Lubricant reprocessing issue
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Can lubricating oil be mixed into catalytic feedstock oil for reprocessing?
Absolutely. Last edited by Zhongyuanren on 2009-3-26 20:02]
Is that true? Is there any theoretical basis for it?
I agree with the opinion from the second floor, but what is the theoretical basis for reprocessing lubricating oil? Reprocessing gasoline can increase productivity, so what is the purpose of reprocessing lubricating oil?
Substandard base oils can certainly be sent for cracking; here, when the lubricant market is sluggish, we send the wax-removed base oils through the cracking process. Currently, lubricants are hard to sell, while gasoline and diesel are more profitable, so this approach can be used. It seems more economical to send vacuum distillate oil directly for cracking without going through the lubricant processing system.
Theoretically, it is certainly possible; the ideal components for lubricating oils are short-chain molecules with long side chains, as well as isoparaffins, all of which have decent cracking properties. In fact, considering the opposite perspective, if even residue can be used in catalytic processes, then lubricating oils with much better cracking properties than residue can certainly also be used in such processes. Ultimately, what matters is assessing the economic aspects – when the price of lubricating oils is low or inventory buildup affects production, it is entirely feasible to use them in catalytic reprocessing.
A smaller proportion can be incorporated, as the lubricating oil has a high aromatic content, resulting in shallow cracking and high yields of slurry and coke, which affects the yield of light oil
Sure, in our company, the oil that isn’t needed is mixed into the feedstock used in catalytic processing for re-refining; some of the heavy oil is also blended into the residue oil used in coking
It depends on the properties of the lubricating oil; if it is naphthenic, it’s better to use less of it.
The raw materials used in the production of conventional lubricating oils are mostly naphthenic-based, and therefore not suitable as feedstocks for catalytic processes, such as Kongdian crude oil. We have processed 380; the atmospheric-pressure unit was not operated in reduced-pressure mode. The side-stream oil at normal pressure and the 180-degree residue were fed into the catalytic reactor (with the aim of reducing carbon residue), but the yield from the catalytic process was only around 70%, while the catalyst consumption was over 4 KG. (At that time, raw materials were in short supply, so the idea of exchanging agents for oil was proposed, but the effect was not significant.) Therefore, it is not recommended to feed lubricant into the catalyst. Refining could be considered.