Petroleum Industry

Petroleum Engineer

deals with the

process of producing oil

and gas from the reservoir,

thus needing knowledge of

reservoir and oil/gas wells.

petrochemical engineer

deals with the production of

petroleum-based chemicals

which is carried out in a

refinery.

petra

rock in latin

oleum

means oil in latin

sweet

crude oil with relatively little sulfur

sour

crude oil with substantial amounts of sulfur

thick, flammable, yellow-to-black

Petroleum can be described as

petroleum

mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid

hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the

earth’s surface

coal

combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock

coal seams

Coal is formed as a rock strata called _______

peat

Coal is formed when dead plant matter decays into _____

Kerogen

Oil shale contains _____

kerogen, 450-500

a precursor of oil that is converted to a type of crude oil when heated to ______ degree celsius

shale oil

oil shale releases a liquid known as

diesel fuel, gasoline, LPG

shale oil can be refined into many different substances such as

Tar sand

a mixture of mostly sand, clay, water, and bitumen

biogenic

created by methanogenic organisms

thermogenic

created from buried organic material

50-95%

% by weight of hydrocarbons in crude oil

crude oil

often called black gold

iron, nickel, copper, vanadium

metals that may be found in crude oil

Linear or branched alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatic HCs, asphaltenes

most commonly found HCs in petroleum crude oil

paraffins

linear or branched alkanes are also called

naphthenes

cycloalkanes are also called

800-2500

MW of asphaltenes

a reservoir of HC material must exist and buried deep enough, a porous permeable reservoir rock,a non-porous non-permeable cap rock

three conditions for oil reservoirs to form

separation, conversion, purification

Petroleum refining consists of

Crude oil desalting, Atmospheric distillation unit, Vacuum distillation unit, Solvent deasphalting, Solvent extraction, solvent dewaxing,

processes in the physical separation processes in petroleum refining

crude oil desalting

electrostatic water separation

ADU

receives high flowrates, largest cost int he refinery, involves the removal of undesirable components like sulphur, nitrogen, and metal compounds, and limiting the aromatic contents.

VDU

reduced temp. requirement at lower pressures

relative volatility

VDU increases the ____ of the key components

Propane in liquid form

Solvent used in Solvent Deasphalting to dissolve the whole oil

DAO and asphalt/asphaltene

products of SDA

Bright Stock

Deasphalted oil from SDA is also known as

Bright Stock

Feedstock for lube oil plant

Solvent Extraction

In this process, lube oil stock is treated by a solvent which can dissolve the aromatic components in one phase (extract) and the rest of the oil in another phase (raffinate). The solvent is removed from both phases and the raffinate is dewaxed.

phenol and furfural

Solvents used in solvent extraction

Solvent dewaxing

The raffinate is dissolved in a solvent and the solution is gradually chilled, during which high molecular weight paraffin is crystallized and the remaining soln is filtered

toluene and methy-ethyl-ketone

Solvents used in solvent dewaxing

dewaxed oil or lube oil, deoiled wax

product of solvent dewaxing

Catalytic reforming, Catalytic Hydrocracking, Catalytic Cracking, Hydrotreating, alkylation, isomerization

Processes in the Chemical Conversion Processes in petroleum refining

catalytic reforming, aromatics and isoparaffins

process used to restructure naphtha

fraction (C6-C10) into ______

gasoline formation, aromatic production(benzene-toluene-xylene or BTX)

naphtha reformate from catalytic reforming is used in ______ and as a feedstock for _____

octane number

used to indicate the resistance of a motor fuel to knock

octane rating

measures of fuel stability based on the pressure at which a fuel will spontaneously combust

hydrotreating

one of the major processes for the cleaning of petroleum fractions from impurities using hydrogen

S, N,oxy-compounds, chloro-compounds, aromatics, waxes, metals

impurities removed in hydrotreating

cobalt and molybdenum oxides on alumina matrix

Catalyst used in hydrotreating

kerosene, jet fuel, diesel and fuel oil

main products from catalytic hydrocracking

zeolite for cracking, rare earth metals supported on alumina for hydrogenation

catalysts used in catalytic hydrocracking

Vacuum gas oils (VGO) and Atmospheric Residues (AR)

higher MW fractions cracked in the presence of hydrogen in catalytic hydrocracking to get light products

Catalytic Cracking

Main player for the production of gasoline

zeolite base

Catalyst for FCC

Vacuum gas oil (VGO)

main feed to FCC

alkylation

process in which isobutene reacts with olefins such as butylene to produce a gasoline range alkylate.

sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid

catalyst used in alkylation

isomerization

process in which low octane number hydrocarbons (C4, C5, C6) are transformed to a branched product with the same carbon number.

isomerization

this process produces high octane number products

Pt-zeolite base

catalyst used in isomerization

Delayed coking, Flexicoking, Visbreaking

processes in the Thermal Chemical Conversion Processes in petroleum refining

delayed coking

thermal cracking vacuum residue by carbon rejection forming coke and lighter products such as gases, gasoline and gas oils

flexicoking

In this thermal process, most of the coke is gasified into fuel gas using steam and air.

gases, gasoline and gas oils w/ very little coke

products of flexicoking

visbreaking

mild thermal cracking process used to break the highly viscosity and pour points of vacuum residue to the level which can be used in further downstream processes

coil visbreaking and soaker visbreaker

types of visbreaking

benzene toluene and xylene

dyes, synthetic detergents and fabrics contain petroleum distillates such as _____

transportation, industrial power, heating and lighting, lubricants, petro-chemical industry, use of by products

six main uses of petroleum