Petroleum refining industry, available

In general, waste streams from the petrochemical industry are quite similar to those of the petroleum refining industry. Limited data are available, but almost all assume that waste management operations and facilities are probably of the same degree of sophistication as those of the petroleum refining industry. 

The EPA has established four different control technologies for the petroleum refining industry best practicable control technology (BPT), best available technology economically achievable (BAT), best conventional pollutant control technology (BCT), and new source performance standards (NSPS). Table 13 shows the BPT and NSPS standards that must be met by the various subcategories (40 CFR Part 419). The limitations for BPT actually incorporate those of both BAT and BCT for this industry. 

Propylene is manufactured by steam cracking of hydrocarbons as discussed under ethylene. The best feedstocks are propane, naphtha, or gas oil, depending on price and availability. About 50-75% of the propylene is consumed by the petroleum refining industry for alkylation and polymerization of propylene to oligomers that are added to gasoline. A smaller amount is made by steam cracking to give pure propylene for chemical manufacture. 

Possibly the chemical industry does not have as much need for mathematical models in process simulation as does the petroleum refining industry. The operating conditions for most chemical plants do not seem subject to as broad a choice, nor do they seem to require frequent reappraisals. However, this is a matter which must be settled on the basis of individual circumstances. Sometimes the initial selection of operating conditions for a new plant is sufficiently complex to justify development of a mathematical model. Gee, Linton, Maire, and Raines describe a situation of this sort in which a mathematical model was developed for an industrial reactor (Gl). Beutler describes the subsequent programming of this model on the large-scale MIT Whirlwind computer (B6). These two papers seem to be the most complete technical account of model development available. However, the model should not necessarily be thought typical since it relies more on theory, and less on empiricisms, than do many other process models. 

The major initial driving force in the expansion of catalytic processing was the worldwide demand for energy and the availability of relatively eap petroleum. This led to the development of major new processes in petroleum refining and in the petrochemical industry, as well as to inventions which revolutionized existing technology (Table 1). 

T he petroleum industry entered the field of aromatics production largely because the unprecedented demand for toluene for the manufacture of TNT at the outbreak of World War II in 1939 could not be met by other sources. As a result of its efforts, the industry supplied 75 to 85% of all the toluene which was nitrated for TNT production during the latter years of World War II. Since that time the petroleum refiners have remained in the field and at present they are major suppliers of toluene and xylenes. In Table I it is shown that in 1949 about 59% of the toluene and 84% of the xylenes produced in the United States were derived from petroleum sources. The petroleum industry has diversified its operations in the field of aromatics production until at present a variety of materials is offered. Table II presents a partial list of the commercially available aromatics, together with some of their uses. A number of other aromatics, such as methylethyl-benzene and trimethylbenzene, have been separated in small scale lots both as mixtures and as pure compounds. 

When an alkene is used in the alkylation of arenes, metal halides with hydrogen halide or water as cocatalyst, protic acids, and acidic oxides can be used as catalysts. Both linear and cyclic alkenes are used in alkylations. Alkylation with alkenes is usually preferred in industry because the processes are simpler and olefins are readily and cheaply available in pure form from petroleum refining processes. 

These starting values are used as initial guesses for fitting the model to industrial data and the preexponential factors are changed to obtain the best fit. This is done because the kinetic parameters depend upon the specific characteristics of the catalyst and of the gas oil feedstock. This complexity is caused by the inherent difficulties with accurate modeling of petroleum refining processes in contradistinction to petrochemical processes. These difficulties will be discussed in more details later. They are clearly related to our use of pseudocomponents. But this is the only realistic approach available to-date for such complex mixtures. 

Summary of Available Waste Heat in the Chemical, Petroleum Refining, and Paper and Pulp Industries... 

Coincident with this broadening of the operating base was the expiration of many patents, and, more importantly, the willingness of many owners of new processes and know-how to make them available on a royalty basis. This had become common practice in the oil industry during World War II, and the licensing of petroleum refining processes has since become a highly competitive business. 

Zeolites. Zeolites are crystalline inorganic polymers made of aluminosilicates and have open framework structures. Natural zeolites (faujasites) have pores of sufficient size to be useful in petroleum refining. Synthetic faujasite-type zeolites are now available in large commercial quantities and have become an important catalyst in the petroleum industry. Comprehensive reviews on the application of zeolite catalysis are available (ll lS). 

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