IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM AND OF OTHER HYDROCARBON OILS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Fordred at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd February
1866.
I, JOHN FORDRED, of, Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM
AND OF OTHER HYDROCARBON OILS," to be as follows:-
In the refining of petroleum or of oils obtained from the distillation of
coal shale or peat at low temperatures, and known in commerce as coal
shale or peat oils, it is usual to add sulphuric acid to the crude or the dis-
tilled petroleum or oils as a preliminary process for refining the same.
Now upon such addition of sulphuric acid a product is separated which is
technically known as acid tar or foots.
:
Another process for the purification of the before-mentioned oils which
has been secured to me by Letters Patent, dated 28th February 1865,
No. 564, and in which a preliminary alkaline treatment is substituted for
the acid process now generally employed, a product is also obtained which
I call alkaline tar or foots, and it is to the treatment of these two products
or residues, and to the treatment, and utilization of the products 'resulting
therefrom, that my Invention has reference. In the treatment of the acid
tar or foots herein referred to in order to liberate and obtain the oils and
other compounds in combination with the acid I add either a caustic
alkali, or an alkaline earth, or an alkaline carbonate, or an alkaline earthy

page_text: carbonate, either in solution or in a state of division, and having effected
the neutralization of the acid and the liberation of the oils and other com-
pounds previously in combination, I separate or free the oils from the saline
matter by the addition of a small proportion of water and the injection of
steam, and after allowing the saline solution or the deposit to subside the
same may be removed from the supernatant oils or freed compounds. In
order to effect the liberation of the oil or compounds in combination with
the acid contained in the acid tar, as before mentioned, I employ the
alkaline tar or foots obtained as described in my before-mentioned Patent,
and after admixture of these tars or foots in suitable proportions, with the
addition of a small quantity of water, steam is to be injected, and the freed
oil is to be separated from the saline solution as before described; the oil
or compounds as thus separated will be found to be suitable for useful
purposes in the arts. In addition to these products thus obtained those oils
or compounds which result from the neutralization of the alkaline tar or
foots by means of the acid tar or foots, as described in my before-mentioned
Patent, also possess similar properties, and I therefore include those oils
and compounds in the several applications herein mentioned. I have found
that these oils, obtained as before described, possess valuable drying pro-
perties, and ay be advantageously employed in conjunction with any
drying oil, such as raw or boiled linseed oil, and with such resinous gums and
resins as may be soluble therein, and they may be further employed in
conjunction with any of the before-mentioned substances, together with
pigments, as paints or varnishes. When the before-mentioned oils are
subjected to distillation with the intervention of steam, the whole or a
portion of the distillate may be employed as the basis of superior varnishes
and paints and for other useful purposes in the arts. The solution of the
sulphates of the alkalies resulting from the neutralization of the acid foots
either by means of an alkali or by means of the alkaline tar or foots, as
before mentioned, may be evaporated and the salts obtained, as is well
understood.