Refinement of sulfonated hydrocarbons
AssigneeMarathon Oil Company
InventorWayne E. Luetzelschwab
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a process for the production of sulfonated hydrocarbon from a petroleum feedstock, e.g., crude oil or gas oil, enhanced separation of unreacted free hydrocarbon from the sulfonate product is obtained by two separations. The acidic product obtained from the sulfonation of the hydrocarbon is subjected to an incomplete separation from the unreacted hydrocarbon wherein from about 7 to about 12 percent by volume of the free unreacted hydrocarbon is retained in the product. Thereafter, the product is neutralized and subjected to a final separation in which the remainder of free unreacted hydrocarbon is removed from the sulfonated product.
Claims15
A process of enhancing the separation of unreacted hydrocarbons from the sulfonated product mixture obtained by contacting about 5 to about 30 grams sulfur trioxide per 100 kilograms of a hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of crude oils, top crude oils, gas oils and mixtures thereof in a reaction zone at a temperature of from about 27.degree. C. to about 121.degree. C. and a pressure from about 0.01 to about 150 atmospheres for a reaction time of from about 0.001 to about 3600 seconds to form a sulfonated product mixture from which a raffinate comprising free unreacted hydrocarbons separates, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) removing a portion of said raffinate thereby leaving the remainder of said raffinate with said sulfonated product mixture;
- (b) neutralizing with a base said sulfonated product mixture containing said remainder of said raffinate to form a neutralized sulfonated product mixture and a second raffinate;
- and
- (c) thereafter removing said second raffinate from the neutralized sulfonated product mixture, the remainder of said raffinate in step (a) being in an amount sufficient to enhance the separation rate of said second raffinate and said neutralized sulfonated product mixture thereby enabling the removing of step (c) to take place at a rate faster than that which would take place if substantially all of said raffinate had been removed prior to step (b).
In a process for the preparation of petroleum sulfonates useful in the preparation of micellar dispersions for supplemental recovery of oil, said sulfonates having an average equivalent weight of from about 350 to about 525, by contacting sulfur trioxide with hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of crude oils, topped crude oils, gas oils and mixtures thereof at a temperature of from about 38.degree. C. to about 93.degree. C. and a pressure of from about 0.15 to about 75 atmospheres for a reaction time of from about 0.1 to about 360 seconds wherein from about 7 to about 20 kilograms of sulfur trioxide are contacted with each 100 kilograms of hydrocarbon, the improvement comprising:
- (a) partially extracting free unreacted hydrocarbon from the sulfonated product mixture with from about 0.1 to about 3.0 kilograms of an extraction solvent per kilogram of sulfonated product mixture to obtain sulfonated product mixture containing from about 7 to about 12 percent by volume of the free unreacted hydrocarbon;
- (b) neutralizing with a monovalent base the sulfonated product mixture containing from about 7 to about 12 percent free unreacted hydrocarbon;
- (c) permitting the sulfonate product mixture and free unreacted hydrocarbon to separate;
- and
- (d) removing all of the free unreacted hydrocarbon from the neutralized sulfonated product.
In a process for the preparation of petroleum sulfonates comprising contacting sulfur trioxide with a hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of crude oils, topped crude oils, gas oils and mixtures thereof in a reaction zone at a temperature of from about 27.degree. C. to about 121.degree. C. and a pressure of from about 0.1 to about 150 atmospheres for a reaction time of from about 0.001 to about 3600 seconds wherein from about 5 to about 30 kilograms of sulfur trioxide are contacted with each 100 kilograms of hydrocarbon, the improvement comprising:
- (a) allowing the sulfonate product mixture to separate into a free unreacted hydrocarbon phase and an acid sulfonated product phase;
- (b) separating the sulfonate product mixture into a phase containing a portion of the free unreacted hydrocarbon and an acid sulfonated product phase containing the remainder of the free unreacted hydrocarbon such that the remainder of free unreacted hydrocarbon causes a faster separation between unreacted hydrocarbon and neutralized sulfonate product than is possible if a complete separation were effected between the free unreacted hydrocarbon and the sulfonated product mixture to be neutralized;
- (c) neutralizing with a base the acid sulfonated product mixture containing the remainder of the free unreacted hydrocarbon of step (b);
- and
- (d) thereafter removing all of the free unreacted hydrocarbon from the neutralized sulfonated product mixture at a rate of from about 0.3 to about 0.6 hours per foot of emulsion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.