Autoxidation

“The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.” -- Erma Bombeck (U.S. humorist, 1927-1996)

Found the following review article on the Web.  It is worth reading, and it is available for free download.
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Applied Petrochemical Research, Volume 1, Numbers 1-4, 3-19 (2012)
Desulfurization of heavy oil
Arno de Klerk, R.
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Rashad Javadli
javadli@ualberta.ca
ConocoPhillips Canada, Fort McMurray, AB, Canada
Abstract
Strategies for heavy oil desulfurization were evaluated by reviewing desulfurization literature and critically assessing the viability of the various methods for heavy oil. The desulfurization methods including variations thereon that are discussed include hydrodesulfurization, extractive desulfurization, oxidative desulfurization, biodesulfurization and desulfurization through alkylation, chlorinolysis, and by using supercritical water. Few of these methods are viable and/or efficient for the desulfurization of heavy oil. This is mainly due to the properties of the heavy oil, such as high sulfur content, high viscosity, high boiling point, and refractory nature of the sulfur compounds. The approach with the best chance of leading to a breakthrough in desulfurization of heavy oil is autoxidation followed by thermal decomposition of the oxidized heavy oil. There is also scope for synergistically employing autoxidation in combination with biodesulfurization and hydrodesulfurization.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/4k1t37w341213253/
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Today’s Tip: add autoxidation to your key word list … the one you keep to make your online research more effective.

Defacing FaceBook … Corporate Pages

“Pictures deface walls more often than they decorate them.” -- William Wordsworth (Major English Romantic Poet. 1770-1850)

Lots of talk about how to use social media, including FaceBook, to promote your enterprise.  But how does one do that?

Why not begin by seeing what others have done?

Here are a few corporate FaceBook pages you might want to take a look at …

• Chevron (www.facebook.com/Chevron)
• ConocoPhillips (http://www.facebook.com/pages/ConocoPhillips/173793155340)
• Apache Corp. (http://www.facebook.com/ApacheCorporation)
• Koch Industries (http://www.facebook.com/KochIndustries)
• BP America (http://www.facebook.com/BPAmerica)

Whether your enterprise is corporate or academic, large or small, it might benefit from a FaceBook presence.  Give it some thought.

Here’s another thought … add the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) as a feed on your Intranet.

ResearchGATE … social network for the serious scientist

“Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?” -- Bill Watterson (American Author of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, b.1958)

NPR-National Public Radio (www.npr.org) is my preferred source for general news.  A couple of days ago it surprised me … it featured a piece on ResearchGATE (www.researchgate.com) – a social network aimed specifically at research scientists.

To quote from the NPR piece …

“A few years ago, while he was doing research at Harvard, Ijad Madisch could not figure out why his experiment wasn't working. His adviser didn't know what was wrong, nobody in his lab worked on the same stuff, and none of his researcher friends could help … That's when Madisch got the idea for a scientist network: ResearchGate — a sort of Facebook for scientists. Instead of sharing favorite photos and videos, researchers could use the Web platform to connect with each other and share information that doesn't get published”

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/18/135513803/like-share-learn-facebook-for-scientists

Lest you think, “Oh, God, not ANOTHER way to waste my time,” Google® this …

Researchgate desulfurization

One interesting result, from ConocoPhillips, is …

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Unraveling heavy oil desulfurization chemistry: targeting clean fuels

Tushar V Choudhary, Stephen Parrott, Byron Johnson

ConocoPhillips Company, Bartlesville Technology Center, Bartlesville, Oklahoma 74004, USA.

Environmental science & technology. 04/2008; 42(6):1944-7.

Abstract

The sulfur removal chemistry of heavy oils has been unraveled by systematically investigating several heavy oils with an extremely wide range of properties. The heavy oil feed and product properties have been characterized by advanced analytical methods, and these properties have been related to the sulfur conversion data observed in pilot hydrotreating units. These studies coupled with kinetic treatment of the data have revealed that the desulfurization chemistry of heavy oils is essentially controlled by the strongly inhibiting three and larger ring aromatic hydrocarbon content and surprisingly not by the content of the "hard-to-remove" sulfur compounds. Such enhanced understanding of the heavy oil sulfur removal is expected to open new avenues for catalyst/process optimization for heavy oil desulfurization and thereby assist the efficent production of clean transporation fuels.

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Today’s tip to serious desulfurization researchers: Join ResearchGATE.

Another tip: add the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) as a feed to your homepage.