Improvements in the Manufacture of Solidifled Petroleum.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1896-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Solidifled Petroleum.
I, MARTIN EKENBERG, of 3 Agnegatan, Stockholm, in the Kingdom of Sweden,
Engineer and Doctor of Philosophy, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing solidified
petroleum in order to obtain an anhydrous, transparent and homogeneous product.
Hitherto solidifications of petroleum or distillates of petroleum have been
produced either by mixing with the same insoluble porous substances, or other
substances as resin, caoutchouc, gutta-percha, cerasine and solid fats, or soaps of
glycerine-fat and fat oils containing glycerine. If soaps of glycerine-fat have been
added it is necessary that the mixture always contains a certain amount of
physically combined water if not the soaps after a certain time will be separated.
Especially will this be the case when distillates of a high boiling point are used.
Even wool-fat has been used for the said purpose but only in emulsion with
water and with an addition of ordinary salt, this latter substance being used to
make the mixture thicker or of the consistency of a paste. It is in this case
also to be noticed that the wool-fat in such mixture will serve direct by its mass
as a thickening agent without being saponified and that free acids which possibly
might be present in the wool-fat have previously been carefully washed away or
neutralized. The product thus obtained will be aqueous, is not transparent and
will be easily altered by changes of temperature.
According to this invention an anhydrous, homogeneous, transparent solidification
of petroleum or distillates thereof is obtained by dissolving therein fatty acids
from wool-fat (cholesterine-fat) and heating the solution to 120°-200° C. and adding
bydrates of alkali (as potash, soda) or alkaline earths (as lime, magnesia, and the
like). During the addition of the hydrates the temperature must not be below
120° C. and in that case the solidification obtained will be anhydrous. The wool-
fat-acids must not contain any glycerine-fat or such fatty acids as will be found
in glycerine-fat, because by mixing in such substances an inferior product will be
obtained. The amount of said fatty acids, obtained from wool-fat, that have to be
added will vary between 1% to 15% or more, depending upon the degree of
consistency it is desired the product should obtain. The quantity of hydrates to
be added should be such that at least half the quantity of the fatty acids will be
neutralized.
It will be understood from the above that the characteristic feature of this-
invention is, that the fatty acids which are obtained from wool-fat and freed from
other fatty acids, found in other substances, such as glycerine-fat, are added to the
petroleum or the distillate of petroleum, while these acids have in prior known
processes not been required and therefore carefully removed. It has thus been
hitherto unknown that the soaps of the said fatty acids in wool-fat may at an
elevated temperature be dissolved in petroleum or distillates of petroleum and
that such a solution after cooling will be solidified and not undergo any alteration.
In order to solidify distillates of low boiling point, previously produced anhydrous
soaps of wool-fat-acids and hydrates of alkali or alkaline earths are dissolved.
Solidified substances manufactured according to the above described process,
inay be used as lubricants, as a protecting agent against rust, and for other purposes.
The product obtained according to this invention differs from such produced in

page_text: accordance with prior processes therein, that it is entirely free from water and
contains soaps of wool-fat-acids, which as far as known are unlike ordinary fatty
acids in that they are oxy-acids.
As an example of the proportions of the ingredients for producing hard and soft
solidified petroleum according to the present invention I give the following:
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A process of manufacturing anhydrous, transparent, homogeneous solidified
petroleum or distillates of petroleum, characterized either by the addition of fatty
acids of wool-fat and at a temperature of 120°-200° C. of bydrates of alkali or
alkaline earths, or the solution of previously produced anhydrous soaps of wool-
fat-acids and alkalis or alkaline earths in petroleum or distillates of petroleum.
2. Solidified substances produced according to the process described in Claim 1.
Dated this 25th day of July 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.