Chapter- 5 Oil Refining

Refining Crude Oil

Why do we need to refine the crude oil? Why cant we build engines that run on crude oil?

We need to refine the crude oil because Crude oil is an unstable mixture of several hydrocarbons in varying quantities according to the density of the products There is not one type of crude oil but a multitude of different crudes Different crudes contain dissolved gases, sulfur or acid products which are very corrosive for metals

That is why the crude oils must be purified and transformed into products having an almost constant composition, well adapted to their use. These transformations are carried out in refineries. Lets learn more about the refining and refineries

Introduction to Petroleum Refinery

A refinery is a factory. Just as a paper mill turns lumber into paper, a refinery takes crude oil and turns it into gasoline and hundreds of other useful products. A typical refinery costs billions of dollars to build and millions more to maintain A refinery runs twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year and requires a large number of employees to run. A refinery can occupy as much land as several hundred football fields. Workers ride bicycles to move from place to place inside the complex. Typical refinery products are LPG, Gasoline, Kerosene, Diesel, Fuel oil, Lubricating oil, Paraffin wax, Asphalt and Tar Petroleum is also the raw material for products such as fertilizers, pesticides, plastics and other polymers which are used in the manufacturing of fabrics such as silk.

What does refining actually do?

Essentially, refining breaks crude oil down into its various components, which then are selectively reconfigured into new products. All refineries perform four basic steps: a) Separation (Distillation), b) Conversion (Cracking) and c) Reforming d) Blending & Treatment

Crude oil contains many components which differ in boiling points, relative solubility. Moreover crude oil can be categorized under Light Heavy (Asphaltic) Sweet (Non-sulfurous-less than 1% of sulfur) Sour (Sulfurous-more than 1% of sulfur))
Crude oil processing consists of two parts Primary Processing- Output is raw (primary) products Secondary Processing- Output is commercial products which are used by us

Crude Oil

Primary Processing

Raw Products

Secondary Processing

Commercial Products

Separation

Conversion

Primary Processing-Separation
Primary processing involves distillation at atmospheric pressure or under vacuum. Distillation causes separation of breaking up of crude oil into various petrochemicals.

Inside the towers, the liquids and vapors separate into components or fractions according to weight and boiling point. The lightest fractions, including gasoline and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), vaporize and rise to the top of the tower, where they condense back to liquids. Medium weight liquids, including kerosene and diesel oil distillates, stay in the middle. (Heavier liquids, called gas oils, separate lower down, while the heaviest fractions with the highest boiling points settle at the bottom.)

Distillation is done using two methods; a) Atmospheric distillation b) Vacuum Distillation Source- http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/refinery.html

Secondary Processing-Conversion
Primary products require further adjustment of chemical composition in order to become suitable for sale or petrochemical processing. This transformation takes place during conversion stage. The most widely used conversion method is called cracking because it uses heat and pressure to "crack" heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter ones. A cracking unit consists of one or more tall, thick-walled, bullet-shaped reactors and a network of furnaces, heat exchangers and other vessels.
Conversion is directed towards maximum gasoline production

Cracking unit

Cracking is not the only form of conversion. Other refinery processes, instead of splitting molecules, rearrange them to add value. Alkylations, for example, makes gasoline components by combining some of the gaseous byproducts of cracking. The process, which essentially is cracking in reverse, takes place in a series of large, horizontal vessels and tall, skinny towers that loom above other refinery structures. Reforming uses heat, moderate pressure and catalysts to turn naphtha, a light, relatively low-value fraction, into high-octane gasoline components. Well learn more about these processes

Source- http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/refinery.html

Secondary Processing-Conversion
Some of the conversion processes are shown below
VISBREAKING
A mild form of thermal cracking, significantly lowers the viscosity of heavy crude-oil residue without affecting the boiling point range. oil is cracked in the presence of a finely divided catalyst which is maintained in an aerated or fluidized state by the

FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING

oil vapors.

HYDROCRACKING
Hydrocracking is a two-stage process combining catalytic cracking and hydrogenation, wherein heavier feedstocks are cracked in the presence of hydrogen to produce more

DELAYED COKING
The heated charge (typically residuum from atmospheric distillation towers) is transferred to large coke drums which provide the long residence time needed to allow the cracking reactions to proceed to completion.

desirable products.

