Published October 1969
This study is concerned with the recovery of normal paraffins in the C10 to C20 range from petroleum feeds. The basic evaluations are for the' processing of kerosine and gas oil straight run fractions. Generalizations have been attempted to permit evaluation of other feedstocks.
Since the object is to recover n-paraffins for further use, this study does not consider the removal of n-paraffins for the improvement of products--octane improvement of gasoline, pour point reduction of lube oils, improvement of oil quality (dehazing and dewaxing), or similar operations --though the technology is similar to that presented here.
Feed pretreatment and product finishing may be required but these are subsidiary operations that depend on specific feedstocks and the end use of the product as well as on the n-paraffin recovery process used. Therefore,no detailed evaluation of these subsidiary operations has been provided.
To indicate the range of applicability of the various processes, an attempt has been made to extrapolate the results of these evaluations to higher and lower carbon number compounds. The relative attractiveness of molecular sieve and urea processes as a function of carbon number is indicated.
