Process for reducing sulfur-containing contaminants in sulfonated hydrocarbons

摘要

Processes of reducing the inorganic sulfur-containing acid and the low equivalent weight organic sulfonic acid content of an acid mass comprising organic sulfonic components and inorganic sulfonating agent contaminants are described. In general, the process comprises the steps of (a) treating the acid mass with ammonia in the presence of water to neutralize the acids in said acid mass and to form a mixture containing the ammonium salts of said acids. (b) allowing separation of the mixture to provide a lower aqueous phase containing water-soluble ammonium salts and an upper phase comprising the oleophilic alcohol and ammonium salts of the organic sulfonic acids, and (c) recovering at least a portion of said upper phase. The efficiency of the reduction of undesirable materials from the acid mass can be increased by subjecting the recovered upper phase to additional water extractions in the presence of the oleophilic alcohol. The ammonium salts of the organic sulfonic acids recovered by the above process can be converted to oil-soluble metal salts by reacting said ammonium salts with a basically reacting metal compound in such amounts and under such conditions as to form metal salts of said organic sulfonic acids. The metals salts prepared in this manner may be neutral metal salts or highly basic metal salts. The neutral and metal basic salts are useful in a variety of applications including lubricants and fuels.