Micro carbon residue

Last updated April 24, 2019

Micro carbon residue, commonly known as "MCR" is a laboratory test used to determine the amount of carbonaceous residue formed after evaporation and pyrolysis of petroleum materials under certain conditions. The test is used to provide some indication of a material's coke-forming tendencies.^[1]^[2]^[3] The test results are equivalent to the test results obtained from the Conradson Carbon Residue test.^[1]^[4]

Evaporation Type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs from its surface; surface phenomenon

Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. The surrounding gas must not be saturated with the evaporating substance. When the molecules of the liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other based on how they collide with each other. When a molecule near the surface absorbs enough energy to overcome the vapor pressure, it will escape and enter the surrounding air as a gas. When evaporation occurs, the energy removed from the vaporized liquid will reduce the temperature of the liquid, resulting in evaporative cooling.

Pyrolysis Thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere

Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere. It involves a change of chemical composition and is irreversible. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro "fire" and lysis "separating".

Petroleum is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth's surface. It is commonly refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation, i.e. separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point by means of distillation, typically using a fractionating column.

Test method

A quantity of sample is weighed, placed in a glass vial, and heated to 500 °C. Heating is performed in a controlled manner, for a specific period of time, and under an inert (nitrogen) atmosphere . The sample experiences coking reactions, with volatiles formed being swept away by the nitrogen. The carbonaceous residue remaining is reported as a mass percent of the original sample, and noted as “carbon residue (micro).” ^[1]

Nitrogen Chemical element with atomic number 7

Nitrogen is a chemical element with symbol N and atomic number 7. It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772. Although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time, Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first. The name nitrogène was suggested by French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal in 1790, when it was found that nitrogen was present in nitric acid and nitrates. Antoine Lavoisier suggested instead the name azote, from the Greek ἀζωτικός "no life", as it is an asphyxiant gas; this name is instead used in many languages, such as French, Russian, Romanian and Turkish, and appears in the English names of some nitrogen compounds such as hydrazine, azides and azo compounds.

Special considerations

If the test result is expected to be below 0.10% (by mass), prior to performing the test, the sample can be distilled to produce a 10% (by volume) bottoms.^[1]^[2]
If the sample contains ash-forming constituents and/or non-volatile additives, these will add to the carbon residue value, and be included as part of the total reported carbon residue value.^[1]^[2]
In diesel fuel, the presence of alkyl nitrates, such as amyl nitrate, hexyl nitrate, or octyl nitrate, causes a higher carbon residue value as compared to untreated fuel. This may lead to erroneous conclusions as to the coke-forming tendencies of the fuel.^[1]^[2]

In analytical chemistry, ashing or ash content determination is the process of mineralization for preconcentration of trace substances prior to a chemical analysis, such as chromatography, or optical analysis, such as spectroscopy.

Diesel fuel in general is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines, whose fuel ignition takes place, without any spark, as a result of compression of the inlet air mixture and then injection of fuel. Diesel engines have found broad use as a result of higher thermodynamic efficiency and thus fuel efficiency. This is particularly noted where diesel engines are run at part-load; as their air supply is not throttled as in a petrol engine, their efficiency still remains very high.

Amyl nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula CH₃(CH₂)₄ONO₂. This molecule consists of the 5-carbon amyl group attached to a nitrate functional group. It is the ester of amyl alcohol and nitric acid.

Applications

Micro carbon residue offers the same range of applicability as the test to which it is equivalent, Conradson Carbon Residue. Advantages of MCR include better control of test conditions, smaller samples, and less operator attention.^[1] Applications include:

For burner fuel, MCR provides an approximation of the tendency of the fuel to form deposits in vaporizing pot-type and sleeve-type burners.^[5]
For diesel fuel, MCR correlates approximately with combustion chamber deposits, provided that alkyl nitrates are absent, or if present, that the test is performed on the base fuel without additive.^[5]^[6]
For motor oil, MCR was once regarded as indicative of the amount of carbonaceous deposits the oil would form in the combustion chamber of an engine. This is now considered to be of doubtful significance due to the presence of additives in many oils.^[5]
For gas oil, MCR provides a useful correlation in the manufacture of gas there from.^[5]
For delayed cokers, the MCR of the feed correlates positively to the amount of coke that will be produced.^[7]
For fluid catalytic cracking units, the MCR of the feed can be used to estimate the feed's coke-forming tendency.^[8]

Motor oil, engine oil, or engine lubricant is any of various substances comprising base oils enhanced with additives, particularly antiwear additive plus detergents, dispersants and, for multi-grade oils viscosity index improvers. Motor oil is used for lubrication of internal combustion engines. The main function of motor oil is to reduce friction and wear on moving parts and to clean the engine from sludge and varnish (detergents). It also neutralizes acids that originate from fuel and from oxidation of the lubricant (detergents), improves sealing of piston rings, and cools the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts.

