Petroleum chemicals Information sources

In this part of the book, fundamental chemical information of interest to petroleum chemists is given. The first chapter deals with the main definitions as well as the important properties of crude oil and petroleum products used by petroleum specialists. A short history is given as to how crude oil became the most important power source for our civilization for over thousands of years. 

Benzene found in the environment is from both human activities and natural processes. Benzene was first discovered and isolated from coal tar in the 1800s. Today, benzene is made mostly from petroleum sources. Because of its wide use, benzene ranks in the top 20 in production volume for chemicals produced in the United States. Various industries use benzene to make other chemicals, such as styrene (for Styrofoam and other plastics), cumene (for various resins), and cyclohexane (for nylon and synthetic fibers). Benzene is also used for the manufacturing of some types of rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides. Natural sources of benzene, which include volcanoes and forest fires, also contribute to the presence of benzene in the environment. Benzene is also a part of crude oil and gasoline and cigarette smoke. For more information on the nature and uses of benzene, see Chapters 3 and 4. 

The sources listed below furnish process information from the chemical, petroleum, and metallurgical fields. This information is usually in the form of qualitative block type or equipment flow sheets which can serve as starting points for a process and plant design problem. The student should make a thorough literature survey to understand all the chemistry and engineering aspects of the process design problem (see Reference Sources in Chap. 2). 

The software used for prediction of the microbial metabolism (biodegradation) of petroleum thiophene is the OECD (Q)SAR Application Toolbox. The Toolbox is a software application intended to be used by governments, chemical industry and other stakeholders in filling gaps in (eco) toxicity data needed for assessing the hazards of chemicals. The Toolbox incorporates information and tools from various sources into a logical workflow (OECD (Q)SAR Project). 

The history and fundamentals of continuous thermodynamics will be briefly presented here and has been discussed in detail elsewhere. Before the 1980 s many authors applied continuous distribution functions to specific cases of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, statistical thermodynamics, the VLE of petroleum fractions and the LLE of polydisperse polymer systems. Starting in 1980 a consistent version of chemical thermodynamics directly based on continuous distribution functions was developed and called continuous thermodynamics. The work of Kehlen and Ratzsch," " Gualtieri et al., Salacuse and Stell, Briano and Glandt," are to be mentioned as sources of information. In the following years several groups applied continuous thermodynamics to nearly all important types of polydisperse systems." Cotterman and Prausnitz reviewed the literature up until about 1990. In the 1980 s continuous modelling of phase equilibria was mostly focused on polymer systems, petroleum fractions and natural gases. In the last ten years, this has been expanded to also include problems with asphaltene precipitation from crude oils and wax precipitation from hydrocarbon mixtures. In section 9.4 the more recent papers are discussed. 

In solid sources of fossil fuel - coal, oil shale, oil sands and tar sands - the mineral content is higher and the hydrocarbon molecules usually are heavier. In China and South Africa, a significant amount of coal is converted into synthesis gas, which is used to make chemicals and/or synthetic petroleum. In Canada, oil sands are converted into more than 700,000 barrels-per-day of S5uithetic petroleum, which is sent to conventional oil refineries in Canada and the United States. A well-written book by Berger and Anderson provides additional general information about the formation, production, and refining of petroleum. 

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