The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-02-18
BY-PRODUCTSEXPLOITED
THE RESULT OF DISCOVERIES IN THE
OIL INDUSTRY. g.

are larger than those connected with
the preparation OF petroleum for the
market Like thousands OF other en-
terprises, the oil industry owes no
small part of its present development
TO the little savings which progressive
ingenuity has devised. The story of
the discovery ana application of nu-
merouS by-productS OF Kerosene is typ
zeal of the advance and enrichment
which modern methods and chemistry
have contributed in many and varied
fields.
When the discovery of petroleum in
quantity first permitted the use of the
mineral on large scale. it was man
ufactured only for the illuminating oil
which it contained. OF the Pennsyl-
vania crude oil. this constituted fifty
to fifty-four per cent. or even more:
by one process as much aS seventy
per cent in illuminating oil was OBJ
tanned. The remainder was all. or
practically all. waste. Gas was pro
duced i'm the earlier stages of the dis
tillation. hut whatever infammable
vaporS the crude gave off before it
reached the temperature at which il
Eliminating oil would boil We're burned.
though sometimes us fuel Tar. pitch,
or residuum remained in the stills
after the Illuminating oil had been got
out. This was thrown away: more
often than not. run into the creeks
near the refnerieS. The manipulation
of petroleum was thus the manufac-
ture Of Kerosene: it was like the separ-
alton of lead only from an ore which
also contained paying quantities of
copper. silver and gold
For in the crude petroleum were a
variety of other substances awaiting
only isolation from the compounds
with which they were mixed. OF fluids
more volatile than Kerosene there was
q whole group of naphthas; of sub
jects less easily brought to boil. there
was such products rs paralline, par
afiine oil. vaselinc. Il wide variety OF
other lubricating oils. and number OF
sorts OF pitch. Some of these were to
he had simply by condensing and saw
ing the vapors given off by distilation.
ut different degrees of heat; some
We're available only after special pro
cesSes supplementary to distillation.
had been carried out In almost all
cases the product once separated from
other components of the petroleum
or its distillates, needed TO be careful
ly refined.
Little time passed before kerosene
ceased to be the only material for
which crude oil was treated by water,
acid. alkal and fire. The chemistry
of the substance was fairly well known
before the discovery of the great Penn
sylvania fields in 1861 4 substance
very much like petroleum had been
distilled in the late forties from the bi-
/ luminous camel found in parts of
scotland Even the heavy fluid OBJ
tanned 10y heating this Shale to about
500 degrees Fahrenheit and condens-
ing the vapors resulting, the Scotch
manufacturers were making an illum-
mating oil already in 1913. For nearly
forty years the competition has pro-
ceeded though ever, to he sure. with
/ growing proof that the British coal
Oil despite economies OF manufacture
and iugenuities of invention. was no
commercial match for the rock oil OF
( the Americans. Partly in Scotland.
partly in America. there has been
worked out a system of the utilza-
| ton Of the by-products for which, in
brilliance and completeness. there are
few parallels i'm the whole history of
manufacturing technique.
The products other than Kerosene
finally derived from petroleum show
wide diyergenceS in both their physical
characteristics and the uses to which
they can he put Some of them are so
volatile that mt ordinary temperatures
they take the gaseous form; others
cannot be separated from the mother
liquid short of Il red heat. Certain of
the commodities are solid: the major
ity. however. are fluids though here
again there is a wide range OF differ
cncc i'm point of specific gravity In
broad way they may be grouped as
products obtained before and after
the disullation OF Kerosene
After the Kerosene of commerce has
been boiled off. with the help of jets
OF live steam. the tar which used to
be thrown away is made TO give up a
large proportion Of lubncating oil.
about seventeen and ona-half per cent.
OF the total weight of the crude ma
terial Into the condensers, along with
, this OIL there passes also about two
per cent of parafiiu which can be sep
| aratcd by pressing after the disullate
has cooled and is then ready for the
hlterinc and other publications which
fetch it ont finally as u white wax.
OF the whole weight OF the petroleum
scarcely ten per cent is lost i'm manu-
fIclmo when the process is arranged
I FOO extract this considerable proportion
! of lubricants When the still is So
| built and the firing conducted that .he
| highest practicable quantity )abOut'
seventy per cent? of Illuminating oil
is taken out this by continually CON
/ dcnsiug part of time cyaporaJed oil
| thc waste is less than eleven and one.
| hulf per cent The products of each
stage of the process ara put to Sob.
uso Valuable chemicals even are rc.
covered from tho slUdg or tar prccIp
utcd WHOM Che Kerosene is mixed with
9l of dtriol ana portions of &c servo
we'll as fertilizer The refining of the
/ luhrcaung oils by further distnauou
| produces small quantities of ou ulum
| .uUtiug oil. less iunHmmablo than ker.
/ o-cuo and this Is used by railways and
steamboats, as substitute for sperm
oil
/ or fU. rfrrir1fiuo r.Is. u. of fD. tar