92 Chapter 5

Table 5.6 Relative Use of Lube Extraction Processes

Approximate percentage for USA and Canadian lube plants
Solvent 1975 1980 1985 1990 1993
Furfural 40 42 38 33 33
N-Methy1-2-pyrrolidone (MP) O 23 42 53 52
Phenol 40 20 10 5 6
Duo-Sol and sulfur dioxide 20 15 10 9 9
Total thousand BPCD 355 381 368 359 334

The chemical structures of the three major lube extraction solvents in use
today are shown in Figure 5.10 and the physical and chemical properties for
these solvents are presented in Table 53. Although there are some properties
which favor the use of one solvent over the other, MP, which costs the most, is
the most cost-effective solvent due to its high solvent power and selectivity.
The higher boiling point of MP provides better heat integration than does
the boiling point of the other solvents. The higher specific gravity and lower
boiling point of furfural are advantages with the lower boiling point being
desirable when processing low boiling feedstocks such as transformer oil distil-
lates.
Although the heat of vaporization is higher per pound of solvent for MP, it
is lower per unit volume which is the normal basis used to measure solvent
dosage. The higher MP content of the raffinate phase requires slightly more
energy to recover a given volume of raffinate and considerably less energy to
recover the solvent in the extract recovery section. The extract recovery sec-
tion is usually th limitation in most extraction units.

Table 5.7 Properties of Major Lube Extraction Solvents

Furfural MP Phenol
_________________________________________________...___
Density, 25/4C 1.15 1.03 1.07
Boiling point, F 323 395 359
Melting point, F" 37 12 106
Heat of vaporization
BTUipound @ 760 mm Hg 194 212 206
BTU/gallon @ 760 mm Hg 1625 1537 1547
Viscosity, cl) at 140C 0.95 1.02 2.58
Specific heat, BTU/pound at 130F 0.42 0.42 0.56

Reprinted from Ref. [9] and [14] by courtesy of Texaco, Inc.