6/28/2020 Petroleum naphtha - Wikipedia

Petroleum naphtha
Petroleum naphtha is an intermediate hydrocarbon liquid stream derived from the refining of
crude oil[1][2][3] with CAS-no 64742-48-9.[4] It is most usually desulfurized and then catalytically
reformed, which rearranges or restructures the hydrocarbon molecules in the naphtha as well as
breaking some of the molecules into smaller molecules to produce a high-octane component of
gasoline (or petrol).

There are hundreds of different petroleum crude oil sources worldwide and each crude oil has its own
unique composition or assay. There are also hundreds of petroleum refineries worldwide and each of
them is designed to process either a specific crude oil or specific types of crude oils. Naphtha is a
general term as each refinery produces its own naphthas with their own unique initial and final
boiling points and other physical and compositional characteristics.

Naphthas may also be produced from other material such as coal tar, shale deposits, tar sands, and
the destructive distillation of wood.[5][6]

Contents
The major source of petroleum naphtha in a petroleum refinery
Types of virgin naphthas
Cracked naphthas
Other uses
Safety
References
External links

The major source of petroleum naphtha in a petroleum

refinery
The first unit operation in a petroleum refinery is the crude oil distillation unit. The overhead liquid
distillate from that unit is called virgin or straight-run naphtha and that distillate is the largest
source of naphtha in most petroleum refineries. The naphtha is a mixture of many different
hydrocarbon compounds. It has an initial boiling point (IBP) of about 35 °C and a final boiling point
(FBP) of about 200 °C, and it contains paraffins, naphthenes (cyclic paraffins) and aromatic
hydrocarbons ranging from those containing 4 carbon atoms to those containing about 10 or 11
carbon atoms.

The virgin naphtha is often further distilled into two streams:[7]

a virgin light naphtha with an IBP of about 30 °C and a FBP of about 145 °C containing most (but
not all) of the hydrocarbons with six or fewer carbon atoms
a virgin heavy naphtha containing most (but not all) of the hydrocarbons with more than six
carbon atoms. The heavy naphtha has an IBP of about 140 °C and a FBP of about 205 °C.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_naphtha 1/4
6/28/2020 Petroleum naphtha - Wikipedia

The virgin heavy naphtha is usually processed in a catalytic reformer, because the light naphtha has
molecules with six or fewer carbon atoms—which, when reformed, tend to crack into butane and
lower molecular weight hydrocarbons that are not useful as high-octane gasoline blending
components. Also, the molecules with six carbon atoms tend to form aromatics, which is undesirable
because the environmental regulations of a number of countries limit the amount of aromatics (most
particularly benzene) in gasoline.[8][9][10]

Types of virgin naphthas

The table below lists some typical virgin heavy naphthas, available for catalytic reforming, derived
from various crude oils. It can be seen that they differ significantly in their content of paraffins,
naphthenes and aromatics:

Typical heavy naphthas

Crude oil name Barrow Island Mutineer-Exeter CPC Blend Draugen

Location Australia[11] Australia[12] Kazakhstan[13] North Sea[14]
Initial boiling point, °C 150 140 149 150
Final boiling point, °C 200 190 204 180
Paraffins, liquid volume % 46 62 57 38
Naphthenes, liquid volume % 42 32 27 45
Aromatics, liquid volume % 12 6 16 17

Cracked naphthas
Some refinery naphthas also contain some olefinic hydrocarbons, such as naphthas derived from the
fluid catalytic cracking, visbreakers and coking processes used in many refineries. Those olefin-
containing naphthas are often referred to as cracked naphthas.

In some (but not all) petroleum refineries, the cracked naphthas are desulfurized and catalytically
reformed (as are the virgin naphthas) to produce additional high-octane gasoline components.

Other uses
Some petroleum refineries also produce small amounts of specialty naphthas for use as solvents,
cleaning fluids and dry-cleaning agents, paint and varnish diluents, asphalt diluents, rubber industry
solvents, recycling products, and cigarette-lighter, portable-camping-stove and lantern fuels. Those
specialty naphthas are subjected to various purification processes.

Sometimes the specialty naphthas are called petroleum ether, petroleum spirits, mineral spirits,
paraffin, benzine, hexane, ligroin, white oil or white gas, painters naphtha, refined solvent naphtha
and Varnish makers' & painters' naphtha (VM&P). The best way to determine the boiling range and
other compositional characteristics of any of the specialty naphthas is to read the Safety Data Sheet
(SDS) for the specific naphtha of interest.

On a much larger scale, petroleum naphtha is also used in the petrochemicals industry as feedstock to
steam reformers and steam crackers for the production of hydrogen (which may be and is converted
into ammonia for fertilizers), ethylene, and other olefins. Natural gas is also used as feedstock to
steam reformers and steam crackers.

