Refining: From Crude Oil to Petroleum Products
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Refining From to Petroleum Products
Between the brown and viscous liquid extracted from the Earth, practically unusable in that state, and the feeding the engine of a car, we find the refining operation
It's a transformation operation allowing us to obtain the many finished products that the market demands. The refiner depends on four types of treatment: separation, conversion, improvement and mixing.
These treatments vary according to the quality of crude to be treated and the particularities of the markets to be supplied. The crude oil, taken to high temperature, is first introduced into a distillation column.
The petroleum compounds have different boiling temperatures, which allows the different petroleum compounds (or fractions) to be taken off, the lightest from the top of the column to the heaviest from the bottom.
At the top, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas: butane and propane) is recovered, then petrol (automobiles) and naphtha. This latter is submitted to a chemical process to produce the petrochemical bases: olefins and aromatics.
At the bottom, the kerosenes are recovered (aircraft fuel and domestic heating fuel), then the diesels (for engines) and a series of heavier and heavier products.
These latter products are the paraffins, lubricating oils, heavy fuels (production of industrial heat), waxes (electronic insulation, candles…) and bitumens (road surfacing).
Different types of crude oil look different: some are black and viscous, others are brown and fluid. But none of them can be used as is in car engines, boilers or manufacturing units. They first have to be converted into various finished products through refining.
Everyone is familiar with the names of most of these products: gasoline (called petrol in some countries) and diesel are fuels for cars and trucks; jet fuel powers aircraft; , also known as butane and propane, is an automotive fuel or is packaged in bottles and used for household needs; fuel oil is used in domestic and industrial boilers; base oils are used to produce lubricants; and (or bitumen) is used to pave roads. There is also naphtha, which is the main feedstock for petrochemicals.
Refining Operations
Crude oil is converted into petroleum products in a number of steps in refineries. The first is atmospheric distillation at 350 to 400°C. The crude oil vapors rise inside the column, while the heaviest molecules remain at the bottom. The heavy residues are distilled again in another column.
After separation, the next step is conversion at a temperature of 500°C. Processes include catalytic cracking and , which “crack” the molecules that are still too heavy, producing gas, gasoline and diesel. Then molecules that are corrosive or cause air pollution, such as sulfur, are removed.
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