Introduction
Petroleum affects almost every part of our modern lifestyle, from gasoline used in our vehicles, to lubrication, plastics, fabric and cosmetics, to create pharmaceutical drugs and many more products that improve our everyday life. However, these products would not exist without the process of refining. For instance, you wouldn’t have the gas tank of your car filled with crude oil! It has to first be refined into gasoline! (oil150, 2015)
The refining of crude oil takes place all over the world. In the early days of the petroleum refining industry, production of desired gasoline and kerosene products was by means of simple distillation, with up to fifty percent of the crude oil feedstock being discarded. Over the years, this industry …show more content…
Salts and other impurities dissolve into the water after mixture is heated and settle at the bottom of the tank.
• Electric desalting: in this method, high-voltage electrostatic charges are applied to concentrate water globules that are suspended in the bottom of the settling tank. Surfactants can then be added if the crude contains large amount of suspended solids (NPTEL, 2015).
Distillation
After desalting, the crude oil undergoes fractional distillation in a high-pressure steam boiler, this tank makes the oil boil and vaporize with the temperature reaching 1112 OF. The vapor enters the bottom of a distillation column through a pipe. The distillation column is a tall tank with many plates or trays.
Figure 2 Crude distillation
The vapor is cooled as it rises in the column. The specific vapors cool at their boiling points and condense on the plates or trays in the column. The liquid fractions flow through pipes and are collected in separate tanks. The fractions include gases, naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, lubricating oils, heavy oils, and other materials (oil150, 2015). There are two kinds of distillation …show more content…
The boiling point of the component is brought down and allowing distillation of heavier fractions without excessive thermal decomposition. It is carried out to distill crude oil components that are extremely sensitive to heat or have high boiling points that cannot be distilled at atmospheric pressure.
Figure 3 Vacuum distillation Source: James et al, 2007
Cracking
In this petroleum refining process large hydrocarbons are broken down into smaller hydrocarbons by applying heat and pressure in presence or absence of catalyst. It is one of the major ways of converting crude oil to products such as motor gasoline, jet fuel, and home heating oil. There are two main categories:
• Thermal cracking
• Catalytic cracking
Thermal cracking
Large hydrocarbons are heated at high temperature (~800°C) and in some cases under high pressure (~700kPa) in order to break them apart. In the early 1900, heavy oils and distillate fuels were heated under pressure in large drums until they cracked into smaller molecules with better antiknock characteristics. A large amount of unwanted coke is produced during this process (Eoearth, 2015). The thermal cracking processes used in refineries
Petroleum affects almost every part of our modern lifestyle, from gasoline used in our vehicles, to lubrication, plastics, fabric and cosmetics, to create pharmaceutical drugs and many more products that improve our everyday life. However, these products would not exist without the process of refining. For instance, you wouldn’t have the gas tank of your car filled with crude oil! It has to first be refined into gasoline! (oil150, 2015)
The refining of crude oil takes place all over the world. In the early days of the petroleum refining industry, production of desired gasoline and kerosene products was by means of simple distillation, with up to fifty percent of the crude oil feedstock being discarded. Over the years, this industry …show more content…
Salts and other impurities dissolve into the water after mixture is heated and settle at the bottom of the tank.
• Electric desalting: in this method, high-voltage electrostatic charges are applied to concentrate water globules that are suspended in the bottom of the settling tank. Surfactants can then be added if the crude contains large amount of suspended solids (NPTEL, 2015).
Distillation
After desalting, the crude oil undergoes fractional distillation in a high-pressure steam boiler, this tank makes the oil boil and vaporize with the temperature reaching 1112 OF. The vapor enters the bottom of a distillation column through a pipe. The distillation column is a tall tank with many plates or trays.
Figure 2 Crude distillation
The vapor is cooled as it rises in the column. The specific vapors cool at their boiling points and condense on the plates or trays in the column. The liquid fractions flow through pipes and are collected in separate tanks. The fractions include gases, naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, lubricating oils, heavy oils, and other materials (oil150, 2015). There are two kinds of distillation …show more content…
The boiling point of the component is brought down and allowing distillation of heavier fractions without excessive thermal decomposition. It is carried out to distill crude oil components that are extremely sensitive to heat or have high boiling points that cannot be distilled at atmospheric pressure.
Figure 3 Vacuum distillation Source: James et al, 2007
Cracking
In this petroleum refining process large hydrocarbons are broken down into smaller hydrocarbons by applying heat and pressure in presence or absence of catalyst. It is one of the major ways of converting crude oil to products such as motor gasoline, jet fuel, and home heating oil. There are two main categories:
• Thermal cracking
• Catalytic cracking
Thermal cracking
Large hydrocarbons are heated at high temperature (~800°C) and in some cases under high pressure (~700kPa) in order to break them apart. In the early 1900, heavy oils and distillate fuels were heated under pressure in large drums until they cracked into smaller molecules with better antiknock characteristics. A large amount of unwanted coke is produced during this process (Eoearth, 2015). The thermal cracking processes used in refineries