How should the cracking rate in the hydrorefining of base oils be determined?
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The company now has a set of molecular distillation equipment, intended to process used lubricating oil in order to regenerate lubricant base oil. Subsequently, hydrogenation refining is required for the base oil product after molecular distillation. It is currently in the laboratory pilot study phase. The upper management has relatively modest requirements regarding the specifications of the products after hydrorefining; only the acid value is specified, as the refined products are blended internally into finished lubricating oils. However, great importance is attached to the yield of hydrorefining; it is necessary to ensure that the yield of our desired lubricant fractions is around 98% (this yield refers simply to the ratio of the desired lubricant components after hydrorefining to the feed amount before hydrorefining). Since I have no experience with such hydrorefining tasks, I hope that experts in this field can help me. My question is: what methods are available to analyze and determine the cracking rate of such hydrogenated and refined oil products? (Analyze whether there are any methods that require fewer sophisticated analytical instruments, as the company’s analysis laboratory does not have expensive instruments such as mass spectrometers.)
Using gas chromatography to analyze the light hydrocarbon components and their concentrations in the gas phase
The hydrogenation process only increases the quantity of oil; it does not reduce it. After hydrogenation, the viscosity of the oil decreases slightly, and further distillation is required. The light components that are separated out can also be sold as fuel, so there is no loss