Improvement of the Extraction Technology for Production of Mineral Oils.

Ways to intensify the main extraction processes in multistep production of base oils from petroleum feedstock are considered. These include the use of N-methylpyrrolidone containing 10 wt % triethylene glycol as an extractant in the step of selective treatment of oil distillates; the use of isopropyl alcohol as the base solvent component in the step of low-temperature dewaxing; use of aromatic extracts applied as softeners and plasticizers in rubber industry in the step of extractive treatment to remove carcinogenic compounds; and the use of the microwave electromagnetic field energy for the activation of the extraction feed. Implementation of these approaches allows the yield of the base oil to be increased (by 9.5 wt % in the step of selective treatment and by 2.1 wt % in the step of low-temperature dewaxing) and the product quality to be improved (in the step of selective treatment, the aniline point and the conventional ratio of aromatic structures to paraffin structures decrease; in the step of low-temperature dewaxing, the viscosity–temperature characteristic and the refractive index decrease). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]