Written By: Jim Gill, Orange Research
One of the largest markets for Orange Research is Oil & Gas. Their products are very popular in refineries. The basic principle of a refinery is to cook the oil to break it down into various types of basic hydrocarbon products, such as gas, gasoline, lube oil, kerosene and so forth. This is done in very large distillation towers…a process called cracking.
First, the Atmospheric Distillation Tower (or column) breaks down the oil into several different forms with the heavier, thicker oils settling at the bottom of the tower. These heavy “gas oils” then go on to a second tower called a Vacuum Distillation Tower for further cracking. These tall distillation towers give refineries their distinctive upright look.
A large oil company in Oklahoma, uses the Orange Research 1201 high temp. unit to measure the health of a filter. The filter cleans the oil being processed at the Vacuum Tower. The temperature of the oil itself is about 600F!