Year: 1865

extensive that it may be interesting To
many who have never been inside of an
oil refinery to know little concerning it,


The crude petroleum as it is received
from the wells, being first introduced into
the tanks or reservoirs for receiving, it is
then conducted into the stills holding about
| 1000 or 800 gallons each The stills are
made of boiler plate iron, which are found
to be better than cast iron, which is liable
to warp and crack from the effects of the
heat. The carbonacious particles form an
| lncrustatiOn on the inside which ought to
be removed by pick or sharp instrument
| for the purpose, at the end OF each distila-
tion otherwise the bottom of the still soon
| burns out


| The contents of the still are washed off
in about "a hours, the temperature gradu-
ally raising up to 600 or 500 deg. Far
From the head of the still. the vapors pass
through the worm of the condenser which
in the latter part of the distillation is not
allowed to cool down sufficiently for the
paraffine to condense in it as this might,
by causing obstruction, endanger the ex-
plosion of the still. By the proper regula-
tion of the temperature of the water sur
rounding the worm, however, a steady flow
OF oil will go on from the end of the worm
The quantity obtained is about 80 per cent
Of that introduced into the stills, but al
though freed of this amount of impurity,
the oil is still of a1greenish hue, and retains
more or less of it's peculiar odor


The next process is the chemical treat
ment with sulphuric acid This is called
the cold process. The oil is transferred to
large wrought iron cylindrical vessels called
| agitators, probably containing 5000 gallons
each, and for each barrel of oil is added
one-half gallon of sulphuric acid The
mixture is violently agitated, by the inser-
tion of Pinch pipe, through which is forced
current OF compressed air, (which keeps
| the whole in state of violent ebullition.-
This having been kept up for some stime,
and the mixture being left some time ia re-
pose, and considerable portion of the i'm
puritles settle with the acid to the bottom,
from which they are drawn off, leaving the
partially purified oil in the cisterns with
some acids and impurities still adhering to
it. These are mostly removed by agitating
again with water, and again, after repose
of some hours, drawing off the matter
which has collected in the bottom.
After this strong ley of soda is intro
duced into the oil in the agitator, ;and it
undergoes the same process of agitation as
with the acid The sediments being drawn
off the operation is again repeated, when
the oil is then submitted to the fire test
The fire test is simply the temperature at
which the oil will ignite The best illumi-
mating oil should not ignite over a temper
ature of ll5 deg. to II deg. Far, otherwise
it burns with a dull light If it ignites at
100 deg. 1t contains too much benZine, and
is liable to explode. After the whole pro-
cess is completed, the residuum is sold here
for 50 per bbl. for lubricating purposes, ex-
cepting about J per cent, which goes to
waste


In some reineres the oil undergoes a
second distillation, the first product Of
which is very light OIL which, if at first
somewhat discolored, is soon succeeded bv
a limpid oil that continues with very little
variation, except that it gradually becomes
heavier, and includes all that distllate be-
low the gravity of O. $50. The products
which succeeded this are the heavy oils
for lubricating, which pass into the last
product of dark colored heavy oils. which
may be made to give up a considerable
part of their paraffine by leaving the liquid
IN tanks exposed to temperature as cold
as may be.


The paraffine condenses in light silvery
scales, and is recovered by drawing off the
oil, and then subjecting it to hydrostatic
pressure. 1t is purified by successive ap-
plications Of sulp phuric acid hot water and
alkalies


The Illuminating oils may be almost en-
tlrel y freed from the odor and color they
possess, by standing several days over al
kaline solutions in shallow vessels. This,
however, is not supposed to improve the
quality of the OIL