An experimentally investigate the effect of physical properties on the production of lubricating materials from crude oils

Abstract

One of the most important oil derivatives in our time, which all the world seeks to obtain and produce a lot is lubricating oils, which are used for several important purposes and the most important is to keep the thermal engines from damage or collapse due to the phenomenon of friction of the moving parts mechanically at a high temperatures and pressure is relatively high as well as the wear phenomenon This research effort focuses on a comparative study of five types of mix crude Libyan oils (El-Feel Field, Al Wafa Field, Amina Field, Brega Field and Al-Sedra Field) for produced the lubricated oil experimentally . Test carried out on the production the lubrication oil by measuring the physical properties include: normal boiling point, pour point, specific gravity (Sp. gr.), standard density (API), dynamic viscosity , kinematics viscosity , Acentric factor and Watson factor (K or K ). It’s found from the practical results of the production the lubricating oil from crude oil for atmospheric distillation of crude oil practically depends on measurement two physical properties very accurately Watson factor first and then the API. The results from the tests showed that, mix crude oil of Amena, El-Sedra and El-Feel fields suitable than others for production the lubricated oil at atmospheric and then use the vacuum distillation columns. Other results observation, that’s two others types are impossible to produce the lubricated oil. Also, the results observed that’s the useful mole percentage of lubricated oil cutoff has range very small from 2 to 17 % for these types of Libyan crude oils, this percentage will be increase when use vacuum distillation with added some additives materials. In addition, practical results have been found that not all the cutoff produced from atmospheric distillation within the range of temperatures between 370 and 550 oC are lubricating oils, but other compounds are oil derivatives suitable for different fuel depending on the chemical structure of these extracts. The final conclusion of this work is that any crude oil with a light Arabic class (has a relative density API less than 38 and a K lower than 12.1) is suitable for the production of lubricated oils from the crude oil.