Petroleum Refining Process

Petroleum Refining Process
ABSTRACT:
Refining of crude oil is the most important branches of chemical engineering. Refineries are
complicated network of process that are used to convert crude oil to petroleum products.
Complex mixtures of hydrocarbons are present in the crude oil. With higher requirement for
fuels and the changing of demands of crude oil the refining process is necessary.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Petroleum refining process is used in petroleum refineries to convert the raw crude oil to
useful petroleum products like gasoline, petrol, kerosene, diesel oil, etc. Petroleum refineries
are large industrial factories that consists of different processing units and storage tanks.
Every refinery has its own arrangement and different units that largely process crude oil and
refine it. Now a days petroleum refineries process 800k to 900k barrels of crude oil per day.
[1]
In 1858 James Miller Williams dug the very first oil well in America. In 1859 the oil industry
was setup in the United States. In 1800s the industry was producing kerosene for lamps. In
the early 20th century gasoline was made for the internal combustion engine and the
petroleum industry grew.
In this paper, we present a brief overview of the refining process, how crude oil is converted
into useful petroleum products and what technologies are used to convert the crude oil and
conclusion.
II.
PROCESS
For the process to begin, crude oil is heated until its changed to gas. The hot gases are passed
through crude distillation tower and as they move up they cool down. The gases condense
into liquid as they are below their boiling point. The liquids are extracted from the specific
height in distillation tower ranging from heavy residues at bottom, raw gasoline at top and
raw diesel fuel in the middle. These raw products are then refined and processed to make
different petroleum products.
A barrel of crude oil contains about 30-40% of gasoline. More than 50% of crude oil is
converted to gasoline for transportation purpose. This can be done through various process
that are cracking, reforming and isomerization. Cracking is a process in which large
molecules of heavy oil are broken down into smaller particles. Reforming is done by
changing the molecular structure of low quality gasoline molecules and changing into high
octane liquid. Isomerization is a process in which the atoms in a molecule are rearranged
such that the chemical formula is same but the structure is different.
Figure 1 Refining Process Unit [2]
Figure 1 shows the refining process unit. It consists of coker unit, reformer unit, alkylation unit,
fluid catalytic cracking unit, desulfurization unit, hydro treating, hydro cracking and
isomerization.
Coker Unit:
It is used to process the residue that is heated up to 950 F and enclosed in coke drums
where thermal cracking takes place and due to immense heat the oil
decomposes. Products formed are butane, naphtha, diesel fuel, gas oil and
fuel grade petroleum. [2]
Reformer Unit:
The molecular structure of crude oil and naphthas is changed to primary gasoline called
reformate by the help of pressure, heat and a catalyst.
Alkylation Unit:
Smaller molecules are changed into larger ones known as alkylate by using acid catalyst. The
petroleum has high octane number and is the highest grade gasoline due to its clean burning.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit:

Large oil molecules are cracked or broken down into smaller molecules using heat and a catalyst.
The gasoline formed is of low quality along with a fuel oil know as slurry is obtained. [2]
Desulfurization Unit:
This unit is used to remove sulfur from the petroleum oil as its an impurity. Once sulfur
combines with water at atmospheric pressure it turns into sulfuric acid thus the substance is
removed. [3]
Hydrotreating:
It is uses hydrogen to remove the impurities like sulfur and nitrogen from the crude oil.
Hydrocracking:
It is used to break down the diesel into gasoline by the help of heat, hydrogen at high pressure
and a catalyst.
Figure 2 Common Hydrocarbon Molecules [2]

The figure 2 shows the common hydrocarbon molecules that are used to make different
petroleum products and crude oil.
III.
CONCLUSION
The petroleum industry is at its peak now a day as the machines are powered by it. It the
most useable energy source. There is a reason that the refining of the crude oil will increase
in the coming years as the demand for petroleum is increasing day by day. And by refining
the oil in ones own country reduces the dependence of importing the refined oil from other
countries as it gets expensive.
References:
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_refining_processes
2) http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT05_Refining_Tutorial_FINAL
_R1.pdf
3) http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-important-remove-sulfure-compoundsfrom-crude-260955
4) Petroleum refining process control and real-time optimization Robert E. Young
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?
arnumber=4019324&newsearch=true&queryText=petroleum
%20refining%20process

Petroleum Refining Process

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What are the main steps in the petroleum refining process?

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Petroleum Refining Process

Figure 1 Refining Process Unit [2]

Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit:

Figure 2 Common Hydrocarbon Molecules [2]

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