Motor Spirit: From Well to Carburetter.
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On Monday evening last, the 1st instant, a very interesting paper was read before the Society of Road Traction Engineers, at 112, Piccadilly, W., by Mr. A. Grey, of the British Petroleum Company, Limited. There was a fair number of members in attendance, and amongst the interested visitors we noticed Captain J. D. C. Hamilton and a party of the senior officers of the L.C.C. Fire Brigade. Mr. GREV opened his paper by drawing attention to the difficulty which had confronted him in his attempt to deal thoroughly with a subject of such magnitude. After directing attention to the origin of the word petroleum, he gave a list of the principal oil fields, with their respective annual outputs of crude petroleum, and, according to the latest figures, these are as follow : America, 22,000,000 tons ; Russia, 7,300,000 tons; Dutch East Indies, 2,3oo,000 tons; Galicia, 1,600,000 tons; Roumania, t,too,000; India, 600,000 tons. The total production of the world during the last year, including that from several small countries not already mentioned, amounted to the enormous total of 35,550,000 tons. A brief reference was made to the nature of shale oil, and to the process of its extraction, but further consideration of this branch of the subject was dismissed with the statement that, at the present time, shale fields contribute but a very small Proportion of the total supply of petroleum. Samples of various grades of oil and spirit, as they are produced successively during progressive distillation, were then exhibited by Mr. Grey.
A Sit of History.
In the course of a brief review of old discoveries of petroleum, reference wits made to the fact that petroleum was mentioned by early Greek historians as being used for both illuminating and medicinal purposes. There are also some very old Chinese records as to the existence of petroleum. Oil was first produced in England, from shale, about 130 years ago, while the Bridgwater Tunnel was being constructed. The first noticeable attempts to manufacture illuminating and other oils, on anything like a large scale, commenced about the year 1847, when a Mr. Binney and a Mr. Young took steps to develop deposifs that were found in small quantities, at Alfreton, in Derbyshire, and in parts of Scotland. The early experiments made by these two gentlemen eventually led to the rapid development of the American oil fields. At that time, the price of American crude oil at the fields was roughly 75 cents (35. 1.1:(1.) per gallon.
The method of boring was next described in detail. Crude petroleum has liven struck at a depth of about lo feet from the surface, but, in other eases. borings have had to be made to as great a depth as 5,coo feet before remunerative quantities of oil have been tapped. Sometimes the discharge from a " gusher " attains a height of over too feet, and the output from one of them has recently been estimated at is,000 tons per day. Mr. Grey drily remarked in his paper : " This well, unfortunately, caught fire," but he reassured his hearers by his next statement : " Of course, all wells are not ' gushers.'
Initial Transportation.
On the question of transportation from the wells to the storage tanks or refineries, it was stated that the oil is first of all pumped direct into local storage, which consists of either
earthen, wrought-iron, or wooden tanks. When a " gusher " is struck, and it is impossible to cap the well, the oil is collected by the best means available. Channels are rapidly constructed, and the crude oil is conveyed as well as may be through these to trenches, pits, or any available receptacle where the oil may afterwards be collected. In the nature of things, very hasfy steps have to be taken to insure the preservation of the oil ; in some cases, however, it is lost.
Where it is necessary to convey the oil from the oil fields over a long distance to the coast, or other centre of shipment or distribution, pipe lines are laid, mid these extend to an enormous length in certain instance. Pumping stations are erected at intervals along the line, end their distance apart depends, of course, on local circumstances, such as gradients, etc. Some of these lines are many hundreds of mites in length, and the latest arrangement is to have the pipes " rifled." as this method facilitates the flow of oil. Mr. Grey afterwards explained that the reason for the adoption of this method is that water is let into the pipes at the same time as the oil, and the action of the water is to form a skin round the inside of the pipe through its whole length; the oil then runs freely through the centre. This is stated to reduce the loss due to skin friction throughout the installation.
Distillation and Refining.
