The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-12-19

| The Imperial was the second of the
/ large refining companies TO build q
plant in Ardmore 1t Is located partly
on land obtained from the Chamber
| of Commerce Industrial Company. and
| is the first refinery north of the big
| Pure Oil Company plant on the main
line of the Santa Fe railroad north
Of the city The home office OF the
company is at Fort Worth. and the
present officers are: W. II. Hassett
Of Fort Worth, president and treasur-
or; Mr.. Fredericks Of Lockhavcn Pa,
vice-president; A. l.. Fredericks of
Fort Worth, secretary, and John f.
/ Reardon Of .Ardmore, superintendent
and plant manager
! The company was first organized by
! Ardmore, Tulsa and Lockhaven cap.
( italists in 1915, and some of the stock
/ is still owned in Ardmore. II owns
| 80 acres of land lying along the main
I line of the Santa Fee road on which
/ are located six major buildings, "a
tanks and II stills The chief build.
ings are am office and laboratory, a
large boiler house. three pump houses
and a receiving house.
The plant has a capcity of 5000
barrels of crude oil per day, and is
what is known as a topping plant"
that is, one which reclaims the gas
oline, naphtha, Kerosene and gas
oils, and markets the residue of the
| material as fuel oil. In fact, most
Of the refineries in this section limit
their merchantable output to those
five products. The company finds
both domestic and foreign mar
ket for their goods, the shipments
being divided about equally between
these markets. 1t has 400 service, or
leased, tank cars, and $50 that are
owned by the company In the en-
ploy of the local plant there are 33
men. some Of whom, however. are
placed in the oil fields of the county
looking after the company's eight
miles of gathering lines, etc. 1t also
has one So, ,000.barrel and two 5000
barrel storage tanks in the Healdton
field, and receives its entire supply Of
crude from Healdton, via the Coline
Company pipe line.
The largest product Of the Imperial
Refinery Is fuel oil For this it
finds ready market through its
sales organization, which has offices
at Shreveport. La; Wichita Falls,
Ranger and Fort Worth, Texas.
The plant is equipped with the GUS
tomary loading rack placed between
sidings running off from the main
line of the Santa Fe, and there are
2S spots" through which that num-
ber of cars can be loaded at one time.
The material is on the ground for
installing two additional pipe stills
which when added to the present IL
in operation will give total of IL
stills at the Ardmore plant. In the
Hewitt field the company owns eight
miles of gathering lines, has one 55.-
and a loading rack-the latter not
now being in use, however, as the
crude oil for the factory is all OBJ
tanned trough the Coline pipe line.
Like in all refineries, water for
cooling purposes is an essential; in
this respect the company is well pro-
tocted by having two good lakes or
tanks" which together cover about
seven acres and furnish an abund-
ance of water except through the
long dry season of summer. These
tanks are supplied by the run.off
water following rains. 1t also owns
its own lighting system. and for fuel
burns fuel oil of its own production.
The manufacturing process at this
plant differs In some respects from
that of the other Ardmore plants.
There are six 5OObarrel separate
stills. each completing its own process,
and there is battery Of five stills
operated on what they term-and Is
generally termed the continuous
process" system. AS this latter diff
fers somewhat from any system used
in the other plants discussed in this
issue of The Ardmorete, 1t will be
discussed somewhat at length below
The Imperial Company makes its
first cut In the line" (that is
rather technical expression. but viii
bc explained later), at 80 gravity
that is. ~ first product from distil'
,ation Is honzlnc. The next cut Is
made at 80 gravity, which takes In
the product between 40 and 80. ana
s commercially known MS water
white" distillalcH; the next cut Is 81
10 ~. which takes IN the product be-
tween 80 and 81, which If known MS
crude dlstillatc. The next cut is from
81 to 32, which is gas oil The res
idue below this is sold as fuel oil.
Tho operation OF making gasoline
naphtha, kerosene and gas oil from
crude petroleum by the continuous
process" method as conducted in this
plant IL as follows
There are five stills Of the usual
size 800 barrels, placed side by side
with separate furnaces under each.
They are numbered from one to five
Into tho first one the crude petro'
lcum is pumped through the heat-ox.
changer, and the temperature is raised
TO about 325 degrees. Tho lightest
gases are driven off and pass up
through the vapor line to the con
dcnser box and are condensed as BEN
zine. The rest OF the material flows
on into still No. ., where the tenn
perature IL kept about 4so degrees
and hero the naphtha Is expelled
through the vnpor line Of this still,
also going to the condenser box. The
material flows on to still No. where
the temperature IL from 40 to 300
degrees. and the light distillatc is
expelled. The flow continues to stu
No. 4. which IL heated to $40 degrees.
-, ~. ,...,. .,t.,tii,,a iv ovanoratp1