Petroleum Industry

Petra

means rock

Oleum

means oil

Colonel Edwin Drake

drilles the first successful oil well

Natural Gas and Crude Oils

basic raw materials for the manufacture of petrochemicals

Coal, Oil Shale, Tar Sand

complex carbonaceous raw materials and possible future energy and chemical sources.

Natural Gas

A naturally occurring mixture of light hydrocarbons (alkanes) accompanied by some nonhydrocarbon compounds.

Crude Oil

composite mixture of hydrocarbons (50-95% by weight) occurring naturally. Although it is often called "black gold"

Separation, Conversion, Purification

Petroleum Refining

Separation

The oil is separated into its constituents by distillation, and some of these components (such as the refinery gas) are further separated with chemical reactions and by using solvents

Conversion

The various hydrocarbons are then chemically altered to make them more suitable for their intended purpose.

Purification

The hydrogen sulphide gas which was extracted from the refinery gas in separation process is converted to sulphur, which is sold in liquid form to fertilizer manufacturers.

Crude Oil Desalting

The crude oil contains salt (these chlorides except for NaCl). It is removed in the form of dissolved salt in tiny droplets of water which forms a water-in oil emulsion.

Crude Distillation

t the front- end of the refinery which receives high flow rates hence its size and operating cost are the largest in the refinery.This involves the removal of undesirable components like sulphur, nitrogen, and metal compounds, and limiting the aromatic contents.

Vacuum Distillation

To further distill the residual oil from the CDU, the distillation must be performed at absolute pressure as low as 10-50 mmHg so as to limit the operating temperature to less than 350̊C.

Solvent Deasphalting

This is the only physical process where carbon is rejected from heavy petroleum fraction such as vacuum residue.

Propane in liquid form is usually used to dissolve the whole oil, leaving asphaltene to precipitate.

The deasphalted oil (DAO) has low sulphur and metal contents since these are removed with asphaltene.

Bright Stock

Also called deasphalted oil

Solvent Extraction

In this process, lube oil stock is treated by a solvent, such as phenol and furfural, which can dissolve the aromatic components in one phase (extract) and the rest of the oil in another phase (raffinate).

Solvent Dewaxing

The raffinate is dissolved in a solvent (methyl ethyl ketone, MEK) and the solution is gradually chilled, during which high molecular weight paraffin (wax) is crystallized, and the remaining solution is filtered.

Catalytic Reforming

n this process a special catalyst (platinum metal supported on silica or silica base alumina) is used to restructure naphtha fraction (C6-C10) into aromatics and isoparaffins.

Lube Oil

The extracted and dewaxed resulting oil

Benzene-Toluene-Xylene

Aromatic production BTX

Hydrotreating

This is one of the major processes for the cleaning of petroleum fractions from impurities such as sulphur, nitrogen, oxy-compounds, chloro-compounds, aromatics, waxes and metals using hydrogen.

Cobalt and Molybdenum Oxides on Alumina Matrix

catalyst for hydrotreating

Catalytic Hydrocracking

For higher molecular weight fractions such as atmospheric residues (AR) and vacuum gas oils (VGOs), cracking in the presence of hydrogen is required to get light products.

Zeolite

catalyst for the cracking function

Rare earth metals supported on alumina

catalyst for the hydrogenation function

kerosene, jet fuel, diesel, fuel oil

main products from catalytic hydrocracking

Catalytic Cracking

the main player for the production of gasoline

Vacuum Gas Oil

main feed to fluid catalytic cracking

Alkylation

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

Sulfuric Acid, Hydrofluoric Acid

catalysts for alkylation

Isomerization

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

hexane, benzene

One main advantage of isomerization is to separate _____ before it enters the reformer, thus preventing the formation of _____ which produces carcinogenic products on combustion with gasoline.

Pt-zeolite base

catalyst for isomerization

Delayed Coking

This process is based on the 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.

The burning of coke by air will provide the heat required for thermal cracking.

The products are gases, gasoline and gas oils with very little coke.

Visbreaking

This is a 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.

In this case, the residue is either broken in the furnace coil (coil visbreaking) or soaked in a reactor for a few minutes (soaker visbreaker).

The products are gases, gasoline, gas oil and unconverted residue.

Crudeo Oil Desalting, Crude Distillation, Vacuum Distillation, Solvent Deasphalting, Solvent Extraction, Solvent Dewaxing

Physical Conversion Processes

Catalytic Reforming, Hydrotreating, Catalytic Hydrocracking, Catalytic Cracking, Alkylation, Isomerization

Chemical Conversion Processes

Delayed Coking, Flexicoking, Visbreaking

Thermal Chemical Conversion Processes

Ammonia

source of nitrogen in agricultural fertilizers and petroleum is used in its production. _____ is produced by Haber process which works in two steps. To ensure healthy crop yields, pesticides are used in agriculture and pesticides are produced from oil. Petroleum based products are used from running farm machinery to fertilizing plants in agriculture.

Plastics

include ethylene and propylene come from olefins (Alkenes). Alkenes are derivatives of petroleum. Nylon, Polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride plastics which are integral aspects of many manufactured products is the most successful petroleumbased plastic.

Petroleum by-products

mineral oil and petrolatum are used in many creams and topical pharmaceuticals.

Rubber

obtained from plants which is a natural elastomer and is used in making tires. The need to produce synthetic rubber on a large scale resulted in embargos on natural rubber.

Dyes, Synthetic Detergents, Fabrics

contain petroleum distillates such as benzene, toluene, and xylene.

Lubricants

greases and adds viscosity are derivatives of petroleum.

Paraffin Wax

solid derivable from petroleum that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules.

Tar

used in preserving wooden vessels against rot, it is produced from petroleum.

Asphalt/Bitumen

has primary use in road construction is a derivative of petroleum.

Transportation, Industrial Power, Heating and Lighting, Lubricants, Petrochemical Industry, Use of Byproducts

Six main uses of petroleum

Air Pollution Hazards, Water Pollution Hazards, Soil Pollution Hazards, Oil Spills, Acid Rain

Environmental Impacts