The lecturer then proceeded to give an interesting description of a typical distilling plant. Boilers or stills, capable of containing from 20 to 30 tons of crude oil each, are employed, and these are usually erected, in upto-date refineries, in batteries of about 15 to 30. The whole method of distillation is progressive, the crude oil entering at one end and gravitating through the whole of the series of stills, the temperature being higher in each succeeding still. The process of the extraction of motor spirit from crude petroleum consists of fractional distillation, by which the spirit is separated from the heavier constituents; it is then treated with sulphuric acid and caustic soda for the removal of tarry and resinous matter, and it is again distilled, by steam, in order to free it from any traces of the said acid or alkali. By distillation in this manner, the spirit is separated into various grades, and made ready for sale. The spirit is distilled from the crude oil between 70 degrees and 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Following the distillation of motor spirit, the productions are illuminating oil, such as " Royal Standard," "Pure Oil," and " Water White ;" next there is gas oil, which is used by gas companies. for gas enrichment: and lastly lubricating oils, coarse grease, and oil for use as liquid fuel, which are produced when the process of reduetion will admit ; by-products of the various preparations of vaseline. and paraffin wax are, of course, valuable incidental recoveries.
The percentages of spirit obtainable by distillation from the deposits in different parts of the world are as follow : Eastern spirit (Borneo and Sumatra), roughly, 25 per cent.; Roumanian, about TS per cent.; American (Pennsylvania), about 15 per cent.; Galician, about 12 per cent.: and certain districts of Russia, about 12 per cent. Texas crude oils yield no spirit of commercial value.
Import.m. Figures.
The imports into England last year of petroleum spirit were roughly 411,000,000 gallons, of which more than half came from the East. The figures, aparoximatele, from January / to December 28. moS, are as follow : East Indies. 23,000,000 ; Roumania, 5,25o,000; Russia, 4,250,ono; U.S.A., 6,1oo,000l and other countries, 600,000. In the course of an account of the methods adopted by the various.
importing companies for the distribution of their spirit throughout the country, a complaint was made of the restrictions imposed by the Thames Conservancy, whereby tank steamers are not at present allowed to proceed up the Thames further than Thames Haven. It was stated that this increased the cost of spirit to consumers by as much as a farthing a gallon, owing to the double handling. In conclusion, Mr. Grey drew attention to the fact that very much heavier spirit was now used than that which had been employed in the early days of motoring. The usual specific gravity for commercial-vehicle work is o.76o, although he was of opinion that that was the limit at which spirit could economically he employed. He complained very bitterly of the misuse to which the cans of his and other coolpanics were put by many consumers, have actually known of their being used for carrying water-in some cases filled with hot water and used as foot warmers: in addition to this, drivers do not think it wrong to screw the cap off by inserting the bottom flange of a full two-gallon can into the head of the faucet cap, and wrenching it round," said Mr. Grey.
The Discussion.
Mr. VE1TCH WILSON paid a professional tribute to Mr. Grey's exhaustive treatment of the subject, and gave some additional information on the basis of his own wide experience.
Mr. T. 13. BROWNE asked for information as to the success of petrol lamps for illuminating purposes; for the reason of the rifling of the pipe lines mentioned by the speaker ; and for a statement by Mr. Grey as to whether there were likely to be anything in the nature of a famine of motor spirit. He complained of the use by the distributing companies of horse-drawn vehicles for the delivery of their spirit.
Mr. GEORGE POI-LARD stated that he had bought 0.720 spirit, and subsequently o.760, and, by carefully concealing the fact from the users that a change had been made, no difference .n the running had been noticeable. During the recent snow, he stated that some of the horse-drawn distributing wagons had been unable to reach his yard, and eventually the' had to be drawn into the garages, horses and all, by motor vehicles.
Mr_ P. FROST SM1TII complained that spirit with a high specific gravity had very serious disadvantages, and, in particular, it was difficult to start on such spirit in cold weather.
Other speakers included Messrs. W. Worby Beaumont, F. Searle, W. French, and A. W. Windsor.
Mr. Grey then replied to the various speakers. He emphatically stated that there was no likelihood whatever of a shortage in the future supply of spirit; more was now produced than was wanted. Paraffin is, at the present time, a more valuable product than petrol. His company had been unfortunate in their previous attempts to adopt motor vehicles for the distribution of their products. Steps were now being actively taken to arrange for the employment of motor vehicles by the British Petroleum Company.
For the sake of continuity, we have embodied other important remarks made in this reply in the above summary of the paper.. En.]