Control of crude refining by a method to predict lubricant base stock's ultimate lubricant preformance
First Claim
1. A method for making a lubricant base stock to be used in manufacturing a lubricant for a particular application from a petroleum refinery stream, the lubricant base stock and the refinery stream being characterizable according to a plurality of compositional components common to the base stock and to the refinery stream, each compositional component varying in amount with respect to different lubricant base stocks and to different refinery streams, the method comprising the steps of:
- identifying particular ones of the plurality of compositional components in a base stock that, in combination, are probative of lubricant performance for the particular application;
determining an acceptable range for a combination of the identified compositional components at at least two viscosities from a plurality of performance tests on a plurality of lubricant products, each lubricant product having a viscosity, the plurality of lubricant products having a plurality of different viscosities, thereby defining a compositional model at each of the at least two viscosities;
adjusting for viscosity variations for lubricant base stocks whose viscosities differ from that of the at least two viscosities by adjustment of the compositional model'"'"'s parameters from at least two compositional models at values of viscosity differing from those of a candidate lubricant base stock to derive an acceptable range of compositional components, in combination, at the viscosity of the candidate lubricant base stock;
determining the amounts of the identified components which are required in the base stock for acceptable performance in the particular application;
determining the amounts of the identified components in the refinery stream, in combination, are not within the acceptable range for such identified components; and
refining the refinery stream to produce the lubricant base stock having the identified components in combination in the compositional ranges for acceptable performance of the lubricant base stock in the particular application.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A model to predict the quality of a lubricant base stock for use in a plurality of products having a plurality of viscosities. The compositional model is based on a quantitative analysis of key compositional parameters and performance criteria for the plurality of products representing the plurality of viscosities. The compositional model provides a method for making a lubricant base stock to be used in manufacturing a lubricant for a particular application from a refinery stream wherein the lubricant base stock and the refinery stream are characterizable according to a plurality of compositional components common to the base stock and to the refinery stream. This method begins with determining the acceptable region and adjusting for viscosity variations. Next, the amounts of the identified compositional components are identified for a lubricant base stock that, in combination, are required for acceptable lubricant performance and the amounts of identified components, in combination, in the refinery stream are determined to be outside of the acceptable range for such identified components. The refinery stream is then refined to produce a lubricant base stock having a combination of identified components within the acceptable range as determined by the model.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for making a lubricant base stock to be used in manufacturing a lubricant for a particular application from a petroleum refinery stream, the lubricant base stock and the refinery stream being characterizable according to a plurality of compositional components common to the base stock and to the refinery stream, each compositional component varying in amount with respect to different lubricant base stocks and to different refinery streams, the method comprising the steps of:
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identifying particular ones of the plurality of compositional components in a base stock that, in combination, are probative of lubricant performance for the particular application;
determining an acceptable range for a combination of the identified compositional components at at least two viscosities from a plurality of performance tests on a plurality of lubricant products, each lubricant product having a viscosity, the plurality of lubricant products having a plurality of different viscosities, thereby defining a compositional model at each of the at least two viscosities;
adjusting for viscosity variations for lubricant base stocks whose viscosities differ from that of the at least two viscosities by adjustment of the compositional model'"'"'s parameters from at least two compositional models at values of viscosity differing from those of a candidate lubricant base stock to derive an acceptable range of compositional components, in combination, at the viscosity of the candidate lubricant base stock;
determining the amounts of the identified components which are required in the base stock for acceptable performance in the particular application;
determining the amounts of the identified components in the refinery stream, in combination, are not within the acceptable range for such identified components; and
refining the refinery stream to produce the lubricant base stock having the identified components in combination in the compositional ranges for acceptable performance of the lubricant base stock in the particular application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. In connection with a method of selecting a base stock from among a plurality of base stocks, the selected base stock being used in manufacturing a lubricant for a particular application, each base stock being characterize-able according to a plurality of compositional components common to all of the base stocks, each compositional component varying in amount with respect to each base stock, a computer-readable medium having computer-implementable instructions thereon for performing the steps of:
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identifying particular ones of the plurality of compositional components in a base stock that are probative of lubricant performance for a plurality of applications;
determining an acceptable range for a combination of the identified compositional components at at least two viscosities from a plurality of performance tests on a plurality of lubricant products, each lubricant product having a viscosity, the plurality of lubricant products having a plurality of different viscosities, thereby defining a compositional model at each of the at least two viscosities;
adjusting for viscosity variations for lubricant base stocks whose viscosities differ from that of the at least two viscosities by adjustment of the compositional model'"'"'s parameters from at least two compositional models at values of viscosity differing from those of a candidate lubricant base stock to derive an acceptable range of compositional components, in combination, at the viscosity of the candidate lubricant base stock;
determining the amounts of the identified compositional components in a candidate base stock;
determining whether the amount of each identified component in the candidate base stock is within the acceptable range for such identified component; and
determining whether a particular refining process will refine the candidate base stock to remove at least some of the compositional components such that candidate base stock is in the acceptable range for each of the identified compositional components, in combination. - View Dependent Claims (30)
selecting one of the base stocks as a candidate base stock;
determining the amounts of the identified composition components in a candidate base stock;
determining whether the amount of each identified component in candidate stock is within the acceptable range for such identified component; and
determining whether a particular refining process will refine the candidate base stock to remove at least some of the compositional components such that candidate base stock is in the acceptable range for each of the identified compositional components, in combination.
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Specification