Crude Oil Refining &

Upgrading
By: Kelvin Wong, Kaying Ng,
Shaheen Zangooi
What is Crude Oil & Crude Oil Refining?
 Crude oil, also known as black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish
flammable liquid, which is found in the upper strata of some regions of the
Earth's crust
 It is a complex mixture of various hydrocarbons, (mainly, alkanes), along with
trances of other chemicals and compounds (e.g. Sulphur)
 When extracted from underground, it ranges in density from very light to very
heavy and in color, from yellow to black
 Crude oil can be categorized as either "sweet crude" (where the sulphur
content less than 0.5%) or "sour crude," (where the sulphur content is at least
2.5%)
 Crude oil must undergo several separation
processes so that its components can be
obtained and used as fuels or converted to
more valuable products
 The process of transforming crude oil into
finished petroleum products (that the
market demands) is called crude oil refining

An Oil Refinery
Distillation of Crude Oil
 We can separate the components of crude oil by taking advantage of the
differences in their boiling points. This is done by simply heating up crude
oil, allowing it to vaporize, and then letting the vapor to condense at different
levels of the distillation tower (depending on their boiling points). This
process is called fractional distillation and the products of the fractional
distillation of crude oil is called fractions

 A fraction from crude oil can be categorized into two categories:

 Refined Product: A crude oil fraction which contains a lot of individual
hydrocarbons (e.g. gasoline, asphalt, waxes, and lubricants)

 Petrochemical Product: A crude oil fraction which contain one or two

specific hydrocarbons of high purity (e.g. benzene, toluene, and
ethylene).
Crude Oil Refining
AT THE TOP OF AT THE BOTTOM
THE OF THE
DISTILLATION DISTILLATION
COLUMN COLUMN

Short carbon Long carbon

chains chains

Light molecules Heavy molecules

Low boiling High boiling points

points

Gases & very Thick, viscous

runny liquids liquids

Very volatile Low volatility

Light colour Dark colour

Highly flammable Not very

flammable
Fractions of Crude Oil & Their Properties
Number of Boiling Point
Name Uses
Carbon Atoms (°C)
Bottled Gas
Refinery Gas 3 or 4 below 30
(propane or butane).
Fuel for car
Gasoline 7 to 9 100 to 150
engines.
Solvents
Naphtha 6 to 11 70 to 200
and used in gasoline.
Fuel for aircraft
Kerosene (paraffin) 11 to 18 200 to 300
and stoves.
Fuel for road vehicles
Diesel Oil 11 to 18 200 to 300
and trains.
Lubricant for engines
Lubricating Oil 18 to 25 300 to 400
and machines.
Fuel for ships
Fuel Oil 20 to 27 350 to 450
and heating.
Lubricants
Greases and Wax 25 to 30 400 to 500
and candles.
Road surface
Bitumen above 35 above 500
and roofing.
Chemical Processing
 The fractions from crude oil are liable to undergo chemical processing to
alter its structure and thus its properties
 The sort of chemical processing employed depends largely on the market
demand
 Examples of chemical processes are as the following:
 Cracking: the process obtaining relatively simple and small
hydrocarbon molecules from the breaking down of large, heavier
and more complex hydrocarbon molecules.
 Coking: the process of breaking down bitumen into its fractions
(done by a Coker)
 Alkylation: A process where the structure of a hydrocarbon
molecule in one fraction is altered to produce another hydrocarbon
molecule with another structure. In alkylation, compounds with a low
molecular weight, such as propylene and butylene, are mixed in the
presence of a catalyst such as hydrofluoric acid or sulfuric acid
 Unification: a process where two or more hydrocarbons are
combined to produce a larger one. The major unification process is
called catalytic reforming and occurs in the presence of a catalyst
(platinum, platinum-rhenium mix) to combine low weight naphtha into
aromatics
Treatment Processes
 Chemical sweetening, acid treating, clay contacting, caustic
washing, hydro treating, drying, solvent extraction, and solvent
dewaxing. Sweetening compounds and acids desulphurize crude oil
before processing and treat products during and after processing.

 Clay Treating
 Use clay to soak up and remove unwanted components in petroleum
 Dilute the oil with solvent and freeze the oil
 During the freezing process, wax will be solidify leaving only the pure oil
in liquid phase
 Acid treating
 Using concentrated sulphuric acid to convert sludge from the oil
 Expensive
 SO2 Treating
 Using a very toxic recyclable solvent to remove the worst components in
oil
Treatment: The Finishing Touch
 Impurities such as organic compounds containing sulphur, nitrogen, oxygen,
water, dissolved metals and inorganic salts must be removed from the
distillated and chemically processed fractions
 Treating is typically done by passing the fractions through the following:
 a column of sulphuric acid - removes unsaturated hydrocarbons
(hydrocarbons with carbon-carbon double-bonds), nitrogen
compounds, oxygen compounds and residual solids (tars, asphalt)
 an absorption column filled with drying agents to dehydrate the
fraction
 sulphur treatment and hydrogen-sulphide scrubbers to remove
sulphur and sulphur compounds

 Today, a major portion of refining involves blending, purifying, fine-tuning and

improving products to meet specific requirements
 Example: Refinery workers carefully blend together a variety of
hydrocarbons to make petrol. Moreover to distinguish the various grades of
fuel, technicians add performance additives and dyes. At the end of the
production of petrol, the petrol contains more than 200 hydrocarbons and
additives
Refining Capacities
Why Upgrade An Oil Refinery?
 Oil refining releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
 Response to changing market demands for certain products
 Government regulations
 Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA90)
 Changing consumer demand for better and different products
 Decrease the number of non-hydrocarbons, impurities, and other
constituents
 Potential physical, mechanical, chemical, and health hazards are
recognized in air
Accomplishment of Oil Refinery
Upgrading
 The emissions of
pollutants from oil
refining decreased
significantly over the
past decade due to
the new technology
implemented into the
oil refining
techniques
Solvent-Refining Process
 Uses chemicals (fairly safe recyclable solvent) to dissolve one part of the oil
from another
 Removes heavy materials and wax (undesirable component by extraction)
References
 How Stuff Works. 1998. How Oil Refining Works?. [Online].
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining.htm

 UTS Energy Corporation. 2005. Glossary. [Online]

http://www.uts.ca/glossary/

 www.gcsescience.com. 2005. Products of Oil. [Online]

http://www.gcsescience.com/a/o5.htm

 Alan G. Lucas. 2000. Modern Petroleum Technology Volume 2. New York:

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

 Douglas M. Ruthren. 1997. Encyclopaedia of Separation Technology

Volume 2. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.