 Petroleum means “rock oil” in Latin.

 Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally-occurring flammable mixture of

hydrocarbons found in geologic formations, such as rock strata.
 Technically, the term petroleum only refers to crude oil, but sometimes
it is applied to describe any solid, liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons
(HC).
 It is often referred to as the “black gold.”
 Petroleum/crude oil consists primarily of paraffins (branched of straight
HC) and naphthenes (cycloalkanes), with a smaller amount of
aromatics and asphaltenes.
 The elemental composition of petroleum : 83-97% carbon, 10-16%
hydrogen, 0.1-4% oxygen & nitrogen, and 0.5-6% sulfur, with a few
trace of metals.
 The exact chemical composition is a sort of fingerprint for the source
of the petroleum.
How petroleum is formed?
 Definition: Mixture of naturally occurring
hydrocarbons that is refined into diesel,
gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, kerosene,
and literally thousands of other products
called petrochemicals.
 Crude oil formed when dead sea
organisms (plankton and algae) are
buried under sedimentary rock and are
exposed to intense heat and pressure.
 Crude oil is a complex, naturally occurring
liquid mixture containing mostly
hydrocarbons.
 Crude oil may contain several hundred individual HC
components, which range from liquids of very low boiling points
to solid waxes.
 Non HC atoms attached to the HC molecules, in solution, or as
solids, such as S, N, O, metals, salts, etc.
 These contaminants cause fouling of equipment, corrosion,
catalyst poisoning, and unwanted emissions from produced
fuels.
 Non HC molecules can also be contained in the HC mixture
(inorganic or elemental).
 Crude oil may contain several hundred individual components,
which range from liquids of very low boiling points to solid waxes.
 It could be used as a boiler fuel to make steam for process
heating or electric power generation, but it is only marginally
more desirable than coal (because of the convenience of
handling liquids rather than solids).
 The approach to making the best use of petroleum is first to
separate it into a small groups of compounds.
 This is done in a petroleum refinery
Figure 1: Pathways to petroleum utilization.
 The primary uses of crude oil is the production of fuel.
 A single barrel of crude oil can produces the following
components:
 42% Gasoline
 22% Diesel
 9% Jet Fuel
 5% Fuel Oil
 4% Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPG)
 18% Other products
 Petrochemical feedstocks
 Lubricating oils and waxes
 Asphalt
 Petroleum refining refers to the process of converting crude oil
into useful products.
 Crude oil is composed of hundreds of different hydrocarbon
molecules, which are separated through the process of refining.
 The process is divided into three basic steps:
1. Fractional distillation
2. Conversion (cracking)
3. Treatment
Petroleum refining process
 Crude oil is heated in a furnace (fractionating column) so that
hydrocarbons can be separated via their boiling point.
 Inside large towers, heated petroleum vapors are separated into
fractions according to weight and boiling point.
 The lightest fractions, which include gasoline, rise to the top of
the tower before they condense back to liquids.
 The heaviest fractions will settle at the bottom because they
condense early.
  Gases leave at the
top of the column
 Liquids condense
in the middle
 Solids stay at the
bottom

The fractionating column of crude oil

Petroleum gas
 used for heating, cooking, making plastics
 small alkanes (1 to 4 carbon atoms)
 commonly known by the names methane, ethane, propane, butane
 often liquified under pressure to create LPG (liquified petroleum gas)
 Boiling range: < 40 C

Naphtha or Ligroin
 Intermediate that will be further processed to make gasoline.
 Mix of 5 to 9 carbon atom alkanes.
 Boiling range: 60 – 100 C
Gasoline (petrol)
 Gasoline is the most popular product derived from petroleum and
constitutes the largest fraction of product obtained per barrel of
crude oil.
 Mix of alkanes and cycloalkanes (5 to 12 carbon atoms).
 Boiling range: 40 – 205 C

Kerosene (aircraft/jet fuel)

 Mix of alkanes (10 to 18 carbons) and aromatics.
 Jet fuel requires specific characteristics. Namely, it must have a low
flammability and it must be able to experience the cold temperatures
associated with high altitude without freezing.
 Additives help to ensure that it is highly compressible, has a low
volatility, and will be free from freezing.
 Boiling range: 175 – 325 C
Diesel
 Diesel fuel consists of hydrocarbons of a chain length between eight
and 21 carbon atoms.
 Diesel has higher energy content per volume than gasoline.
 Because the hydrocarbons in diesel are larger, it is less volatile and
therefore less prone to explosion, which is one reason it is preferred
in military vehicles.
 Unlike gasoline engines, diesel engines do not rely upon electrically
generated sparks to ignite the fuel. Diesel is compressed to high
degree along with air, creating high temperatures within the cylinder
that lead to combustion.
 This process makes diesel engines highly efficient, achieving up to
40% better fuel economy than gasoline powered vehicles.
 Diesel fuel contained a high degree of sulfur, which contributes to
acid rain. Most government regulation now requires that additional
steps be taken to remove the sulfur so that diesel fuel is more
environmentally friendly.
Fuel oil
 Fuel oil is one of the “left-over” products of crude refining.
 Used for heating oil and starting material for making other products.
 It is often less pure than other refined products, containing a broader
range of hydrocarbons (alkanes >12 carbon atoms).
 Because of its contaminants, fuel oil has a high flash point and is
more prone to auto-ignition.
 It also produces more pollutants when burned.

