Extraction of Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Lube Oil Using Different Co-Solvent

Abstract

An investigation was conducted effect of addition co- solvent on solvent extraction process for two types of a lubricating oil fraction (spindle) and (SAE-30) obtained from vacuum distillation unit of lube oil plant of Daura Refinery. In this study two types of co-solvents ( formamide and N-methyl, 2, pyrrolidone) were blended with furfural to extract aromatic hydrocarbons which are the undesirable materials in raw lubricating oil, in order to improve the viscosity index, viscosity and yield of produced lubricating oil. The studied operating condition are extraction temperature range from 70 to 110 °C for formamide and 80 to 120 °C for N-methyl, 2, pyrrolidone, solvent to oil ratio range from 1:1 to 2:1 (wt./wt.) for furfural with formamide extraction and 1:1 to 3:1 (wt./wt.) for furfural with NMP extraction. The results of the  investigation show that the viscosity index of lubricating oil fraction increases while viscosity and percentage yield of raffinate decreases with increasing extraction temperature, the solvent to oil ratio and co-solvent to furfural ratio. For formamide the best temperature were 90 °C, furfural to co-solvent ratio (60:40) and solvent to lube oil ratio (1.5:1) to get best value of viscosity index 102, viscosity 3.01 cst and 69.23 % yield. While for NMP co-solvent 110 °C extraction temperature, (2:1) solvent to lube oil ratio and (60:40) furfural to co-solvent ratio, to produce lube oil with 96 viscosity index, 9.10 cst viscosity and 68.50 yield.