

here it is desired to remove natural gasoline or other low and high boiling hydrocarbons of any number and quality from crude oil. a plant. such as is shown for five products in Fig. 3, may be used.

The following brief description will serve to sufficiently describe this modification, the details of the apparatus used being already fully described."

The crude oil is pumped through the pump I into the heat exchanger HE, where it is heated to about 400 F. by the hot residue leaving the system through the line R. The heated oil passes through the lines into the gasoline topping tower GTT wheare thestraight run gasoline is extracted after passage over the dephlegmator GD into the I only so high that all the desired products can be distilled off in one operation. In one specific case the oil was heated in the pipe still to from 800 to 850 F., without any production of permanent gases or depositions of carbon, the usual indications of cracking or decomposition of the oils. From the pipe still it passes through the line G, into a still separator CS provided with a baflie-plate B to separate the vapors from the remaining liquidcrude oil.

Casinghead gasoline, in liquid or gaseous form, is introduced into the distillation ducts of the ipe still through apump or compressor C from which it is delivered through the oil meter OM by which exact control can be obtained, into the pipe still where it meets the crude oil entering through the pipe C The combined vapors, now separated from the residual oilin the still separator CS rise into the reaction tower RT which is preferably provided with a dephlegmator D which allows to pass only the highest boiling'fractions within the limits of the deepest cut desired, that is, wax distillate with a gravity of about 26 or 28- 136.; or, in other words, a cut deep enough to distill ofi the paraflin wax contained in the crude oil.

From the dephlegmator D the total complex of vapors, that is, wax distillate, gas oil, kerosene, naphtha, and the gasolines at about 450 F. pass upwards into the main rectifying tower MT and reach the dephlegmator 1),, where the wax distillatefraction of the vapor complex will be sent back over the tower by fractional condensation and can be extracted from the bottom of the tower by the siphon S through the-line a leading to the pump WP which is con'nected. by. the" pipe line a; to wax distillate cooler VVDG from which the. wax distillate fiowsthrough thefiow tester-WD and thence tothe storage tower M'Ithrough thep'ipe (lQnbw'eonsists, of gas oil,' kerosene, naphtha and gasoline andentering the tower with the dephleg-.' mator D the'g'as'oil. fraction willbe'elimr The complex vapor'inixture' leaving the nated at about'380f" F. by fractional-condensation and rectification, this fraction leaving the tower GT at the base and being extracted through the siphon line 6 with the extraction valve E at the service floor, and being cooled in the gas-cooler (nrO from which it flows through the flow tester GO as gas oil and thence to the run-down or storage tank. Any gas oil which does not find an exit through the extraction valve E or which is not of the desired quality will run back through the lines 5 or b into the main or reaction tower for readjustment as explained in connection with Figs. 1 and 2.

The gas oil now having been extracted, the vapor mixture will pass into the kerosene extraction tower KT with its dephlegmator D and in the same manner the kerosene of any desired quality will be extracted at about 350 F. by fractlonal condensation and rectification, the kerosene leaving the tower KT at the base through the line a, with the extraction valve IE at the service floor level. The kerosene passing through the cooler is flows through the tubular cooling fiues and leaves at the base through the kerosene flow test, meter KE and thenceto the storageorrun-down tan In the same way naphtha or heavy gasoline will be extracted at about 300 F. in the tower NT with its 'dephlegmat-or D and will similarly be delivered through a cooler into the-naphtha flow tester N from which naphtha will be delivered into the run down tank.

The residual gasoline vapor will leave the dephlegmator D through the line C and be condensed and cooled' in the gasoline condenser GC, and pass through the pipe F to the gasoline flow tester G and thence to the run-down tank. 7

All the rectifying units or towers are connected to the primary tower RT and MT by means of back-run lines 6, b b b b 7),, to provide means for the automatic regulation and proper readjustment of the vapors if there is any necessity therefor.

The water supply and overflow lines are indicated by the letter WV and the vent lines by the letter V.

By the operation above described allthe treatment;- This result isobtained at-a' fuel expense which is less than half'the amount used in the present type ofstillyrefinery. The 'residue leaving the "separator C-S j through the line B passes the heat exchanger.

and after beingcooled the-rein by thejncoming crude 'oil' is pumped --by the puinplRP to the filters F,, 1F by which'it 1s deprivedof all its. mechanical impurities such as sand, carbon or colloidal asphalt, and is thence delivered to form the. final commercial products, name1y,.cyhnder stock, wh ch is used in the manufacture of various grades of lubricating oils.

