Photo - coking stills at Pumpherston oil works.
code: LVSAV2019.062
Description
B&W negative copied in 1990 from official albums then held at Grangemouth refinery.
Scottish Oils Ltd was formed in 1919, a combination of boiler stills and pot (coking) stills were used to refine shale oils at Pumpherston. Production methods changed c. 1930 with the introduction of pipe bubble stills which were used in conjunction with coking stills. Coking stills were operated on a batch basis, being heated to dryness with the vapour passing to be fractionated in the bubble tower. Solid paraffin coke was left within the coking still and was then removed by pick and shovel. The dished casting on the right is probably the bottom section of a coking still, removed for repair or renewal. A certain amount of cracking of hydrocarbons occurred in a coking still, which also removed many of the heavier oil components and impurities as a solid coke.
