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AssigneeTotalenergies Onetech
InventorsModestino DE FEO, Ernesto REVERCHON, Lucia BALDINO
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The present invention relates to a process for regenerating a used lubricant composition, especially used for regenerating an engine drain oil, comprising the steps of: fractionating said used lubricant composition in a countercurrent fractional distillation column with a countercurrent flow of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2), wherein said used lubricant composition and supercritical CO2 are fed in the countercurrent column with a ratio of the sCO2 flow rate on used lubricant flow rate ranging from 15 to 50; and recovering the regenerated oil extracted within the supercritical CO2. It further relates to a process for preparing a lubricant composition from a regenerated base oil obtained according to the invention.
A process for regenerating a used lubricant composition, said process comprising the steps of:
The process as claimed in the preceding claim, in which the used lubricant composition (11) is introduced in the upper part of the column (1), while the supercritical CO2 (12) is fed from the bottom of the column (1), the regenerated oil extracted within the supercritical CO2 being removed from the extract exiting column topside.
The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the ratio of the sCO2 flow rate on used lubricant flow rate ranges from 20 to 50, in particular from 25 to 45 and more particularly from 27 to 45.
The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the fractionation is performed at a temperature ranging from 40° C. to 200° C., in particular from 50° C. to 150° C., preferably from 50° C. to 100° C.
The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the fractionation is performed at a pressure ranging from 50 to 300 bars, in particular from 100 to 250 bars, preferably from 100 to 200 bars.
The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the regenerated oil is retrieved by eliminating supercritical CO2, preferably by a simple pressure-let-down.
The process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the regenerated oil recovered from the fractionation is subjected to at least a subsequent second fractionation step in a countercurrent fractional distillation column with a countercurrent flow of supercritical carbon dioxide, said process comprising more particularly at least:
The process as claimed in the preceding claim, wherein the first and second fractionation steps are operated within the same fractional distillation column or within two different fractional distillation columns, that are for example arranged in series.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.