Production of surface-active agents for sulfonation of petroleum oil

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PREPARING AN EMULSIFYING AGENT WHICH COMPRISES CONTACTING A PETROLEUM LUBRICATING OIL STOCK WITH A PASTE OF FULLER''S EARTH AND OLEUM AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 70* AND 200*F. FOR A PERIOD OF ABOUT ONE HOUR TO EIGHT HOURS, SAID PASTE HAVING A WEIGHT RATIO OF FULLER''S EARTH TO OLEUM OF FROM ABOUT 2:1 TO 1:3, RESPECTIVELY, THE WEIGHT RATIO OF SAID PASTE TO SAID LUBRICATING OIL STOCK BEING FROM ABOUT 1:3 TO ABOUT 1:5, WATER WASHING THE FIRST-STAGE REACTION MIXTURE AND SEPARATING THE MIXTURE INTO AN OIL LAYER AND A SLUDGE, IN A SECOND-STAGE REACTION SUBJECTING THE OIL LAYER FROM THE FIRST-STAGE PRODUCT TO REACTION WITH OLEUM AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 70* AND 200*F. FOR A PERIOD OF ABOUT ONE-HALF HOUR TO FIVE HOURS, THE WEIGHT RATIO OF OLEUM TO SAID OIL BEING BETWEEN ABOUT 1:2 AND 1:4, SEPARATING THE RESULTING ACID OIL FROM SLUDGE AND NEUTRALIZING THE ACID OIL TO OBTAIN SULFONATES.