Petroleum industry and gasoline

PETROLEUM-NOTffiNCLATURE IN TTiE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY] (Voll8) -gasoline standards [GASOLINE AND OTTiER MOTOR FUELS] (Vol 12)... 

As time, passes and the petroleum industry and society develops, the demand for refinery products skyrockets, and product specifications continually tighten. New processes are developed to improve gasoline octane. Petrochemical... 

Petroleum Industry Gas chromatography is ideally suited for the analysis of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, and oil. A typical chromatogram for the analysis of unleaded gasoline is shown in Figure 12.25d. 

The market value of natural gas Hquids is highly volatile and historically has been weakly related to the world price of cmde oil. During the 1980s, the market value of natural gas Hquids ranged from approximately 60% of the price of cmde to 73% (12). In this 10-year interval, several fluctuations occurred in the natural gas Hquid market. Because of the variabiHty of the natural gas Hquid market, the NGL recovery plants need to have flexibiHty. Natural gas Hquid products compete in the following markets ethane propane a Hquefted petroleum gas (LPG) a C-3/C-4 mix and / -butane all compete as petrochemical feedstocks. Propane and LPG are also used as industrial and domestic fuels, whereas 2-butane and natural gasoline, consisting of C-5 and heavier hydrocarbons, are used as refinery feedstocks. 

A number of other words that have traditionally been used in the petroleum industry are difficult to define precisely. These refer pardy to specific hoiling ranges, but also to certain intended uses. Thus, gasoline boils lower than naphtha, and kerosenes generally higher, but these terms are applied to products that ate intended as fuels, rather than as solvents. 

The United States is unique among the major countries in that supply and demand has determined price structures in the petroleum industry. Today, even though the products are much better than fifty years ago, the before-tax retail prices of gasolines, diesel fuels, and heating oils are much less on a constant-value dollar basis than they ever have been before. Even with the federal and state taxes included, the retail prices on a constant-value dollar basis... 

The main use of naphtha in the petroleum industry is in gasoline production. Light naphtha is normally blended with reformed gasoline (from catalytic reforming units) to increase its volatility and to reduce the aromatic content of the product gasoline. 

Vollmar, Petterson, and Petruzzelli27 in 1949 disclosed that the following commercial applications of comparative absorptiometry were being made in the petroleum industry sulfur in hydrocarbon mixtures, tetraethyllead fluid in gasoline, additives (such as metal soaps) in lubricating oils, and the metal content of metallo-organic derivatives. Complete documentation of subsequent developments in the petroleum industry is out of place here but it is easy to cite proof that comparative absorptiometry has been successful in that industry.27 32... 

Uses Used in the petroleum industry to make so-called alkylate for improved octane gasoline. Large quantities are polymerized to polypropylene for carpeting, upholstery, ropes, and other uses. Used in the chemical industry as a starting material for many large-volume chemicals such as acetone, acrylonitrile, and propylene oxide. 

The growth of petroleum consumption has been quite substantial as a result of increasing demand for its distillation products. As examples, mention may be made of use of gasoline as a motor fuel, of light oil for diesel engines, of distillate and residual oils for industrial and domestic heating. 

Catalysts were expensive, however, so the petroleum industry did not solve the problem of cheap, lead-free, knock-free gasoline until the 1970s, after General Motors adopted the catalytic converter. Lead compounds inactivate the catalysts, and sophisticated catalytic cracking techniques had to be developed to replace the fuel additive. Ironically, an even more difficult job was finding a substitute for the protective coating that tetraethyl lead formed on exhaust valve seats not even newly developed, extremely hard materials prevent wear and tear on them as well as tetraethyl lead did. 

Even more important, his decision to remain an untenured senior research fellow meant that he could be fired at any time. After the Ethyl Corporation s representatives visited Patterson s office, the petroleum industry upped the pressure a notch. A member of Caltech s board of trustees was a vice president of a petroleum company that used tetraethyl lead in its gasoline. The trustee telephoned Caltech s president, Lee DuBridge, about Patterson. DuBridge in turn phoned Patterson s boss Robert P. Sharp, chair of Caltech s geological and planetary sciences division. 

Note, however, benzene with an e, should not be confused with benzine, with an i. Benzine, with an i, refers to petroleum distillates, and is an old term for gasoline. The chemical rings can also link up with chains and other rings to form still more complex compounds. These chemicals are widely used in industry in all sorts of forms from solvents to pharmaceuticals. The list is virtually inexhaustible hence, thousands of new compounds are added to the workplace every year and many are never investigated to determine the extent of their potential toxicity. 

---