Refinery Characterization

Along the same lines, a distillation can be simulated by gas phase chromatography. As in a refinery, distillation in the laboratory is very often the first step to be carried out, because it gives the yields in different cuts gasoline, kerosene, etc., and makes further characterization of the cuts possible. 

Generally speaking, typical major incident conditions correspond to a release of some ten thousands of kilograms of some hydrocarbon at the site of a chemical plant or refinery that is characterized by the presence of obstructed and partially confined areas in the form of densely spaced equipment. The relative agreement with results derived from the multienergy method indicates that application of this concept is a reasonable approach for this case study. 

Characterizing an FCC feedstock involves determining both its chemical and physical properties. Because sophisticated analytical techniques, such as mass spectrometry, are not practical on a daily basis, physical properties are used. They provide qualitative measurement of the feed s composition. The refinery laboratory is usually equipped to carry out these physical property tests on a routine basis. The most widely used properties are ... 

The interfacial rheologic properties are extremely sensitive parameters toward the chemical composition of immiscible formation liquids [1053]. Therefore comparison and interpretation of the interfacial rheologic properties may contribute significantly to extension of the spectrum of the reservoir characterization, better understanding of the displacement mechanism, development of more profitable enhanced and improved oil-recovery methods, intensification of the surface technologies, optimization of the pipe line transportation, and improvement of the refinery operations [1056]. 

Acidic micro- and mesoporous materials, and in particular USY type zeolites, are widely used in petroleum refinery and petrochemical industry. Dealumination treatment of Y type zeolites referred to as ultrastabilisation is carried out to tune acidity, porosity and stability of these materials [1]. Dealumination by high temperature treatment in presence of steam creates a secondary mesoporous network inside individual zeolite crystals. In view of catalytic applications, it is essential to characterize those mesopores and to distinguish mesopores connected to the external surface of the zeolite crystal from mesopores present as cavities accessible via micropores only [2]. Externally accessible mesopores increase catalytic effectiveness by lifting diffusion limitation and facilitating desorption of reaction products [3], The aim of this paper is to characterize those mesopores by means of catalytic test reaction and liquid phase breakthrough experiments. 

A 245-acre crude oil refining, processing, and storage facility located adjacent to the site discussed in Section 12.5 is bordered by other refineries and aboveground tank farms, and changed ownership around 1991. The site was initially characterized... 

Typical constituents of sour wastewater streams from crude distillation include hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, suspended solids, chlorides, mercaptans, and phenol, characterized by a high pH. Combined flows from atmospheric and vacuum distillation are about 26.0 gallons per barrel of oil, and represent one of the largest sources of wastewater in a refinery. 

The petroleum products processed in oil refineries are predominantly paraffins and are often characterized by the temperature at which they boil. Distillation or fractionation, one of the most useful processes in.refining, is based on these boiling points. For example, at room temperatures, the following petroleum-type paraffins take the three basic forms of matter we see in nature—gas, liquid, and solid ... 

For purposes of characterization, emission sources are generally divided broadly into stationary and mobile or transportation sources. Stationary sources are further divided into point and area emitters. Typical point sources must include petroleum refineries and electric power plants. Commercial solvent emission and gasoline marketing emission may generally be represented as area sources. A third category has been defined recently—indirect sources—that takes into account hybrid sources like sports arenas and shopping centers. These have fixed locations, but the traffic that is generated by or attracted to such a facility constitutes the source of emission that is combined with the emission of the facility itself. 

Petroleum crude and its refinery products have two major component based on distillation. The portion that can be distilled under refinery conditions can be called volatiles and the nondistillables are the nonvolatiles. The volatiles can be analyzed by GC or GC-MS. The crude has both components. The distillate as the names applied, such as naphtha and kerosene contain only volatiles. When GPC is used for analyzing various distillates, the fractions separated by GPC can be characterized by GC or GC-MS. These data can be used to verify the nature of components present in various distillation cuts as a function of GPC elution volume. If the samples such as crude contains both volatiles as well as nonvolatiles, the samples should be separated into volatiles and nonvolatiles. The GPC of both components should be used to calibrate the GPC of the total crude. The parameter that can be obtained from GPC is effective molecular length. It can be used to relate other molecular parameters of interest after calibration. 

The characterization of petroleum cracking catalysts, with which a third of the world s crude oil is processed, presents a formidable analytical challenge. The catalyst particles are in the form of microspheres of 60-70 micron average diameter which are themselves composites of up to five different micron and submicron sized phases. In refinery operation the catalysts are poisoned by trace concentrations of nickel, vanadium and other contaminant metals. Due to the replacement of a small portion of equilibrium catalyst each day (generally around 1% of the total reactor inventory) the catalyst particles in a reactor exist as a mixture of differing particle ages, poisoning levels and activities. 

Equilibrium FCC from a refinery contains these metals at levels that are usually below the limit of detection of most spectroscopic techniques of catalyst characterization. Furthermore, the simultaneous presence of several elements and coke further complicate the study of the effects that individual metals may have on catalyst performance. 

The refinery manager reportedly strongly disagreed with OSHA s characterizations of the alleged violations as willful and planned to contest that and a number of other claims. [23] Typically, there are informal conferences and other opportunities to appeal between OSHA and the cited company before the final penalty is established. According to the OSHA database, the initial penalty was 118,500 and was settled for as 96,426. [24] I recognize the newspaper reports of the penalty and the OSHA database published penalties are very different. A very short insight on OSHA citations will follow. 

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