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

grees and the gas oil"' driven off,
which is the last of the vapors that
can be expelled by this process. The
residue left in the bottom of still
No. 3 is drawn off and pumped
through the heat.exchanger. into stor-
age tanks, and is graded as fuel oil. :"
The condenser box, spoken of above,
is large tank filled with water
which is continuously flowing in
through pipe at the bottom at one
end, and flowing out through an over
flow pipe at the other end, whence
it goes back to the cooling pipes and
into the lake or basin, to be again
used after being cooled. Through this
condenser box run coils Of pipe con.
meeting with the vapor lines which
coils are covered with the moving
water MS just described, and the vapor
within them is cooled and thus con-
densed to q liquid Here the process
Is exactly reversed from that which
took place in the stills. In the stills
the lightcat gas (gasoline) was first
thrown off, and the heaviest gas
gas oil'-last. But in the condenser
box the heaviest oil (gas oil) is first
procipitated as a liquid, and the light.
est oil tgasoline) is last to become
liquified.
From the condenserbox coil, pipes
lead off at different levels (corre.
spending 70 the point at which the
different liquids just described will be
precipitated, and run through the
receiving house where the flow from
each line is tested and graded, and
from thence run into tanks called
rundown tanks. Here il remains until
pumped to the loading rack for ship
ment, unless, as often happens, it is
passed through further treatment and
its quality changed thereby.
AS stated above, the first Zine cut"
is made, at this refinery. ut 46
gravity. Hence its highest still prod
uct is "benzine" which is the gas Cor
liquid) product having a gravity OF
over 46. 1t might be well to state
right here that the petroleum produ-
ucts take their name from their grav.
ity. All of the product above 81 or
55 (sometimes as low as 52), take
the commercial name gasoline" That
between 52 and 46, naphtha; from 46
down to az, kerosene" from below
az to 81, "distillates;' from below 81
TO 32, tight gas oil;,' from below 32
to % or 26, dark gas OIL Below
this point the material is marketed
as fuel oil.
In this and in perhaps all other re.
fineries. there are more or less gases
thrown off from the stills that are Of
a gravity as high as 60. or 65, or
even higher. This is too high gravity
to be sold as commercial gasoline,
hence it rs re.treated"-that is, COM
bined with lower grades-until re.
duced to the gravity the manufacture
er guarantees for his product.
The method of producing kerosene
at the Imperial plant was described
to the writer by Mr.. II. G. Ridley,
the plant chemist, as follows:
"The water white distillate is pump
ell from the rundown tanks into the
"agitator." which holds about $50 bar
rels. Sulphuric acid is then added
by means Of an overhead pipe. This
sulphuric acid settles to the bottom
of the agitator, and is then blown by
means of an air compressor, up
through the distillate, thereby com.
ing in contact with every part Of it.
This precipitates the sulphur com.
pounds and the carbon compounds.
The sulphuric acid is then drawn off
and the distIllate Is washed" with
water. Tho water comes into the az.
itator through Il series of overhead
sprays and settles to the bottom Of
the agitator. where 1t Is drawn off.
After the distillatc is washed" the
first time, caustic soda or doctor
is added to neutralize the
acid. The doctor solution" contains
a small percent Of litharge and sui.
phur, which precipitate lead and sui.
phur compounds. The doctor solu.
tion" is then drawn off and the dis.
tlllate IA washed again. After the
last washing we have Kerosene" in.
stead Of "distillate."
The process OF manufacturing gaso.
line and other petroleum products IS
. very interesting one, as Is also tho
siudy OF the different systems in use
In tho several Ardmore reflnerles. Tho
writer would suggest that a trip 20
either, or several. of tho rcfinerlcs In
tho Industrial Addition would be OF
value to The students OF the High
School--particularly the classes In
chemistry. At the Imperial refinery
liant. Mr.. II. G. Ridley chemist for the
company, WIS assigned 10 show the
writer through the plant and his ca
plantations were very helpful In trao.
ing the process through It's successive
steps.
The Imperial Refining Company has
an object lesson In road
building that IL worthy of the consi'i.
GRAFTON OF the couyty board Of com.
There ls only n dirt road
leading from the plant to the city,
and It often becomes almost impass.
able In continued wet weather. Tho
plant of the company is "a quarter OF
a mile or more OFF from the county
highway leading to the city, and on
The private road leading from the
county road to the plant, tho company
has first built grade on which
water will not stand In pools, then
treated the surface with road oil. The
result Is that tho private road to
the plant Is as smooth and as hard.
almost. as a paved city street. not
the fact that heavily
loaded trucks pass over II every day,
regardless of weather conditions. They
have given a practical demonstration
IL Mimi cnn hn lnnn with Tho rnala