The role of dewaxing aids in lubricating oil solvent dewaxing equipment
Dewaxing aids play a crucial role in the lubricating oil solvent dewaxing process, and recent innovations have revolutionized their recovery and reuse. Discover how dewaxing aids can be efficiently and economically recovered in an unaltered state, ready for recycling, leading to significant improvements in the dewaxing process.
Why Dewaxing Aids Are Essential
Dewaxing aids enhance the dewaxing process by facilitating the removal of wax from waxy hydrocarbon oils. Traditional methods often left trace amounts of dewaxing aids in the recovered wax and oil, imparting undesirable properties such as dark color. However, with advancements in dewaxing aid recovery, these trace amounts are now eliminated, resulting in higher-quality waxes and dewaxed oils.
The Dewaxing Process with Dewaxing Aid Recovery
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of the waxy hydrocarbon oil dewaxing process, including dewaxing aid recovery:
1. Mixing: Combine the waxy hydrocarbon oil, with or without dewaxing or other solvents, with a dewaxing aid.
2. Chilling: Chill the mixture to form a slurry of solid wax particles and a solution of dewaxed oil, solvent (if used), and dewaxing aid.
3. Separating: Separate the wax particles from the dewaxed oil solution.
4. Wax Stream Separation: Feed the liquefied wax stream, with or without dewaxing or other solvents, to a separation unit with a semi-permeable membrane. This separates the wax stream into a retentate stream containing the dewaxing aid and a permeate stream of dewaxing aid-free wax.
5. Dewaxed Oil Stream Separation: Feed the dewaxed oil stream, with or without solvent, to another separation unit with a semi-permeable membrane. This separates the dewaxed oil stream into a retentate stream containing the dewaxing aid and a permeate stream of dewaxing aid-free oil.
6. Recycling: Recycle the retentate streams from steps 4 and/or 5 containing the recovered dewaxing aids back to step 1.
Flexible Process Options
Steps 4 and 5 can be practiced either together or as alternatives, depending on your specific needs. Additionally, a portion of the retentate enriched in dewaxing aid can be withdrawn from the membrane separation units and recycled to the inlet of the separation zones in combination with the appropriate wax and dewaxed oil streams.
Solvent Recovery
If a dewaxing solvent is used, it can be removed before introducing the wax and dewaxed oil into the separation zones of steps 4 and/or 5 using typical solvent recovery methods. Alternatively, the solvent can be recovered after the wax and dewaxed oil have been separated from the dewaxing aid in these steps.
Optimal Dewaxing Aid Concentration
The wax or dewaxed oil fed to the membrane separators can contain dewaxing aids ranging from 0.001 to 50% by weight. Similarly, the recovered wax from step 3 may contain anywhere from 0.10 to 85% residual oil, resulting in a high oil content slack wax.
Boost Efficiency & Reduce Costs with Dewaxing Aid Recovery
By recycling dewaxing aids, you can significantly reduce the amount of dewaxing aid employed, lowering the overall expense of the process. Choose our state-of-the-art dewaxing equipment and dewaxing aid recovery systems to maximize efficiency, minimize waste, and enhance the quality of your wax and dewaxed oil products.
