SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID ELUTION CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR LUBE BASESTOCK REFINING

The supercritical fluid elution chromatography process for the removal of undesirable components in petroleum oils could become a viable alt ernative to conventional solvent extraction or hydrogen treatment used to obtain the mineral oil required for the pharmaceutical and cosmeti c industries. In the present paper, we report the results obtained in the removal of undesirable components in a lube oil basestock using di fferent adsorbents and CO, at supercritical conditions of the elution solvent. Data showed the influence of temperature and pressure, mainly in the paraffinic-alkylmonocyclic aromatics separation; for more pola r components, the effect of both variables is negligible. The efficien cy of studied adsorbents to retain the aromatic and polar compounds at optimum pressure and temperature follows the sequence florisil > alum ina > charcoal. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.