PETROLEUM

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8133, 13 June 1906, Page 3

PETROLEUM

PROFESSOR KASTERFI KLD'S VIEWS. In the current issue of " Progress," mi illustrated scientific paper, published in Wellington, appears an article by Professor Eiuterliold, ol: A'ietoria College. Following are somo excerpts : According to Ihe Colonial Museum and Laboratory reports, petroleum exists at many places in New Zealand, and a very interesting p.ip'.-r on the mineral oils of New Zealand is to be fiuud in the transactions of I lie New Zealand Institute of 1873. Taranaki oil was at th it time examined by the I ite Vlr Skcy, who found it to be renarkable fur its specific gravity mil freedom from unpleasant odour. From time to lime efforts Vive, been uidc to copj wnh the water; the latest reports indicate Hint the difficulty has been overcome, and that here is much oil to be hud for the pumping The auestion whether the quantity and quality of the oil, and the forking expenses of refining, will allow die material to compete with the imported article cannot yet be determined.

The occurrence of mineral oil appears to have been well known to the oldest writers, references being com.non amongst the wnli-igs of Herodotus, Pliny and Plutarch. In the travels of Marco Polo a f irly lengthy description is siven of the oil springs in the Baku district, which indeed, appears to have been the first centre of the mineral oil industry. Peter the Great, recognising the importance of mineral oil, caused the product of springs in Southern Russia to be systematically collected, and in 1819 a tax appears to have been paid in Baku upon an output increased to 160,000 tons. It was not until 1854 that tho first American'company, the Pcnnsylvanian Rock Oil Co., was formed; this company met. with little success in its early attempts, but in 1861 the first flowing well was tapped, yielding 300 barrels daily for six months; from that time the development of the Pennsylvanian trade has been enormous. In 1893 the output had indeed reached the extraordinary amount of 30,000,000 barrels per year. Mineral oil has been found in larger or smaller quantities in nearly every .civilised country, but it is only the Russian, American, and Burmese fields which practically affect the market at the present day. The output of the different wells in a petroleum district varies greatly, From some wells the oil must be pumped, from others it rises in a natural fountain, sometimes with, uncontrollable violence. One of the best-known instances is that o£ the JJroojba well, which, after being tapped, was uncontrollable for 115 days. It threw up an oil column varying from 100 to 300 ft. in height, and the probable loss of oil was at least 100,000,000 gallons. The whole district was drenched with, oil and sand which partially buried the houses in the neighborhood. Then a cap was affixed to the well mouth, and it continued to yield 3,400 tons daily for the next six weeks

What the origin of mineral oil is we do not know. It has been ascribed to tho action of heat upon fossilised animal or vegetable matter or to tho action of water upon metallic carbides. The method of refining the crude oil is simple: It is distilled from enormous retorts, the more volatile portions naturally distilling first. These arc commonly classed as benzine, which may be further fractionated into products with such fanciful names as rigoline, benzohne, or petroleum ether. After the benzine is distilled a heavier product known as kercsene comes over. This is the product which boils at 150 to 250 or 300 degrees centigrade. In its crude state it is yellow, has a highlyfluorescent appearance, and not una vile smell. To make the oil fit for burning it is agitated with sulphuric acid, which destroys those substances which make the oil clog the nick, then it is shaken with caustic soda to remove all acid compounds, washed with water, and sometimes redistilled, liven now it may lie necessary to bleach the oil either by means of exposure to sunlight or by a system of charcoal liters.

At a higher temperature than the boiling point of kerosene heavy oils of darker colour distil. When these are cooled, paraffin scale crystallises and the oil filtered from the scale is ciiicfly used as a lubricant. If it be distilled it can be separated into light lubricating, heavy lubricatiug oil, and vaseline Some ol the oils yield little vaseline, and others but little paraffin scale.

The testing of the final products is a matter of importance both to the manufacturer and the purchaser, and when contracts are closed it is usual to specify viscosity and behaviour in the cold on the part of lubricating oils, whilst for the paraflln scale, which, after refinement, is called paraffin wax, the smell colour and melting point reijuiiv rigid attention. The aparatus used for the determination of the ilashpoiut is a most ingenious instrument. In this aparatus the oil is slowly warmed until it gives off vapour in sullieicut quantity to catch fire or Hash when a llaiiu l is brought to a lixed distance from the surface of the oil. The most commonly used instrument is that devised by Sir Frederick Abel, and is of such a nature that all personal equations duo to the idiosyncrasies of the manipulator are carefully excluded—a must important point when we remember that it is to the advantage of the seller to register the Ilashpoiut as high as possible,