A delayed coker is a type of coker whose process consists of heating a residual oil feed to its thermal cracking temperature in a furnace with multiple parallel passes. This cracks the heavy, long chain hydrocarbon molecules of the residual oil into coker gas oil and petroleum coke.

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is one of the most important conversion processes used in petroleum refineries. It is widely used to convert the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils into more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases, and other products. Cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons was originally done by thermal cracking, which has been almost completely replaced by catalytic cracking because it produces more gasoline with a higher octane rating. It also produces byproduct gases that have more carbon-carbon double bonds, and hence more economic value, than those produced by thermal cracking.

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Synthetic oil is a lubricant consisting of chemical compounds that are artificially made. Synthetic lubricants can be manufactured using chemically modified petroleum components rather than whole crude oil, but can also be synthesized from other raw materials. The base material, however, is still overwhelmingly crude oil that is distilled and then modified physically and chemically. The actual synthesis process and composition of additives is generally a commercial trade secret and will vary among producers.

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Cetane number is an indicator of the combustion speed of diesel fuel and compression needed for ignition. It is an inverse of the similar octane rating for gasoline. The CN is an important factor in determining the quality of diesel fuel, but not the only one; other measurements of diesel's quality include energy content, density, lubricity, cold-flow properties and sulphur content.

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Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as cokes. Petcoke is the coke that, in particular, derives from a final cracking process—a thermo-based chemical engineering process that splits long chain hydrocarbons of petroleum into shorter chains—that takes place in units termed coker units. Stated succinctly, coke is the "carbonization product of high-boiling hydrocarbon fractions obtained in petroleum processing ." Petcoke is also produced in the production of synthetic crude oil (syncrude) from bitumen extracted from Canada’s oil sands and from Venezuela's Orinoco oil sands.

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Conradson carbon residue, commonly known as "Concarbon" or "CCR" is a laboratory test used to provide an indication of the coke-forming tendencies of an oil. Quantitatively, the test measures the amount of carbonaceous residue remaining after the oil's evaporation and pyrolysis. In general, the test is applicable to petroleum products which are relatively non-volatile, and which decompose on distillation at atmospheric pressure. The phrase "Conradson carbon residue" and its common names can refer to either the test or the numerical value obtained from it.

Total Base Number (TBN) is a measurement of basicity that is expressed in terms of the equivalent number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide per gram of oil sample. TBN is an important measurement in petroleum products, and the value varies depending on its application. TBN generally ranges from 6–80 mg KOH/g in modern lubricants, 7–10 mg KOH/g for general internal combustion engine use and 10–15 mg KOH/g for diesel engine operations. TBN is typically higher for marine grade lubricants, approximately 15-80 mg KOH/g, as the higher TBN values are designed to increase the operating period under harsh operating conditions, before the lubricant requires replacement. it can be important measurement tool to determine purity of amines as well.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ASTM. "Standard Test Method for Determination of Carbon Residue (Micro Method)" . Retrieved 22 November 2015.
1 2 3 4 International Standards Organization. "ISO 10370:2014. Petroleum products -- Determination of carbon residue -- Micro method" . Retrieved 28 November 2015.
↑ Stanhope-Seta. "Micro Carbon Residue Tester" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2015.
↑ Petroleum Analyzer Company, L.P. "Civilized Carbon Residue Analysis" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2015.
1 2 3 4 ASTM International. "Standard Test Method for Conradson Carbon Residue of Petroleum Products" (PDF).
↑ International Standards Organization. "ISO 10370:2014. Petroleum products -- Determination of carbon residue -- Micro method" . Retrieved 28 November 2015.
↑ Colorado School of Mines. "Delayed Coking" (PDF). Retrieved 22 November 2015.
↑ Sadeghbeigi, Reza (2000). Fluid Catalytic Cracking Handbook: Design, Operation, and Troubleshooting of FCC Facilities. Gulf Professional Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 0884152898.

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[ASTM-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ASTM. "Standard Test Method for Determination of Carbon Residue (Micro Method)" . Retrieved 22 November 2015.

[ISO-2] 1 2 3 4 International Standards Organization. "ISO 10370:2014. Petroleum products -- Determination of carbon residue -- Micro method" . Retrieved 28 November 2015.

[3] Stanhope-Seta. "Micro Carbon Residue Tester" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2015.

[4] Petroleum Analyzer Company, L.P. "Civilized Carbon Residue Analysis" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2015.

[CCR-5] 1 2 3 4 ASTM International. "Standard Test Method for Conradson Carbon Residue of Petroleum Products" (PDF).

[6] International Standards Organization. "ISO 10370:2014. Petroleum products -- Determination of carbon residue -- Micro method" . Retrieved 28 November 2015.

[Coking-7] Colorado School of Mines. "Delayed Coking" (PDF). Retrieved 22 November 2015.

[FCC-8] Sadeghbeigi, Reza (2000). Fluid Catalytic Cracking Handbook: Design, Operation, and Troubleshooting of FCC Facilities. Gulf Professional Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 0884152898.