1) Atmospheric Distillation Unit (ADU)

Purpose: To separate the substance in crude oil with lower and higher boiling point.
Method: Crude oil obtained from the desalter at temperature of 250 °C–260 °C is further
heated by a tube-still heater to a temperature of 350 °C–360 °C. The hot crude oil is then
passed into a distillation column that allows the separation of the crude oil into different
fractions depending on the difference in volatility. The pressure at the top is maintained at
1.2–1.5 atm so that the distillation can be carried out at close to atmospheric pressure.
2) Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU)
Purpose: This technique is used when the boiling point of the desired compound is difficult to
achieve or will cause the compound to decompose.
Method: Vacuum distillation allows for this purification technique to be used on compounds
with high boiling points, or those which are air-sensitive. Compounds with a boiling point lower
than 150oC can typically be distilled without reduced pressure. Using a fractionating column in
the set-up improves the separation of mixtures, and can allow separation of compounds with
similar boiling points. With the apparatus under reduced pressure, exposure to the atmosphere
is minimized and the apparatus can be filled with the inert atmosphere when the distillation is
complete
3) Catalytic Cracking
Purpose: To convert the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions
of petroleum crude oils into more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases, and other products.
Method: There are two different configurations for an FCC unit: the "stacked" type where
the reactor and the catalyst regenerator are contained in a single vessel with the reactor
above the catalyst regenerator and the "side-by-side" type where the reactor and catalyst
regenerator are in two separate vessels.
4) Coking
Purpose: Coking is a refinery unit operation that upgrades material called bottoms from
the atmospheric or vacuum distillation column into higher-value products.
Method: Two types of coking processes exist—delayed coking and fluid coking. With
delayed coking, two or more large reactors, called coke drums, are used to hold, or delay,
the heated feedstock while the cracking takes place. Coke is deposited in the coke drum as
a solid. This solid coke builds up in the coke drum and is removed by hydraulically cutting
the coke using water. In order to facilitate the removal of the coke, the hot feed is diverted
 from one coke drum to another, alternating the drums between coke removal and the
cracking part of the process. With fluid coking, the feed is charged to a heated reactor, the
cracking takes place, and the formed coke is transferred to a heater as a fluidized solid
where some of it is burned to provide the heat necessary for the cracking process. The
remaining coke is collected to be sold.
5) Hydrocracking
Purpose: for converting the high boiling point constituent hydrocarbons
in petroleum crude oils to more valuable lower-boiling products such
as gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel and diesel oil.
Method: Basically, the process cracks the high-boiling, high molecular
weight hydrocarbons into lower-boiling, lower molecular weight olefinic
and aromatic hydrocarbons and then hydrogenates them. Any sulfur and nitrogen present
in the hydrocracking feedstock are, to a large extent, also hydrogenated and form
gaseous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) which are subsequently removed.
The result is that the hydrocracking products are essentially free of sulfur and nitrogen
impurities and consist mostly of paraffinic hydrocarbons.
6) Hydrogen Steam Reforming
Purpose: for producing syngas, hydrogen, carbon monoxide from hydrocarbon fuels such
as natural gas.
Method: This is achieved in a processing device called a reformer which reacts steam at
high temperature and pressure with methane in the presence of a nickel catalyst.
7) Visbreaking
Purpose: to reduce the quantity of residual oil produced in the distillation of crude oil and
to increase the yield of more valuable middle distillates (heating oil and diesel) by the
refinery.
Method: A visbreaker thermally cracks large hydrocarbon molecules in the oil by heating
in a furnace to reduce its viscosity and to produce small quantities of light hydrocarbons
(LPG and gasoline)
8) Alkylation Unit
Purpose: to convert isobutane and low-molecular-weight alkenes (primarily a mixture
of propene and butene) into alkylate, a high octane gasoline component.

Method: The purpose of the unit is to react an olefin feed with isobutane in the reaction
section in the presence of the HF acting as catalyst to produce alkylate. Prior to entering
the reaction section, the olefin and isobutane feed are treated in a coalescer to remove
water, sulfur and other contaminants. In the fractionation section, alkylate is separated from
excess isobutene and acid catalyst through distillation. Unreacted isobutane is recovered
and recycled back to the reaction section to mix with the olefin feed. Propane is a major
product of the distillation process. Some amount of n-butane that has entered with the feed
is also withdrawn as a side product.

Propane and butane that have not been separated from the treated olefin pass through the
unit. Although they do not participate directly in the reactions, and adversely impact
product quality, they provide an avenue for organic fluorides to leave the unit. The propane
stream is removed (typically in a tower called the HF stripper) and are then processed in
the defluorinating section to remove combined fluorides and any trace acid that may be
present due to mis-operation. Many units also remove Butane, which typically gets treated
in a separate defluorinating section.

