Production of transformer oil with low content of aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract

This paper presents results from an investigation of a high-stability transformer oil produced from Sangachaly-More high-wax crude by preliminary alkylation of the aromatic hydrocarbons in the feed by alpha-olefins with aluminum chloride catalyst. In order to obtain transformer oil, dewaxed distillate was subjected to treating with sulfuric acid (3%). The physicochemical properties of the transformer oils that were obtained by the different treating methods and inhibited with 0.3% ionol anti-oxidant are presented. It can be seen that the content of aromatic hydrocarbons in the transformer oils after treatment was reduced from 5.8% to 4.8%. Thus, feasibility has been demonstrated for the production of transformer oil (with aromatic hydrocarbon content of 4.8-5.8%, yield 79.3% on distillate, and a high level of anti-oxidant properties) by alkylating the aromatic hydrocarbons of the original raw distillate with alpha-olefins in the presence of aluminum catalyst.