Introduction To Refining
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Introduction
- The purpose of an oil refinery is to transform Crude Oil which is a non-uniform mixture of hydrocarbon molecules, into fuel and chemical products that meet the needs of the consumer.
Significant Concepts
- Refineries differ in their level of complexity. There are many different types of refining processes, different types of crude oils, and so each refinery is unique
- A standardised measure of the complexity of a refinery is the Nelson Complexity, the more units a refinery has, the more capabilities it possesses, the higher Nelson Complexity number it is assigned
- Refineries that have no cracking units are referred to as Hydro-skimming Refineries. They typically have Nelson Complexities of 2-3
Refining Processes
- Petroleum refining processes and operations can be separated into five basic areas:
Fractionation
- Fractionation (distillation) is the separation of crude oil in Atmospheric Distillation and Vacuum Distillation Unit into groups of hydrocarbon compounds of differing boiling-point ranges called "fractions" or "cuts."
Conversion
- Conversion Processes change the size and/or structure of hydrocarbon molecules. These processes include: :
- Decomposition (dividing) by thermal and catalytic cracking;
- Common processes include:
- Flexicoking
- Delayed Coker
- Fluidised Catalytic Cracker
- Hydrocracker
- Visbreaker
- Unification (combining) through Alkylation and Polymerization; and
- Alteration (rearranging) with Isomerization and Catalytic Reforming.
- Decomposition (dividing) by thermal and catalytic cracking;
Treatment
- Treatment Processes to prepare hydrocarbon streams for additional processing and to prepare finished products.
- Treatment may include removal or separation of aromatics and naphthenes, impurities and undesirable contaminants.
- Treatment may involve chemical or physical separation e.g. dissolving, absorption, or precipitation using a variety and combination of processes including Crude Oil Desalting, drying, hydrodesulphurisation, solvent refining, Sweetening, solvent extraction, Solvent Deasphalting, and Solvent Dewaxing.
Formulating and Blending
- Formulating and Blending is the process of mixing and combining hydrocarbon fractions, additives, and other components to produce finished products with specific performance properties.
Other Refining Operations
- Other Refining Operations include:
- light-ends recovery;
- Sour-Water Stripping;
- solid waste, process-water and wastewater treatment;
- cooling, storage and handling and product movement;
- Steam Methane Reforming;
- acid and tail-gas treatment;
- Sulfur Recovery.
Links
- Introduction from Australian Institute of Petroleum
- Dalhousie University, OIL REFINERY PROCESSES ppt
- DESCRIPTION OF PETROLEUM REFINING PROCESSES AND RELATED HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
page revision: 13, last edited: 11 Jul 2014 07:38