Petroleum Processing Trends

Another significant trend is the current program to increase the production of benzene from petroleum 16). Increasing requirements for the production of styrene, phenol, and other intermediates have made it essential that new sources be found to supplement current supplies of this aromatic hydrocarbon, and the only apparent source is from petroleum processes. To meet current needs of the military and civilian program the United States Petroleum Administration for Defense has been asked to increase petroleum benzene from the current rate of 12,000,000 gallons to 100,000,000 gallons per year 84). Present production from petroleum is small in comparison with that from other sources, but these proposed expansions may add materially to the output of petroleum-derived intermediates that will ultimately go to the manufacture of plastics and synthetic rubber. 

A second main trend in petroleum processing - tightening environmental regulations - started in 1970 and accelerated in recent years. Major areas of improvement include ... 

Acetic acid has been produced in relatively large quantities for more than 100 years. The changes in the methods used for its production over this period reflect some of the underlying general trends in the chemical industry. It was originally produced via fermentation, as were many other organic chemicals in the early days of the chemical industry. The first major synthetic process for acetic acid was based on the hydrolysis of acetylene to acetaldehyde catalyzed by mercuric ion. This process was the dominant method of production for more than 40 years, until 1955— 1960, when two new processes were developed which have dominated the acetic acid markets in the past 20 years. Celanese in the United States and British Petroleum in Europe introduced short-chain paraffin oxida-... 

The current trend throughout the refining industry is to produce more fuel products from each barrel of petroleum and to process those products in different ways to meet product specifications for use in various (automobile, diesel, aircraft, and marine) engines. Overall, the demand for liquid fuels has expanded rapidly and demand has developed for gas oils and fuels for domestic central heating and fuel oil for power generation, as well as for hght distillates and other inputs, derived from crude oil, for the petrochemical industries. 

The sources of wastewater generation in petroleum refineries have been discussed previously in this chapter. Table 5 presents a qualitative evaluation of wastewater flow and characteristics by fundamental refinery processes [5]. The trend of the industry has been to reduce wastewater production by improving the management of the wastewater systems. Table 6 shows waste-water loadings and volumes per unit fundamental process throughput in older, typical, and newer technologies [15]. Table 7 shows typical wastewater characteristics associated with several refinery processes [16]. 

Today s petroleum distillation plants are compared with the units in existence in 1925, and a review is presented of the advances during the past 25 years in construction practices and materials, instrumentation, and engineering design, which have made possible the current technology. The theory and application of special processes, such as azeotropic and extractive distillation and Hypersorption, are discussed. The development of molecular distillation and rotary columns is described to indicate possible trends to be expected in the future. 

Since this estimated share pattern was derived mainly from projection of trends (particularly long term trends), it seems appropriate to focus on oil and speculate as to how possible future events might alter its forecast future role. Events related to pollution control tend to indicate increases in petroleum demand. The use of lead free gasoline, for instance, requires additional refinery processing, which in turn consumes more petroleum fuel. Increasingly tighter controls on sulfur dioxide emissions from thermal-electric plants will cause a shift from coal to low sulfur fuel oil if there is no economic flue-gas desulfurization to cope with coals sulfur content. 

Thus, it has become possible to define certain general trends that occur in the hydrodesulfurization of petroleum feedstocks. One of the more noticeable facets of the hydrodesulfurization process is that the rate of reaction declines markedly with the molecular weight of the feedstock (Figure 4-6) (Scott and Bridge, 1971). For example, examination of the thiophene portion of a (narrowboiling) feedstock and the resulting desulfurized product provides excellent evidence that benzothiophenes are removed in preference to the dibenzothiophenes and other condensed thiophenes. The sulfur compounds in heavy oils and residua are presumed to react (preferentially) in a similar manner. 

As the trend toward utilizing heavier petroleum feedstocks continues, the hydro-treating processes used to upgrade such stocks become increasingly important. Difficulties are encountered in the development of catalysts with high resistance to deactivation. Another important challenge is that of designing three-phase reac-... 

Enormous amounts of natural gas and petroleum products are burned daily. Of course, in the combustion process, it is the heat produced that is more important, not the chemical products of the reaction, carbon dioxide and water. However, many scientists are concerned that the production in this reaction of enormous quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, might be initiating a global warming trend. 

Many of the processes new to this edition reflect recent trends in the global chemical industry. There is now much less emphasis on new processes for making basic chemicals and more emphasis on pollution prevention and waste disposal. Petrochemical processes, based on petroleum and natural gas, are giving way to biochemical processes, using a variety of sources of biomass. 

Turk, B.S. and Gupta, R.P. RTFs TReND process for deep desulfurization of naphtha. American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, 2001, 46, 392. 

TABLE 18.5 Trends in the Utilization of Cracking Processes for Petroleum Modification in the U.S.A."... 

---