9) Grease Compounding

Purpose:

Method:

10) Polymerization

Purpose: In polymerization, the light olefins propylene and butylene are induced to
combine, or polymerize, into molecules of two or three times their original molecular
weight. The catalysts employed consist of phosphoric acid on pellets of kieselguhr, a
porous sedimentary rock. High pressures, on the order of 30 to 75 bars (3 to 7.5 MPa), or
400 to 1,100 psi, are required at temperatures ranging from 175 to 230 °C (350 to 450 °F).
Polymer gasolines derived from propylene and butylene have octane numbers above 90.
11) Catalytic Reforming

Purpose: to convert petroleum refinery naphtha distilled from crude oil (typically having
low octane ratings) into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium
blending stocks for high-octane gasoline.

Method: The process converts low-octane linear hydrocarbons (paraffins) into branched
alkanes (isoparaffins) and cyclic naphthenes, which are then partially dehydrogenated to
produce high-octane aromatic hydrocarbons. The dehydrogenation also produces
significant amounts of byproduct hydrogen gas, which is fed into other refinery processes
such as hydrocracking. A side reaction is hydrogenolysis, which produces light
hydrocarbons of lower value, such as methane, ethane, propane and butanes.

12) Isomerization

Purpose: to isomerize n-butane to iso-butane used in alkylation and C5/C6 n-paraffins in

light naphtha to the corresponding iso-paraffins to produce high-octane number gasoline
stocks after the adoption of lead-free gasoline.

Method: Typical feedstocks for isomerization process include hydrotreated light straight-
run naphtha, light natural gasoline, or condensate. The fresh C5/C6 feed combined with
make-up and recycled hydrogen is directed to a heat exchanger for heating the reactants to
reaction temperature. Hot oil or high-pressure steam can be used as the heat source in this
exchanger. The heated feed is sent to the reactor. Typical isomerate product (C5+) yields
are 97 wt% of the fresh feed, and the product octane number ranges from 81 to 87,
depending on the flow configuration and feedstock properties.

13) Amine Treating

Purpose: To remove CO2 (carbon dioxide) and H2S (hydrogen sulfide) from natural gas.

Method:

14) Desalting

Purpose: To remove salt from crude oil.

Method:
15) Drying and sweetening

Purpose: To remove impurities from blending stocks.

Method: Sweetening (mercaptan removal) treats sulphur compounds (hydrogen sulphide,

thiophene and mercaptan) to improve colour, odour and oxidation stability, and reduces
concentrations of carbon dioxide in gasoline. Some mercaptans are removed by having the
product make contact with water-soluble chemicals (e.g., sulphuric acid) that react with the
mercaptans. Caustic liquid (sodium hydroxide), amine compounds (diethanolamine) or
fixed-bed catalyst sweetening may be used to convert mercaptans to less objectionable
disulphides.

Product drying (water removal) is accomplished by water absorption, with or without

adsorption agents. Some processes simultaneously dry and sweeten by adsorption on
molecular sieves.

16) Furfural Extraction

Purpose: To remove undesirable components of low lubricating oil quality naturally

present in crude oil distillate and residual stocks.

Method: The process selectively removes aromatics and compounds containing

heteroatoms (e.g., oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and metals). The by-product extracts, being
high in aromatic content, can be used for carbon black feedstocks, rubber extender oils,
and other non-lube applications where this feature is desirable.

17) Hydrodesulfurization

Purpose: to remove sulfur (S) from natural gas and from refined petroleum products, such
as gasoline or petrol, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel fuel, and fuel oils.
 Method: In an industrial hydrodesulfurization unit, such as in a refinery, the
hydrodesulfurization reaction takes place in a fixed-bed reactor at
elevated temperatures ranging from 300 to 400 °C and elevated pressures ranging from 30
to 130 atmospheres of absolute pressure, typically in the presence of a catalyst consisting
of an alumina base impregnated with cobalt and molybdenum (usually called a CoMo
catalyst). Occasionally, a combination of nickel and molybdenum (called NiMo) is used,
in addition to the CoMo catalyst, for specific difficult-to-treat feed stocks, such as those
containing a high level of chemically bound nitrogen.

18) Hydrotreating

Purpose: Hydrotreating is the reaction of organic compounds in the presence of high

pressure hydrogen to remove oxygen (deoxygenation) along with other heteroatoms
(nitrogen, sulfur and chlorine).

Method:

19) Phenol Extraction

Purpose:

Method:

20) Solvent Deasphalting

Purpose: Separation process in which residues are selectively separated by molecular type
by mixing with paraffinic solvents and precipitating out of solution asphaltenes and other
residue heavy components.

Method:

21) Solvent Dewaxing

Purpose: