PETROCHEMICALS

CRUDE OIL
REFINERY
 Could crude oil be
used directly if only
we had the right
kinds of engines and
boilers?
INTRODUCTION
 The answer is no, because each crude oil is very different and
made up of a large number of hydrocarbon molecules.
 The lightest molecules, dissolved gases, have 1 to 4 carbon
atoms, while the heaviest have over 20.
 These molecules are present in varying proportions
depending on the deposit, meaning that each oil has its own
composition and properties.
 Some crudes are black and viscous and contain a lot of heavy
molecules; others are brown, more fluid and lighter.
 Each also contains a certain amount of dissolved gas and
highly corrosive products, such as sulfur or acids, which can
sometimes be toxic.
 For these different reasons it is impossible to develop a
universal boiler or engine capable of running on all crude oils.
INTRODUCTION
 Crude oil is a highly variable mixture of heavy and light
hydrocarbons that need to be separated in a refinery to
turn them into usable products.
 Demand for petroleum products has changed significantly
since the mid-20th century.
 In industrialized countries, the development of road and
air transportation has accelerated, leading to stronger
demand for light products, such as fuel.
 At the same time, the consumption of heavy fuel oil has
declined as other energy sources, such as gas and
nuclear power , are being used for heating and power
generation.
PRESENT GLOBAL DEMAND
 Today, global demand for petroleum products breaks
down roughly as follows:

 40% for light distillates (fuel)

 40% for middle distillates (fuel oil, diesel)
 20% for heavy distillates (wax, asphalt )

 The only crude oil that more or less matches these

percentages before refining is Algeria’s light Saharan
Blend.
MOST CRUDE OIL
 All other crudes contain a larger percentage of heavy
products.
 The average breakdown of distillates obtained by separation
of crude oil is significantly different from the breakdown in
demand:
 25% for light distillates
 35% for middle distillates
 40% for heavy distillates
 To align production with demand, it is therefore necessary to
convert some of the heavy products into light products
before bringing them to market.
 These lighter products are more expensive than crude oil,
because their price includes refining costs.
THREE STAGES OF REFINING:
 Separation
 Conversion
 Treating
 SEPARATION
 In the first step, molecules are separated through atmospheric distillation
according to their molecular weight.
 During the process, the oil is heated at the bottom of a 60-meter distillation
column at a temperature of 350 to 400°C, causing it to vaporize.
 The vapors rise inside the column while the heaviest molecules, or residuals,
remain at the bottom, without vaporizing.
 As the vapors rise, the molecules condense into liquids at different
temperatures in the column.
 Only gases reach the top, where the temperature has dropped to 150°C.
 The liquids, which are become increasingly light the higher they are found in
the column, are collected on trays located at different heights of the column.
Each tray collects a different petroleum cut (fraction) with highly viscous
hydrocarbons like asphalt (bitumen) at the bottom and gases at the top.
 The heavy residuals left over after atmospheric distillation still contain many
products of medium density.
 The residuals are transferred to another column where they undergo a
second distillation to recover middle distillates like heavy fuel oil and diesel .
CONVERSION
 There are still many too heavy hydrocarbon molecules
remaining after the separation process. To meet demand for
lighter products, the heavy molecules are “cracked” into two
or more lighter ones.
 The conversion process, which is carried out at 500°C, is also
known as catalytic cracking because it uses a catalyst to
speed up the chemical reaction.
 This process converts 75% of the heavy products into gas,
gasoline and diesel.
 The yield can be increased further by adding hydrogen , a
process called hydrocracking , or by using deep conversion to
remove carbon.
 The more complex the operation, the more it costs and the
more energy it uses.
 The refining industry’s ongoing objective is to find a balance
between yield and the cost of conversion.
TREATMENT
 Treating involves removing or significantly reducing molecules
that are corrosive or cause air pollution, especially sulfur.
 European Union sulfur emission standards are very stringent.
Since January 1, 2009, gasoline and diesel sold in Europe
cannot contain more than 10 parts per million (ppm) , or 10
milligrams per kilogram, of sulfur. The purpose of these
measures is to improve air quality and optimize the effectiveness
of catalytic converters used to treat exhaust gas.
 For diesel, desulfurization , or sulfur removal, is performed at
370°C, at a pressure of 60 bar. The hydrogen used in the process
combines with the sulfur to form hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which
is then treated to remove the sulfur, a substance used in
industry.
 Kerosene, butane and propane are washed in a caustic soda
(sodium hydroxide) solution to remove thiols, also known as
mercaptans. This process called sweetening.
AUTOMOTIVE FUELS
 Automotive fuels must be treated to increase their octane
rating, which is a measure of a fuel's resistance to detonation,
based on a scale of 0 to 100. (Engine knocking occurs when the
fuel in an internal combustion engine ignites spontaneously
with no input from the spark plug.) If the octane rating isn’t high
enough, the engine will eventually be irreversibly damaged. To
avoid this, it is necessary to boost the octane rating to 95 or 98.

 The process used to produce high-octane products is called

catalytic reforming. The chemical reactions during catalytic
reforming, which uses platinum as a catalyst, occur at 500°C
and a pressure of 10 bar. They convert some of the naphthenic
hydrocarbons (saturated cyclic hydrocarbons) into aromatic
hydrocarbons (unsaturated cyclic hydrocarbons), which have a
much higher octane rating. Other chemical reactions, such as
alkylation, also improve the octane rating.
 REFINED PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
AND THEIR USES
Each refined petroleum product obtained from crude oil
has a specific use:
 Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) , also known as butane
and propane, is used as an automotive fuel or packaged
in bottles and used for household purposes.
 Gasoline and diesel are used as fuels for motor vehicles.
 Kerosene is used as jet fuel.
 Naphtha is a major petrochemical feedstock.
 Heating oil is used to heat buildings.
 Base oils are used to make lubricants.
 Asphalt, sometimes called bitumen, is used to pave
roads.
END