Amoco Oil Co. has begun selling in the U.S. Midwest an improved premium gasoline that is refined an extra step.
The company said its Crystal Clear Amoco Ultimate, when compared with and without the added refining step, reduces hydrocarbon emissions 13% and has less deposit-forming impurities. The fuel is the only colorless premium gasoline on the market today, Amoco said.
Amoco implemented the added refining step at its 350,000 bc/d Whiting, Ind., refinery to produce the improved 93 octane gasoline for its Midwest markets. Service stations in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota are receiving the gasoline.
WHAT'S INVOLVED
The added refining step involves splitting ultraformate feedstock into light and heavy ultraformate (LUF and HUF). LUF goes to a blending tank to produce Amoco Silver and regular grade gasolines, while the HUF goes to an aromatics recovery unit to yield compounds used as chemical feedstocks.
The core of the added process step occurs next, when the HUF enters a distillation tower to yield a colorless ultraformate for blending in Amoco Ultimate. Heavier parts of the HUF are isolated as petrochemical feedstock or blended into fuel oil.
Amoco Chemical Co. buys the petrochemical feedstock.
Distillation also removes many impurities that can rob a car's engine of performance and cause hydrocarbon emissions. Amoco said the emissions reduction occurs with considerable efficiency, with a loss of only 0.8%/gal of premium gasoline.
The extra refining recess has been in place several years in Amoco's 433,000 b/cd Texas City, Tex., and 53,000 b/cd Yorktown, Va., refineries. They supply markets in the U.S. South and East.
Amoco estimates hydrocarbon emissions from automobiles are lower by 500,000 to 2 million lb/year in its Crystal Clear Amoco Ultimate marketing area because of the fuel's cleaner burning properties.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
