PROCESS DESCRIPTION:
Refining crude oil is a multi-step process. In one step, crude oil is processed with powdered iron oxide to remove sulfur (from the crude oil). This step costs time & money: [a] time, to remove sulfur from the crude oil, & [b] money, in iron oxide raw material costs. The particle size of iron oxide currently used by industry for this step is unnecessarily large (+/- 0.3 millimeters). Using particles this large limits the volume of iron oxide surface area the crude oil is exposed to, increasing both the amount of time & raw materials needed for this step. Decreasing the iron oxide particle size a thousandfold (into the nanoscale range) will decrease the amount of time & raw materials needed. But traditional nanoscale particles can be absorbed by humans thru the lungs, and are hence toxic. |
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Our product is a nanoporous (+/-0.3mm size) particle too large to be toxic to humans. Each particle contains a honeycomb of pores (approx. 0.000003mm) which accelerate the desulfuring process just as effectively as conventional nanopowders do. A +/- $100 laboratory BET surface area test will independently confirm technical claims made herein. Moreover, our product is available now, is inexpensive to manufacture, eliminates the safety concerns traditionally associated with nanoscale materials, and delivers a possibly-patentable cost advantage to the refineries which possess & use it. Transitional nanoporous metal oxides (like manganese oxide) with the same surface area properties as our iron oxide product are also available. |