In the operation of this form of a device the oil together with the ,casinghead gasoline or gas or any highly volatile gasoline is introduced into the gasoline ducts and there heated with the crude oil or other hyrocarbon to be distilled and refined. The oilleaving the pipe coils with all the constituents which it is desired to extract, in vapor form, enters at a reduced pressure the cyclone or battleplate separator CS where a rapid evaporation takes place due to the reduced pressure and the residual oil is therefore separated from the vapors. The complex vapors of all the products rise in the readjustment or reaction tower RT and are there spread in fine films over the contact surface of the tower filling, and in their upwardmovement come into contact with the downwardly trickling back-runs derived by fractional condensation from the dephlegmators D D D etc., the amount of such back-runs being well defined and regulated by means of the extraction valves F E etc. The vapors rising in this reaction tower in close contact with these phlegms or back-runs from the different towers have the opportunity to readjust their molecular structure to a state of perfect saturation. The result is the removal of nitrogen and sulfur impurities attached to the unsaturated molecules as above explained. At the same time there is effected a synthetic reaction with subsequent disintegration of the open chain hydrocarbons in contact with the casinghead grasoline hydrocarbons or the pentanes and hexanes of the crude oil, and this reaction tends to increase the yield of gasoline, naphtha and kerosene first by readjust-ing the unsaturated to saturated hydrocarbons, and second by readjusting the open chain hydrocarbons through synthetic and subsequent disintegrating action from com )lex molecular structures to simpler ones. he same action takes place in each of the following refining towers for the respective special products extracted.

Having now outlined and explained the working of the process as a whole and the performances of the apparatus in their reective duties in detail I now lay stress on :iie feasibilities of carrying said process out under pressure as far as the primary still and the tower of reaction is concerned for the eventual increase in the factor of transformation from heavier to lighter hydrocarbons, and to proceed with the fractional rectification or separation under atmospheric pressure as above described or under vacuum.

Various changes in my specific process described and in the specific form of apparatus shown and described may therefore be as casing-head gasoline.

made, within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Thus while the form of pipe still shownhas proven to be entirely satisfactory, any other suitable form of vaporizing device may be used.

The first reaction tower may be omitted and the process carried out, though less efficiently, the subsequent towers of rectification and distillation performing in addition to their duties of fractional separation ofthe different products also the duty as described of the reaction tower, the respective towers performing these duties for each individual product extracted from that tower. In other words the towers of distillation and rectification for the individual products can be so constructed by providing them with a filling material that they perform also the duties as described for the reaction tower.

It is desired to emphasize that by this method, there can be obtained in one single operation all the products in a pure and commercial grade contained in the crude oil or any mixture of hydrocarbons no mat-- ter how many.

Further this'process can be made operative in the absence of casinghead-gas o'r gasoline or natural gas by using the natural light gasoline hydrocarbons inherent in the crude to perform the duties as outlined in the reaction tower, etc.; in this case no topping operation of these constituents from the original crude to take place, but the heating of the whole crude-oil to the desired temperature of extraction of all the products at once and in one operation; and in the absence of the light gasoline hydrocarbons in the original crude oil, as for instance in the case of Mexican crude, common gasoline may be used for this purpose, or aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzol and toluol.

Similarly my process is applicable to the distillation of a mixture of cracked spirits and crude oil containing the lighter constituents, either with or without such material Accordingly the term crude oil as used in the claims includes not only crude oil, as such, but other mixtures which may be considered as artificial crude oils, of heavier and lighter hydrocarbons.

I claim 1. A continuous process of distillation which comprises heating while in continuous flow crude oil containing light hydrocarbons to a. distillation temperature, separating the unvaporized oil from the vapors, subjecting the hot vapors to prolonged, intensive, and intimate contact with each other and the reflux liquid while passing upward through a tower provided with filling material having an extensive contact surface, and then recovering the several fractions from the complex mixture of hydrocarbon vapors by fractional condensation.

