Petroleum refining fractionation

Edmister, W.C. and K.K. Okamoto (1959), Applied hydrocarbon thermodynamics. Part 12 equilibrium flash vaporization correlations for petroleum fractions . Petroleum Refiner, Vol. 38, No. 8, p. 117. 

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. 

Alkali Treatment. Caustic washing is the treatment of materials, usually products from petroleum refining, with solutions of caustic soda. The process consists of mixing a water solution of lye (sodium hydroxide or caustic soda) with a petroleum fraction. The treatment is carried out as soon as possible after the petroleum fraction is distilled, since contact with air forms free sulfur, which is corrosive and difficult to remove. The lye reacts either with any hydrogen sulfide present to form sodium sulfide, which is soluble in water, or with mercaptans, foUowed by oxidation, to form the less nocuous disulfides. 

A few industrial catalysts have simple compositions, but the typical catalyst is a complex composite made up of several components, illustrated schematically in Figure 9 by a catalyst for ethylene oxidation. Often it consists largely of a porous support or carrier, with the catalyticaHy active components dispersed on the support surface. For example, petroleum refining catalysts used for reforming of naphtha have about 1 wt% Pt and Re on the surface of a transition alumina such as y-Al203 that has a surface area of several hundred square meters per gram. The expensive metal is dispersed as minute particles or clusters so that a large fraction of the atoms are exposed at the surface and accessible to reactants (see Catalysts, supported). 

Ex situ or off-site, regeneration of noble metal catalysts is not commonly practiced by commercial petroleum refiners because it requires either an extended period with the process shut down or requires that a spare load of cosdy catalyst, which would only be used for a fraction of the time, be purchased and kept available. 

Ethyleneamines are used in certain petroleum refining operations as well. Eor example, an EDA solution of sodium 2-aminoethoxide is used to extract thiols from straight-mn petroleum distillates (314) a combination of substituted phenol and AEP are used as an antioxidant to control fouling during processing of a hydrocarbon (315) AEP is used to separate alkenes from thermally cracked petroleum products (316) and TEPA is used to separate carbon disulfide from a pyrolysis fraction from ethylene production (317). EDA and DETA are used in the preparation and reprocessing of certain... 

Figure 10-114. Design chart for liquid volume fraction using parameter defined in equation 10-168. (Used by permission Fair, J. R. Petroleum Refiner, Feb. 1960, p. 105. Gulf Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)...

Naphtha is a generic term normally used in the petroleum refining industry for the overhead liquid fraction obtained from atmospheric distillation units. The approximate boiling range of light straight-run naphtha (LSR) is 35-90°C, while it is about 80-200°C for heavy straight-run naphtha (HSR). ... 

Solvent extraction may also be used to reduce asphaltenes and metals from heavy fractions and residues before using them in catalytic cracking. The organic solvent separates the resids into demetallized oil with lower metal and asphaltene content than the feed, and asphalt with high metal content. Figure 3-2 shows the IFP deasphalting process and Table 3-2 shows the analysis of feed before and after solvent treatment. Solvent extraction is used extensively in the petroleum refining industry. Each process uses its selective solvent, but, the basic principle is the same as above. 

Petroleum refining begins by fractional distillation of crude oil into three principal cuts according to boiling point (bp) straight-run gasoline (bp 30-200 °C), kerosene (bp 175-300 °C), and heating oil, or diesel fuel (bp 275-400 °C). Further distillation under reduced pressure then yields... 

Any chemical derived from petroleum, the main refining processes being fractional distillation, catalytic cracking and platforming (reforming the constituents with the aid of a platinum catalyst). Since sulphur may be recovered from petroleum refining and since SBR, furnace black and processing oils are all petrochemicals it is... 

The petrochemical industry also includes the treatment of hydrocarbon streams from the petroleum refining industry and natural gas liquids from the oil and gas production industry. Some of the raw materials used in the petrochemical industry include petroleum, natural gas, ethane, hydrocarbons, naphtha, heavy fractions. 

The propylene-butylene fraction constitutes a large part of the useful hydrocarbons produced by synthesis. It differs from similar fractions derived from petroleum refining in its high olefin (over 80%) and low isobutylene content, but this is no handicap in converting it to high octane gasoline by polymerization or by alkylation, if isobutane is available from another source. Polymerization is effected readily over a phosphoric acid on quartz catalyst with high conversion of propylene as well as butylene. The polymer... 

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