Refining processes

3. Treating Processes - Petroleum treating processes

FUNDAMENTALS OF PETROLEUM
stabilize and upgrade petroleum products by
REFINING separating them from less desirable products and by
Introduction : removing objectionable elements. Undesirable
elements such as sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen are
removed by hydrodesulfurization, hydrotreating,
fluid
coking
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Petrochemical plants and refineries both process chemical sweetening, and acid gas removal. Treating
hydrocarbon derived materials. Refineries focus on fuels processes, employed primarily for the separation of
production. Refinery products include LPG (liquefied petroleum products, include such processes as
petroleum gas), gasoline (petrol), kerosene and jet fuel, deasphalting. Desalting is used to remove salt,
diesel, fuel oils, and coke. Petrochemicals focus on minerals, grit, and water from crude oil feedstocks
creating intermediates used to produce industrial and before refining. Asphalt blowing is used for
consumer products. Major petrochemical processes polymerizing and stabilizing asphalt to improve its
include steam cracking to produce ethylene (ethane), weathering characteristics.
propylene (propene), and butadiene and aromatics plants
producing benzene, toluene, xylene and other aromatics. as shown in Fig .1. a petroleum refinery is a large
industrial complex where crude oil is transformed
Listed below are 3 categories of general refinery processes
into usable products such as gasoline, diesel fuel,
and associated operations:
kerosene, and asphalt using continuous processing
1. Separation processes units. Simple refineries use desalter, overhead
2. Petroleum conversion processes distillation, fluid catalytic cracking, and
3. Petroleum treating processes hydrotreating units to process crude oil into usable
products. Additional units, such as catalytic
1.Separation Processes - The first phase in petroleum
reforming, alkylation, polymerization,
refining operations is the separation of crude oil into its
hydrocracking, and coking units, may be used in
major constituents using 3 petroleum separation
more complex refineries.
processes: atmospheric distillation, vacuum distillation,
and light ends recovery (gas processing). Crude oil
consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds
including paraffinic, naphthenic, and aromatic
hydrocarbons with small amounts of impurities including
sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, and metals. Refinery separation
processes separate these crude oil constituents into
common boiling-point fractions.
2. Conversion Processes - To meet the demands for high-
octane gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel, components such
as residual oils, fuel oils, and light ends are converted to
gasoline and other light fractions. Cracking, coking, and
visbreaking processes are used to break large petroleum
molecules into smaller ones. Polymerization and
alkylation processes are used to combine small petroleum
molecules into larger ones. Isomerization and reforming
processes are applied to rearrange the structure of
petroleum molecules to produce higher-value molecules
of a similar molecular size.
3. Treating Processes - Petroleum treating processes
stabilize and upgrade petroleum products by separating
them from less desirable products and by removing
objectionable elements. Undesirable elements such as
sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen are removed by
Fig .1. Schematic flow diagram of a typical oil refinery
Chapter1. Distillation Primaire The fractional distillation of crude oil carries out
several steps:
(Topping) As shown in Fig.1. The incoming crude oil is
Crude oil distillation preheated, then desalted to remove inorganic salts,
especially sodium chloride. The desalted crude oil is
further heated in heat exchanger and furnace, and then

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Introduction:
2. The mixture boils, forming vapor (gases); most
The oil refining process starts with a fractional substances go into the vapor phase.
distillation column. The various components of 3. The vapor enters the bottom of a long column
crude oil have different sizes, weights, and boiling (fractional distillation column) that is filled with trays
temperatures; so, the first step is to separate or plates. The trays have many holes or bubble caps
these components. Because they have different boiling (like a loosened cap on a soda bottle) in them to allow
temperatures, they can be separated easily by a process the vapor to pass through. They increase the contact
called fractional distillation. After going through the time between the vapor and the liquids in the column
fractional distillation, crude oil is chemically processed and help to collect liquids that form at various heights
to change one fraction into another. Finally, Distillated in the column. There is a temperature difference across
and chemically processed fractions are treated to remove the column (hot at the bottom, cool at the top).
impurities.
4. The vapor rises in the column.
5. As the vapor rises through the trays in the
column, it cools.

6. When a substance in the vapor reaches a height

where the temperature of the column is equal to
that substance's boiling point, it will condense to
form a liquid. (The substance with the lowest
boiling point will condense at the highest point in
the column; substances with higher boiling points
will condense lower in the column)

7. The trays collect the various liquid fractions.

8. The collected liquid fractions may pass to

condensers, which cool them further, and then go
to storage tanks, or they may go to other areas for
further chemical processing.

Heat is supplied to the reboiler to generate vapour. The

source of heat input can be any suitable fluid, although
in most chemical plants this is normally steam. In
refineries, the heating source may be the output
streams of other columns. The vapour raised in the
reboiler is reintroduced into the unit at the bottom of
the column. The liquid removed from the reboiler is
known as the bottom’s product or simply, bottoms.
The vapour moves up the column, and as it exits the
top of the unit, a condenser cools it. The condensed
liquid is stored in a holding vessel known as the reflux
drum. Some of this liquid is recycled back to the top of
the column and this is called the reflux. The condensed
liquid that is removed from the system is known as the
distillate or top product.
The condensed liquid is stored in a holding vessel known as
the reflux drum. Some of this liquid is recycled back to the
top of the column and this is called the reflux. The
condensed liquid that is removed from the system is known
as the distillate or top product.
Fig. 2. A typical Distillation column
Chapter 2. Vacuum Distillation
Introduction:
vacuum distillation of the atmospheric residue yields
additional and valuable distillates, which could
otherwise be thermally destroyed if further distillation
was attempted at atmospheric pressure and above. A
typical vacuum distillation unit is shown in Figure.1
Figure 1. An overall flow for fractional distillation of
crude oil
Principle:
Liquid boils when vapor pressure is equal to the
atmospheric pressure, the pressure on its surface. If the
external pressure is reduced by applying vacuum, the
boiling point of liquid is lowered. Therefore, the liquid
boils at a lower temperature. This principle is
illustrated using an example of water (See Figure.2).
Figure 1. The phase diagram (PT graph) for water.