I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
296
VOL. 14. NO. 15
Recent Additions to the Petroleum Engineering Laboratories, University of Oklahoma W. H . C a r s o n a n d R. L. H u n t i n g t o n , University o f O k l a h o m a , N o r m a n , Okla. cial size was installed at the university (see Figure 2). This unit has the capacity to "top" about 250 barrels of crude oil per day. I t is run several days each semester by the staff, at which time the refinery engineering students obtain plant data and assist with the operations. The petroleum products are used for experimental purposes in the university cars and trucks, and the fuel oil is used in the university power plant. A new C. F. R. knock-testing unit has been installed for experimental work on gasoline and Diesel motor fuels.
FIGURE
1. PETROLEUM E N G I N E E R I N G LABORATORIES WITH C R U D E O I L DISTILLATION U N I T AND D E R R I C K I N L E F T FOREGROUND
HE School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Oklahoma is in T the midst of an extensive building program. This growth is paralleling the rapid development of the petroleum industry. The new laboratories will provide additional facilities and apparatus for both the Petroleum Production and Petroleum Refinery Engineering Departments. Petroleum Production Equipment The oil production engineer is concerned primarily with the drilling of wells and the production of oil and gas. New equipment is being installed so that the regular prescribed courses can be taught in the most efficient manner. Special apparatus will provide for research on such problems as: the flow of oil and gas through porous media, such as unconsolidated sand; the properties of drilling muds, oil-well cements, etc., and the correlation of this knowledge to drilling problems; the stage separation of crude oil-gas mixtures; the water flooding of partially depleted oil sands; the study of oil-well pumping equipment; the flow of oil-gas mixtures in vertical pipes; the calculation of oil and gas reserves from solubility-shrinkage data and other statistical information. The main petroleum engineering laboratory is shown in Figure 1. In the right foreground is a full-sized pumping unit. A well 450 ft. in depth has been drilled in front of this pumping jack, in which various types of rods, working barrels, and other parts which make up pumping equipment can be tested. Provision has been made for the circulation of crude oil downward through the annular space between the casing and tubing and upward through the tubing. Thermocouples have been installed in order to take temperature readings at various points in the casing and tubing. In the left foreground the lower part of a90-ft. derrick can be seen, in which the vertical flow of oil-gas mixtures is to be studied. A 30 X 40 ft. one-story brick laboratory is being built near this derrick. This laboratory will be used for experimental work on rotary drilling muds. Refinery E n g i n e e r i n g F a c i l i t i e s The refinery engineer is trained in the fundamental unit processes connected with the refining of crude oil and the manufacture of natural gasoline. About five years ago a crude oil distillation unit of commer-
L u b r i c a t i n g Oil P l a n t Figure 3 shows the new lubricating oil plant in the course of construction. I t is being designed to process hourly several barrels of either bright or neutral stock. It is completely equipped with refrigeration machinery, cold rooms, wax press, clay-oil slurry filter, contact furnace, acid-treating tank, percolator filters, and shell still for naphtha removal, etc. In addition to this conventional equipment, plans are being made to install apparatus for the study of solvent extraction and solvent dewaxing of lubricating oil stocks. All of the processing equipment and apparatus is of such dimensions that results, comparable to those obtained in commercial plants, can be reproduced in the laboratories. The lubricating oil plant will give the undergraduate students in refinery engineering an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the actual unit processes which make up the complete manufacturing cycle. For the graduate students, the plant will provide ample facilities for carrying on applied research in the manufacture of lubricating oils and in the application of these oils to various kinds of machinery. New Pharmacy Building of Howard College HE new building of the School of Pharmacy of Howard College of Birmingham, Ala., has been completed. The structure is of brick, three stories high, and houses the laboratories of manufacturing pharmacy, dispensing pharmacy, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology. The building and equipment were designed by A. Richard Bliss, Jr., dean of the School of Pharmacy.
T F I G U R E 2. C R U D E OIL DISTILLATION UNIT WITH GAHOLINE TREATING PLANT IN F O R E GROUND AND DERRICK IN BACKGROUND
F I G U R E 3.
LUBRICATING OIL PLANT (IN C O U R S E OF CONSTRUCTION)
