Peculiarities of Petroleum as Raw Material for Separation

A number of significant peculiarities distinguishes petroleum from other kinds of raw materials  

The largest world volume of production. It attaches especially great importance to the solution of the task of optimal designing of petroleum refining units. 

Continuity of properties of components. A large number of components leads to the fact that dependence of properties of components on their normal bubble temperature is continuous. Therefore, in practice, while designing one deals not with the true components but with pseudocomponents (i.e., with groups of components boiling away in a set interval of temperatures), and the quality of the products is characterized not by their purity but by their refinery inspection properties. 

Wide intervals of bubble temperatures of components from negative temperatures for light hydrocarbon gases up to over 800°C for heavy fractions of mazut and tar. 

Thermolability-thermal decomposition of components at high temperatures (360 400°C). Thermolability limits separability of petroleum and the possibility of recovery of the most valuable components. Therefore, the main task of synthesis of petroleum mixture separation flowsheets is the creation of such flowsheets that allow recovery of a maximum number of valuable components at a permissible temperature (i.e., without thermal decomposition of components). 

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