Residuals
 A black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a
residue from petroleum distillation.
 Coke, asphalt, bitumen, tar, wax.
 Used for road surfacing and roofing, and starting material for making
other products.
 Boiling range: >600 C
Oil refinery

Distillation columns in an oil refinery

 Fuels made from oil mixtures containing large hydrocarbon molecules
are not efficient as they do not flow easily and are difficult to ignite.
 Conversion (cracking) is the process of breaking down heavy long-
chain hydrocarbons into simple and smaller HC molecules.
 Generally, the rate of cracking and the final products strongly depend
on the temperature, pressure and presence of catalysts.
 Conversion processes carry out chemical reactions that fracture
(“crack”) large, high-boiling hydrocarbon molecules (of low economic
value) into smaller, lighter molecules suitable, after further
processing, for blending to gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, petrochemical
feedstock, and other high-value light products.
 Cracking methods:
1. Catalytic cracking
 Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC)
 A hot fluid catalyst (1000 C / 538 C)
 Cracks large HC into diesel and gasoline

 Hydrocracking
 uses a different catalyst than FCC, lower temperatures,
higher pressure, and hydrogen gas.
 cracks large HC into gasoline and kerosene (jet fuel)
2. Thermal method
 Thermal cracking
 High temperature with/without high pressure

 Steam cracking
 high temperature steam (1500 F/ 816 C)
 break ethane, butane and naptha into ethylene and benzene

 Visbreaking
 residual from the distillation tower is heated (900 F / 482 C),
cooled with gas oil and rapidly burned (flashed) in a distillation
tower.
 This process reduces the viscosity of heavy weight oils and
produces tar

 Coking
 residual from the distillation tower is heated (900 F / 482 C),
until it cracks into heavy oil, gasoline and naphtha.
 When the process is done, a heavy, almost pure carbon
residue is left (coke)
Steam cracker at
Ludwigshafen in Germany
 Treatment is the final process of refining, and includes combining
processed products to create various octane levels, vapor
pressure properties, and special properties for products used in
extreme environments.
 One common example of treatment is the removal of sulfur from
diesel fuel, which is necessary for it to meet clean air guidelines.
 Treatment is highly technical and is the most time consuming
step of refining.
 Steps Function
Crude Distillation  Separate crude oil charge into boiling range fractions
for further processing
Conversion (Cracking)  Break down (crack) heavy crude fractions into lighter
refinery streams for further processing or blending
Upgrading  Rearrange molecular structures to improve the
properties (e.g., octane) and value of gasoline and
diesel components
Treating  Remove hetero-atom impurities (e.g., sulfur) from
refinery streams and blendstocks
 Remove aromatics compounds from refinery streams
Separation  Separate, by physical or chemical means, constituents
of refinery streams for quality control or for further
processing
Blending  Combine blendstocks to produce finished products that
meet product specifications and environmental
standards
Utilities  Refinery fuel, power, and steam supply; sulfur
recovery; oil movements; crude and product storage;
emissions control; etc.
 The industry that uses petroleum to produce other chemicals is
referred to as the petrochemical industry.
1. Plastic
 Most synthetic plastics are made from olefins monomer,
which include ethylene and propylene.
2. Pharmaceuticals
 Mineral oil and petrolatum are petroleum byproducts
used in many creams and topical pharmaceuticals.
 Petroleum jelly (Vaseline), paraffin wax
3. Lubricant
 Lubricant is used to reduce friction between two moving
surfaces and also functions in transporting contaminants
and other foreign particles away from moving parts so
that they do not due damage.
4. Agriculture
 One of the most important uses of petroleum is in the
production of ammonia to be used as the nitrogen source in
agricultural fertilizers.
 Agriculture also depends on the use of pesticides to ensure
consistent, healthy crop yields.
 Pesticides are almost all produced from oil. In essence, from
running farm machinery to fertilizing plants, agriculture is one
of the largest users of petroleum based products.
5. Dyes, detergents, fabrics, varnish, other products
 Petroleum distillates such as benzene, toluene, xylene, and
others provide the raw material for products that include dyes,
synthetic detergents, and fabrics.
 Benzene and toluene are the starting materials used to make
polyurethanes, which are used in surfactants, oils, and even to
varnish wood.