Proposition concerning desulfurization of mineral oil was published by this journal in 1971, and preliminary observations were made using autoclaves.
Autoclave test: 1970 (Fig. 1)
Double autoclave test: 1973 (Fig. 2)
Very rough scope of solubility equilibrium was derived from data shown in Table 2, and approximate value of partition relation was assumed, Sulfur compound in oil/Sulfur compound in water=100/5 at 300°C for gas oil of 0.98% S, sp.gr. 0.83. Applying this numerical data, to achieve 80% of desulfurization, 16 volume of water is necessary for 1 volume of gas oil in counter flow extraction system and on the contrary 80 volume of water in parallel flow extraction.
Extraction test (Fig. 9) was carried out from 1971 through 1972 and 1973, and experimental data are shown in Table 4 and 5. In Table 5, data of 320°C extraction and 90% desulfurization are informed. An extraction pilot plant was operated from 1972 through 1973. To realize a smooth operation, a long period was needed for adjustment, and some available data (Table 6) were obtained. Unfortunately, a grave disaster broke out October 1973 in the same area where the pilot plant was located. No damage was found in the pilot plant but the experimental operation was forced to be suspended under unfavorable circumstances. At the present moment, the experimental data are too insufficient to conclude the pilot plant test and to design the commercial super-heated-water extraction plant. But, this report is made to inform present status of super-heated-water extraction experiment. Judging from data concerning the repeated treatments (Table 4) and the concentration of extract (Table 6), prospects of improvement by combination of recovering and concentrating processes to the extration column system are very bright. The experiments up to the present are concerning mostly low specific gravity oil, for example gas oil, for the sake of easy extraction operation, but in future the experiments covering oils of higher specific gravity, for example crude oil, should be executed by adjusting specific gravities of the aqueous solution or mixture of oils.
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