Petroleum Processes

The heavy vacuum bottoms stream is fed to a Flexicoking unit. This is a commercial (125,126) petroleum process that employs circulating fluidized beds at low (0.3 MPa (50 psi)) pressures and intermediate temperatures, ie, 480—650°C in the coker and 815—980°C in the gasifier, to produce high yields of hquids or gases from organic material present in the feed. Residual carbon is rejected with the ash from the gasifier fluidized bed. The total Hquid product is a blend of streams from Hquefaction and the Flexicoker. 

Relatively small amounts of methane, ethane, and propane also are produced as by-products from petroleum processes, but these usually are consumed as process or chemical feedstock fuel within the refineries. Some propane is recovered and marketed as LPG. 

Petroleum refining, also called petroleum processing, is the recovery and/or generation of usable or salable fractions and products from cmde oil, either by distillation or by chemical reaction of the cmde oil constituents under the effects of heat and pressure. Synthetic cmde oil, produced from tar sand (oil sand) bitumen, and heavier oils are also used as feedstocks in some refineries. Heavy oil conversion (1), as practiced in many refineries, does not fall into the category of synthetic fuels (syncmde) production. In terms of Hquid fuels from coal and other carbonaceous feedstocks, such as oil shale (qv), the concept of a synthetic fuels industry has diminished over the past several years as being uneconomical in light of current petroleum prices. 

R. J. Hengstebeck, Petroleum Processing, Principles and Applications, McGraw-HiU Book Co., Inc., New York, 1959. 

Asphalt [8052-42-4] is defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) (1) as a dark brown to black cementitious material in which the predominating constituents are bitumens that occur in nature or are obtained in petroleum processing. Bitumen is a generic term defined by ASTM as a class of black or dark-colored (soHd, semisoHd, or viscous) cementitious substances, natural or manufactured, composed principally of high molecular weight hydrocarbons, of which asphalts, tars, pitches, and asphaltites are typical. 

More recendy, asphalts have been defined as the manufactured materials that are produced during petroleum processing whereas bitumens have been defined as the naturally occurring materials (5,6). That is, petroleum and related materials can be divided into various class subgroups ... 

Oil Field and Petroleum Processing. Sodium chlorite is finding increasing use as the choice precursor for generating chlorine dioxide for biocidal control in the production of cmde oil (see Petroleum). The use of water in the oil field pumping and processing systems presents significant... 

Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers for General Piefineiy Seivices, API Standard 660, 4th ed., 1982, is published by the American Petroleum Institute to supplement both the TEMA Standards and the ASME Code. Many companies in the chemical and petroleum processing fields have their own standards to supplement these various requirements. The Jnterrelation.ships between Codes, Standards, and Customer Specifications for Proce.ss Heat Tran.sfer Equipment is a symposium volume which was edited by F. L. Rubin and pubhshed by ASME in December 1979. (See discussion of pressure-vessel codes in Sec. 6.)... 

Inhibitors The use of various substances or inhibitors as additives to corrosive environments to decrease corrosion of metals in the environment is an important means of combating corrosion. This is generally most attractive in closed or recirculating systems in which the annual cost of inhibitor is low. However, it has also proved to be economicaUv attrac tive for many once-through systems, such as those encountered in petroleum-processing operations. Inhibitors are effective as the result of their controlling influence on the cathode- or anode-area reactions. 

APi RP 540, Electrical Installations in Petroleum Processing Plan 3 hird Edition, Washington, DC American Petroleum Institute, 1991. 

The factors that affect conversion were mentioned above, but the measure of conversion was not described. In a simple chemical reaction, conversion is easily determined by measuring the products formed or the disappearance of the starting material. A petroleum process, however, deals with a multitude of different compounds, many of which still cannot be identified, let alone measured. This makes the selection of a good measure of conversion difficult. 

One common practice in petroleum processing is to define conversion as (100 % of material boilings above gasoline). While this is somewhat vague, it can be made more specific if gasoline is considered as hydrocarbons boilings... 

At UOP, Ipatieff had the opportunity to apply his former research in catalytic promoters and high-pressure technique to develop important catalytic petroleum processing technologies. In contrast to the way he conducted science, Ipatieff s technical efforts were conducted in teams comprised of a wide assortment of specialists. 

Used by permission, Bolles. V, L., Petroleum Processing, Feb. ihrii May (1956). 

Thronton, D. P., Water Scarce—Natural Gasoline Plant Uses Air for 80% of Required Cooling, Petroleum Processing, V. 2, p. 52,Jan. (1947). 

Figure 12-16D. Typical compressor ailments and how they look on P-T diagrams. (Used by permission Palmer, E. Y. Petroleum Processing, p. 884, June 1954). National Petroleum News, Adams Business Media.)...

Newman, C., and N. H. Moerke, Which Type of Pulsation Dampener Fits Your Compressor Problem Petroleum Processing. 1,724, Nov. (1955). 

Used by permission Thornton, D. P., Jr. Petroleum Processings p. 1321, Sept. 1953, and also adapted and modified by this author. 

Thornton, D. P, Jr., How to Get What You Need When You Order Electric Motors, Petroleum Processing, p. 1318, Sept. (1953). 

Certain aromatic, nitrogen compounds (e.g., pyridines and quinolines) are basic and can cause coking on acid catalysts during petroleum processing. 

Alkylation in petroleum processing produces larger hydrocarbon molecules in the gasoline range from smaller molecules. The products are branched hydrocarbons having high octane ratings. 

Typical BW antifoam emulsion products include SAG 10 and SAG 30 (10 and 30% milky white emulsions, each with a viscosity of 2,000 cS at 25 °C) from Union Carbide Corporation. These same products also are used for food processing (under FDA 21CFR 173.340), for petroleum processing (as amine scrubbers, gas-oil separators, etc.), and as functional chemicals (antifreezes, hydraulic fluids, cutting oils, etc.). 

Forbes, D. J. "Protecting Petroleum Process-Plant Buildings From Vapor Cloud Explosions." Exxon Research and Engineering Company. ACI Fall Convention, Session on Explosions eP Buildings, October 30, 1992. 

A6. Hattori, K. and Aikawa, S Scheduling and Planning Inspection of C-0.5Mo Equipment Using The New Hydrogen Attack Tendency Chart, pvp.Vol. 239/MPC-Vol. 33, Serviceability of Petroleum Process and Power Equipment, ASME, 1992. 

Current address Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, P.O. Box 914, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China... 

The pyrophoricity of nickel-on-sepiolite catalysts after use in petroleum processing operations may be caused by the presence of finely divided nickel and/or carbon. See other pyrophoric catalysts... 

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