Safety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_naphtha 2/4
6/28/2020 Petroleum naphtha - Wikipedia

People can be exposed to petroleum naphtha in the workplace by breathing it, swallowing it, skin
contact, and eye contact. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) set the legal
limit (permissible exposure limit) for petroleum naphtha exposure in the workplace as 500 ppm
(2000 mg/m3) over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 350 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday and
1800 mg/m3 over 15 minutes. At levels of 1100 ppm, 10% of the lower explosive limit, petroleum
naphtha is immediately dangerous to life and health.[15]

References
This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "Petroleum naphtha", which is
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not
under the GFDL.

1. Gary, James H.; Handwerk, Glenn E. (1993). Petroleum Refining Technology and Economics
(Second ed.). Marcel Dekker. ISBN 0-8247-7150-8.
2. Leffler, William L. (1985). Petroleum Refining for the Nontechnical Person (Second ed.).
PennWell Books. ISBN 0-87814-280-0.
3. Speight, James G. (2006). The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum (Fourth ed.). CRC Press.
ISBN 0-8493-9067-2.
4. "Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated heavy" (https://echa.europa.eu/substance-information/-/subst
anceinfo/100.059.210). European Chemicals Agency.
5. Exploiting the Benefits of Fischer-Tropsch Technology (http://sasol.investoreports.com/sasol_ar_2
006/review/downloads/segmented/sasol_ar_2006_business_model.pdf) Archived (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20100816134733/http://sasol.investoreports.com/sasol_ar_2006/review/downloads/
segmented/sasol_ar_2006_business_model.pdf) 2010-08-16 at the Wayback Machine (Sasol’s
integrated business model)
6. Beychok, Milton R. (May 1975). Process and Environmental Technology for Producing SNG and
Liquid Fuels (https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/91017KXP.TXT?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Cli
ent=EPA&Index=Prior+to+1976&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestr
ict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&IntQFieldOp=0&Ext
QFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5Czyfiles%5CIndex%20Data%5C70thru75%5CTxt%5C0
0000019%5C91017KXP.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&
MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Displa
y=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page
&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1&SeekPage=x&ZyPURL#) (Report). United States Environmental
Protection Agency. EPA-660/2-75-011.
7. Fuel Chemistry (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sci/chem-faq/part6/section-1.html) (scroll down to "What
is naphtha")
8. Canadian regulations on benzene in gasoline (http://www.ec.gc.ca/CEPARegistry/regulations/det
ailReg.cfm?intReg=1) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20041012052626/http://www.ec.gc.c
a/CEPARegistry/regulations/detailReg.cfm?intReg=1) 2004-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
9. Briefing on Benzene in Petrol (http://www.ukpia.com/Portals/0/Repository/documents/Benzene%2
0in%20petrol.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070730053050/http://www.ukpia.com/
Portals/0/Repository/documents/Benzene%20in%20petrol.pdf) 2007-07-30 at the Wayback
Machine From website of United Kingdom Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA)
10. Eilperin, Juliet (March 2, 2006). "EPA Seeks Less Benzene in Gasoline" (https://www.washington
post.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102113.html). The Washington Post.
11. "Barrow Island - Summary of Major Cuts" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101130002914/http://ww
w.santos.com/library/barrow_crude.pdf) (PDF). Santos. October 10, 2001. Archived from the
original (http://www.santos.com/library/barrow_crude.pdf) (PDF) on November 30, 2010.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_naphtha 3/4
6/28/2020 Petroleum naphtha - Wikipedia

12. "Mutineer-Exeter Crude Oil Production Assay" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101129213355/htt

p://www.santos.com/library/refining_characteristics.pdf) (PDF). Santos. September 2005.
Archived from the original (http://www.santos.com/library/refining_characteristics.pdf) (PDF) on
November 29, 2010.
13. "Tengiz Assay CPC Blend Assay" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110722000149/http://crudemark
eting.chevron.com/assay/cpc_summary.pdf) (PDF). Chevron Crude Marketing. Tengizchevroil.
February 1, 2007. Archived from the original (http://crudemarketing.chevron.com/overview.asp?cp
c) on July 22, 2011.
14. "Crude Oil Assay: Draugen" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110719234708/http://www.statoil.co
m/en/OurOperations/TradingProducts/CrudeOil/Crudeoilassays/Downloads/Draugen%202002%2
011.pdf) (PDF). Statoil. January 21, 2003. Archived from the original (http://www.statoil.com/en/O
urOperations/TradingProducts/CrudeOil/Crudeoilassays/Downloads/Draugen%202002%2011.pd
f) (PDF) on July 19, 2011.
15. "Petroleum distillates (naptha)" (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0492.html). National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved November 27, 2015.

External links
CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - Petroleum distillates (naptha) (https://www.cd
c.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0492.html)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Petroleum_naphtha&oldid=930500868"

This page was last edited on 12 December 2019, at 22:53 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_naphtha 4/4