What is the Burton process?
The Burton process is a method of thermal cracking, which includes the division of complex organic molecules into simpler molecules, namely gasoline, diesel and other related fuels. This is achieved by exposing oil to temperatures exceeding 1,472 ° F (800 ° C) and pressures of approximately 100 PSI (700 kilopascal). Under these conditions, oil molecules are burst into gasoline molecules and other valuable substances. This method was patented in 1913, and in that year it was helpful in doubling the production of gasoline. The Burton process was later replaced by a catalytic rupture in most applications, although it remains an important method for the production of heating oils such as Petrodiesesel.
During the first days of oil refinement, the most common method used to produce usable fuel from raw oil fractional distillation at regular atmospheric pressure. This method was both costly and ineffective, and it turned out that it is unable to keep up with a gauge for rowing after gasoline. Around the turn of the 20th century was a handfulChemists commissioned by the development of a better method for oil refinement. This led to the invention of the cracking method of Shukhov in Russia in the early 1990s. The 20th century and the Burton process in the United States in 1913. These methods of thermal cracking were responsible for a significant increase in the percentage of gasoline obtained from each mainly oil.
Thermal cracking is a process that can be used to reduce complex molecules to simpler components. This General Director is the core of Burton's process that effectively divides oil molecules into useful gasoline and diesel molecules by thermal cracking. To achieve this, the oil is first fed to the pressure vessel. The oil then heats up and the pressure inside the rest increases at the same time. In the order for successful rupture of raw oil molecules, the minimum required pressure is about 75 psi (517 kPa) and the temperature must be at least 850 ° F (about 450 ° C), although much higher pressure and temperature can be used.
Between 1913 and 1937, the Burton process was the primary method of gasoline production. After 1937 it was largely replaced by a more effective method of catalytic cracking. Catalytic fluid cracking results in a greater percentage of gasoline according to volume than the Burton process and also leads to more valuable by -products. However, the Burton process is still useful in refining heating oil, which is produced at different temperatures and pressures than gasoline.