HYDROGENATION
DISCUSSION WITH I.C.I AT BILLINGHAM
The I.C.I plant at Billingham at present treats 450 T of creosote oil per day with a daily consumption of hydrogen of 50 T. The yearly production of gasoline is 100,000 T. Creosote middle oil is treated in vapor phase saturation step with neat WS2 pellets to effect a reduction in nitrogen content to 15 ppm. This is followed by a splitting step using a catalyst consisting of iron on HF treated earth. The preheat to the splitting stage is adjusted to give the desired product. A specific gravity of 0.74 is obtained when making aviation base stock and 0.76-0.78 depending on the grade of motor gasoline. Approximately 45% of the product is recycled to the splitting stage.
The I.C.I has developed several high pressure instruments such as a h.p. rotameter, a dead weight differential pressure gage, and a liquid level indicator and controller.
A diagrammatic sketch of the liquid level indicator or controller is shown in figure 8. The movement of the float puts tube A in torsion and moves flap B in relation to air jet C which is a part of an air operated indicator and controller.
The dead weight differential pressure gage is shown diagrammatically in figure 9. This gage is manifolded into the high pressure plant and permits accurate determination of differential pressure in all internal parts of the system. It has been an extremely valuable operating aid and its use has resulted in considerable saving in down time.