Secondary Processing- Reforming

Reforming is another process designed to increase the volume of gasoline that can be produced from a barrel of crude oil. For example, Hydrocarbons in the Naptha (another petroleum byproduct) stream have roughly the same number of carbon atoms as those in gasoline, but their structure is generally more complex. Reforming rearranges Naptha hydrocarbons into Gasoline molecules

Blending & Treatment

The finishing touches occur during the final treatment. To make gasoline, refinery technicians carefully combine a variety of streams from the processing units. Among the variables that determine the blend are octane level, vapor pressure ratings and special considerations, such as whether the gasoline will be used at high altitudes. Impurities like Sulfur are also removed to make Gasoline as clean as possible

Some More About Refinery

To Summarize every barrel of crude holds remarkable potential. It provides the building blocks for countless products we depend on every day. You can see below that petroleum in its more refined form contribute heavily to the modern economy.
Bottled Gas Petrol Chemical Works Other Products Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)

Dont be surprised to know that a barrel of crude oil after refining will provide slightly more than 1 barrel of petroleum products. This gain from processing the crude oil is similar to what happens to popcorn, it gets bigger after it is popped.

Heavy Fuel Oil Jet Fuel

Jet Fuel Diesel Fuel & Heating Oil Gasoline Diesel Fuel Lubricating Oil Wax Fuel Oil Power Station Tar (bitumen ) for roads

If you are still wondering how much of what is produced here is a general breakup of the quantity of petroleum products produced in a refinery. However the product mix can be changed as needed. For example, the same barrel can be processed to yield more heating oil in winter. However that would also mean something else will be produced less.

Source- http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/oil.html#How%20used

Some facts About Refinery

Types of refinery
Topping CDU Hydroskimming CDU + Reformer Cracking CDU + Cracker Coking CDU + Cracker + Coker

Some of the refineries we may not have heard of

In India World's Largest Refineries
Haldia Refinery (IOC) 116,000 bpd Panipat Refinery (IOC), 240,000 bpd Digboi Refinery(IOC), 13,000 bpd Gujrat Refinery(IOC), 68,000 bpd Barauni Refinery (IOC), 116,000 bpd Guwahati Refinery (IOC), 20,000 bpd Mathura Refinery (IOC), 156,000 bpd Bongaigaon Refinery(BRPL), 48,000 bpd Manali Refinery (CPCL), 185,000 bpd Jamnagar Refinery (RIL), 660,000 bpd Mumbai Refinery (HPCL), 107,000 bpd Vizag Refinery (HPCL), 150,000 bpd Mumbai Refinery (BPCL), 135,000 bpd Kochi Refinery, 146,000 bpd Numaligarh Refinery (NRL), 58,000 bpd Mangalore Refinery (MRPL), 190,000 bpd Paraguana Refining, Venezuela - 940,000 bpd SK Corporation, South Korea - 817,000 bpd Reliance I, India - 661,000 bpd GS Caltex, South Korea - 650,000 bpd Exxon Mobil, Singapore - 605,000 bpd Reliance II, India (proposed) - 580,000 bpd Exxon Mobil, Baytown, USA - 557,000 bpd S-Oil, South Korea - 520,000 bpd Hovensa LLC, Virgin Islands - 495,000 bpd Exxon Mobil, Baton Rouge, USA - 493,500 bpd Shell Eastern, Singapore - 458,000 bpd In all there are 19 refineries in India BPD- Barrel Per Day

Some more About Refinery

Indias first oil refinery is Digboi Refinery. Worlds first oil refinery was set up in Poland Kerosene is also called as Paraffin Oil Fuel used in a space shuttle is Liquid Oxygen LPG is called as both Liquid Petroleum Gas Or Liquefied Petroleum Gas Kerosene in an aircraft is Fuel used

Exercise
Find the best match of terms in column A & B

A
Jamnagar

Answer
Biggest refinery in India

B
First refinery in India

LPG & Naptha

Petroleum byproducts

Impurity

Hydrocracking
Digboi Refinery

Conversion Process

Commercial Products

First refinery in India

Biggest refinery in India

Sulfur
Secondary Processing

Impurity
Commercial Products

Petroleum byproducts
Conversion Process