Method and apparatus for recovering synthetic oils from composite oil streams

Abstract

A method for recovering synthetic oils from a feed stream, the method comprising separating at least a portion of the non-synthetic oil constituents from a commingled stream to produce a partially purified synthetic oil stream and one or more contaminant streams. Extracting at least a portion of the synthetic oil from the partially purified synthetic oil stream to produce a synthetic oil stream and a second contaminant stream.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for recovering synthetic oils from a feed stream, the method comprising:
 separating at least a portion of the non-synthetic oil constituents from a commingled stream producing a partially purified synthetic oil stream and one or more contaminant streams; and   extracting at least a portion of the synthetic oil from the partially purified synthetic oil stream to produce a synthetic oil stream and a second contaminant stream.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the partially purified synthetic oil stream has a molecular weight between 200 and 15,000. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the partially purified synthetic oil stream has a boiling point in the same range as the synthetic oil stream that is being recovered. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1  whereby the partially purified synthetic oil stream is separated from the contaminant stream by at least one of distillation, vacuum distillation, evaporation, filtration, ultrafiltration, solvent extraction, extraction, centrifugation, absorption, and adsorption. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the partially purified synthetic oil stream is separated from the comingled stream by distillation. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the non-synthetic oil constituents are at least partially separated from the comingled stream by a combination of one or more of atmospheric and vacuum distillation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the synthetic oil stream has a boiling point between about 500 to about 1200° F. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the synthetic oil stream is extracted from the comingled stream by at least one of filtration, ultrafiltration, molecular sieves, extraction, solvent extraction, absorption, and adsorption. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the synthetic oil stream is separated from the partially purified synthetic oil stream by solvent extraction. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein a solvent used to perform the solvent extraction is one or more of ethanol, diacetone-alcohol, ethylene-glycol-mono(low alkyl)ether, di-ethylene-glycol, diethylene-glycolmono(low alkyl)ether, o-chlorophenol furfural, acetone, formic acid, 4-butyrolacetone, low-alkyl-ester of low mono-and dicarbonic acids, dimethylformamide, 2-pyrrolidone and N-(low alkyl)2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-2-pyrolodone, epi-chlorohydrin, dioxane, morpholine, low-alkyl-and amino(low-alkyl)morpholine, benzonitrile and di-(low-alkyl)sulfoxide and phosphonate. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the solvent is N-methyl-2-pyrolodone. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the synthetic oil stream consists of oils that were made through one or more of chemical synthesis, gas to liquid technologies, hydroisomerization or chemical modification of petroleum compounds. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the synthetic oils consist primarily of hydrogen and carbon having a molecules weight between 200 and 15,000. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the synthetic oil stream consists of one or more of polyalphaolefins, esters, diesters, polyolesters, alklylated napthlenes, alkyklated benzenes, neopoly esters, paraffins, among others. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the second contaminant stream consists of one or more of compounds considered to be polars, aromatics, unsaturates or olefins. 
     
     
         16 . A system for recovering synthetic oil from a feed stream comprising:
 a first stage comprising a plurality of distillation systems, each distillation system configured to remove compounds having a predetermined boiling point or molecular weight from a commingled stream to generate an intermediate stream;   a solvent extraction stage comprising a solvent extraction system configured to receive the intermediate stream and to extract one or more synthetic oil compounds from the intermediate stream using a solvent; and   a dehydrator stage coupled to the solvent extraction stage, the dehydrator stage configured to generate solvent having less than one percent dissolved water for use in the solvent extraction system.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16  further comprising a non-synthetic oil separator coupled to the solvent extraction stage by a feed line and comprising at least one return line coupled to the solvent extraction stage and configured to provide a mix of solvent and non-synthetic oil directly to the solvent extraction stage. 
     
     
         18 . A controller coupled to the first stage and the solvent extraction stage of  claim 16  comprising:
 one or more user selectable controls for modifying a monitor for the first stage; 
 one or more user selectable controls for modifying a monitor for the solvent extraction stage; 
 one or more user-selectable controls for controlling the first stage; 
 one or more user-selectable controls for controlling the solvent extraction stage; and 
 wherein each of the user-selectable controls are displayed on a single display board. 
 
     
     
         19 . The controller of  claim 18  further comprising:
 one or more user-selectable controls for modifying a monitor for the dehydrator stage; and 
 one or more user-selectable controls for controlling the dehydrator stage. 
 
     
     
         20 . The controller of  claim 19  wherein the one or more user-selectable controls for controlling the dehydrator stage comprise:
 a pump controller for controlling a speed of a dehydrator stage pump; and 
 a heater controller for controlling a temperature of a dehydrator stage heater.