One barrel of 26° B. oil weighs 314.4 pounds; therefore the total heat required to top one barrel of this oil at 100 per cent efficiency would be:

142.72X314.4=44,771.17 B. t. u.

The record of fuel consumed in 1916 shows 0.0159 barrel of fue used to 1 barrel of oil topped, or, with 18° B. gravity fuel, 98,761.26 British thermal units. The over-all efficiency of the battery of toppers is therefore:

The averages of a series of daily readings of temperatures of the fluids passing the heat exchangers during the month of November, 1916, are tabulated below, with the computed rates of heat transmission obtained in the apparatus.

Average temperatures of residuum and crude oil in heat exchangers, Avon refinery, November, 1916.

by crude oil per square foot per hour per degree mean temperature difference.

=

F S(t-t),

Нот

=the British thermal units of heat seemingly transferred to crude

oil per square foot per hour per degree of mean temperature difference.

K should equal K, but for the heat lost in radiation by the residuum from the 10-inch jacket to the atmosphere.

F=weight of fluid passing per hour.

S-specific heat of fluid, 0.4 for residuum, 0.45 for crude.

H=heating surface of the exchanger.

BREA PLANT.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

One of the first and largest topping plants of nondistinctive design in California is that at Brea, Orange County. It was erected in 1911 and has been running continuously since then to dehydrate and top the oils produced in the Fullerton field. The tops and residue supply the local market with motor spirits and fuel oil.

In general, the plant consists of two batteries of pipe retorts and two batteries of four 40-horsepower boiler stills each, all served by seven condensers of the open submerged type. Each of the pipe retorts is provided with a vapor separating tower and a small heat exchanger. The residuum from these exchangers is run through a cooler, consisting of a 3-inch coil in a shallow water tank.

The two batteries of boiler stills feed one small vapor separator and are served by a total of four heat exchangers and one residuum cooler.

A small rerunning plant consisting of three steam stills, one heat exchanger, and three dephlegmators and condensers, is used for fractionating some of the first-run distillate. Three condensers identical with those of the crude sets serve to further cool these fractions before they reach the tail house. Steam for the entire plant is supplied by a battery of five 80-horsepower tubular boilers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS.

PIPE RETORT BATTERIES.

Both batteries of retorts are placed in a single brick setting whose over-all dimensions are approximately 20 by 20 feet by 14 feet in height. Red-brick walls, faced within by fire brick, built to these outside measurements inclose the batteries, and a middle division wall divides the setting into two compartments. Within the upper part of each compartment six horizontal rows each of eight 3-inch pipes 20 feet long are supported by the brickwork and are connected end to end to form a continuous coil. An auxiliary coil of short 3-inch pipes, placed at right angles to the other pipes and similarly supported, is arranged to supply two intermediate rests for each row of

the main coil. These coils are connected in series with each other, forming a continuous path for oil through the batteries. The pipe connections for the main coil extend just beyond the outside of the brick walls, and sheet-iron covers are provided to reduce the radia-tion losses. The prewarming-coil connections are not protected. Oil enters the prewarming coil of each battery at the bottom and is forced upward and into the top row of the main coil. Thence it travels back and forth and downward successively through each row to the exit from the inside pipe of the bottom row.

The bottom row of pipes is about 5 feet above the floor of the setting, and this lower part of the compartment forms the combustion chamber in each battery. Combustion gases make one pass over the coils, leaving through short stacks mounted on top of the setting opposite to the end where the burners are placed. The fuel oil used is atomized by steam through these burners, the feed being

SIDE ELEVATION

REAR VIEW

regulated by valves on the front of each furnace (see fig. 2). Plate XVII shows this battery with its accompanying separating towers.

BOILER STILL BATTERIES.

Each battery consists of four 40-horsepower California type of tubular drilling boilers, set adjacent to each other at successive levels, to permit a gravity flow between them. They are placed in a common setting, each with a separate combustion chamber and stack. Combustion gases are given one pass under the stills and a second pass through the tubes to the stack.

Two 4-inch headers, one in front and one in the rear of each battery, are connected by one or more 4-inch pipes to each still. Valves are placed between each of these connections to permit the isolation of any still from the system during repairs. Oil enters the highest