2. A continuous process of distillation which comprises heating while in continuous flow crude oil containing light hydrocarbons to a distillation temperature at least suflicient to vaporize the heaviest desired fraction, but not materially above that temperature, separating theunvaporizedoil from the vapors, subjecting the hot vapors, together with added heated aeriform hydrocarbons of simpler molecular structure than those normally present in the crude oil, to prolonged, intensive,-and intimate contact with each other and the reflux liquid while passing upward through a tower provided with filling material having an extensive contact surface, and then recovering the several fractions-from the complex mixture of hydrocarbon vapors by fractional condensation.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 in which backrun from the fractional condensation system is returned to the tower.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 in which backrun from the fractional conden sation system is returned to the upper portion of the tower.

5. The process as claimed in claim 2 in which backrun from the fractional system is returned tothe tower.

6. The process as claimedin claim 2 in which backrun from the fractional condensation system is returned to the upper portion of the tower.

7. The process as claimed -in claim 1 in which a portion of the heavier products of the fractional condensation are returned to and heated with the heavy hydrocarbonv for leading vapors thereinto from the reacmixture.

8. A process as claimed in claim 7 in which another portion of the heavier products of the fractional condensation is introduced into the heated vapors.

. 9. The process as. claimed ir. claim 2 in which the hydrocarbons of simpler molecular structure than those normally present in the crude oil are introduced into the hea-lil y hydrocarbon liquid and heated there-' wit 10. The process as claimed in claim 2 in which crude oil rich in gasoline is topped to remove the light portion and the residue mixed with casing-head gasoline and heated to the distillation temperature.

11. The process as claimed in claim 10 in which backrun from the fractional condensation system is returned to the tower.

12. The process as claimed in claim 11 in which backrun from the fractional 601151611.- sation system is returned to the upper portion of the tower.

13. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which the mixed vapors from the reaction tower are subjected 'to a purification treatment to remove sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds and undesirable hydrocarbons, and then fractionally condensed.

14. The process as claimed in claim 1 in which the liquid portion of the heated oil is separated from the vapor portion by centrifugal action.

15. An apparatus for continuous distillation and rectification comprising a pipe still and means for heating the same, means for supplying liquid thereto, a reaction tower containing filling material connected to said still, a fractional condensation system, connected to the upper portion of said tower, and comprising a refining tower and means for returning liquid from said refining tower to the liquid supply. 1

16. An apparatus for continuous distillation and rectification comprising a pipe still and means for heating the same, means for supplying liquid thereto, a reaction tower containing filling material connected to said still, means for heating and introduc- .ing gases into the lower portion of said tower, a fractional condensation system, connected to the upper portion of said tower, and comprislng a refimng tower, and means for returning liquid from said refining tower to the liquid supply.

17. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 16 comprising also a conduit leading from the refining tower to the reaction tower.

18. An apparatus as claiined in claim 17 comprising means for introducing gas into the gas supply conduit and the liquid supply conduit.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 16 in which are included interconnected towers for chemically refining the vapors, a conduit tion tower, a conduit for leading vapors therefrom into the refining tower, and means for supplying reagents to said chemical refinin towers and for removing products of reaction therefrom. 1 e

20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 16 comprising a second refining tower, a conduit connecting the base of the first refining tower and said second tower, a heater in the base of said second tower, said heater being interposed in the connection between the still and the reaction tower, and a fractional condensation system connected to said second tower.

21. A distillation plant comprising a still arranged to heat oil in continuous flow,

l c a reaction tower, a conduit connectlng the still to the base of said tower, a fractional condensation s stem connected to the top of said tower, ad itional means for heating and tion system comprises a series interconnected rectification towers.

23. A distillation plant as claimed in claim 22 which comprises means including a rectification tower, for topping the crude,

in advance of the still, a conduit leading from said topping means to the still, and means for introducing additional hydrocarbon into said still.

24. The distillation process which consists in heating a stream of oil to adistillation temperature at least sufficient to vaporize the heaviest desired fraction, but not materially ahove that temperature. subjecting the hot vapors together with added lighter hydrocarbons of the type occurrlng in casing head contact surface. recovering several fractions from the complex mixture of hydrocarbon vapors by 'lractumal condensation, conducting reflux from said condensation system to said tower, and controlling the supply of added hydrocarbons and reflux in such manner as to produce conm'iercial finished prodnets.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature FRANCES SALES VVOIDICH.

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