Environmental Impact of the Petroleum Industry Environmental Update #12 (original) (raw)
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I.2 Industry C | Petroleum refining sector
1996
The petroleum refining sector comprises 5 companies in Flanders with a crude oil distillation capacity of 34.5 million tons, of which 15 at Fina and 12 at Esso. The use of the capacity exceeded the 80% in the beginning of the nineties, but dropped to 77% in 1995. In that year, 26.5 million tons of oil were processed. Emissions into the atmosphere have been decreasing slightly or have remained relatively stable in recent years, but continue to be substantial with e.g. 34,472 tons SO2 and 7,631 tons NOx in 1995. Also the specific energy consumption per ton of oil remains practically constant (2.41 GJ/ton in 1980 and 2.38 GJ/ton in 1990 for the European refineries) because now, more than before, light products, unsulphured diesel and unleaded petrol are in demand. Without energy conservation measures, energy consumption would have been 23 % higher. The efforts made by refineries to provide lighter products are beneficial in particular for emissions in other sectors (e.g. traffic and tr...
Petrochemicals and Refining: An overview
2019
In this paper we are presenting refining and petrochemical. Petroleum is the most valuable feedstock for both fuels and chemicals. It is clear that, the value of the products from a barrel of oil is far more than the selling price of a barrel, even considering the cost of manufacturing. The oil refining industry changes over unrefined petroleum into in excess of 2500 refined items, including condensed oil gas, gas, lamp fuel, avionics fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oil, greasing up oils, and feedstock for the petrochemical business. Oil processing plant exercises begin with receipt of rough for capacity at the treatment facility, incorporate all oil taking care of and refining activities, and they complete with capacity preliminary to transportation the refined items from the treatment facility.
1995
U.S. crude oil refinery utilization rates have steadily increased since oil price and allocation decontrol in 1981. The annual average atmospheric distillation utilization rate has increased from 68.6 percent of operable capacity in 1981 to 92.6 percent in 1994. The distillation utilization rate reached a peak of 96.4 percent in August 1994, the highest one-month average rate in over 20 years. This dramatic increase in refining capacity utilization has stimulated a growing interest in the ability of U.S. refineries to supply domestic requirements for finished petroleum products.
CHEMISTRY OF CRUDE OIL PROCESSING
Crude oil (petroleum) is a dark, viscous liquid comprising mainly branched and unbranched alkanes and cycloalkanes. It also contains a small fraction of aromatic hydrocarbons and other compound containing sulphur, oxygen and nitrogen. Crude oil is not a single compound but a complex mixture of hydrocarbons. It is so valuable that people call it ‘black gold’, yet, as obtained from the ground, crude oil is just about useless. To justify its true worth, crude oil must undergo fractional distillation first. The application of the knowledge of chemistry in crude oil processing employ fractional distillation where crude oil is separated into different portions, called fractions. Each fraction contains several compounds, all of which fall within a certain boiling range. These fractions are differentiated from one another by their different volatility, odour, colour, texture and their relative ease of ignition and burning. The different fractions, thus, obtained contain hydrocarbons of different chain lengths and are pumped through pipes to refineries.
Combustion Emissions from Refining Lower Quality Oil: What Is the Global Warming Potential
The greenhouse gas emission intensity of refining lower quality petroleum was estimated from fuel combustion for energy used by operating plants to process crude oils of varying quality. Refinery crude feed, processing, yield, and fuel data from four regions accounting for 97% of U.S. refining capacity from 1999 to 2008 were compared among regions and years for effects on processing and energy consumption predicted by the processing characteristics of heavier, higher sulfur oils. Crude feed density and sulfur content could predict 94% of processing intensity, 90% of energy intensity, and 85% of carbon dioxide emission intensity differences among regions and years and drove a 39% increase in emissions across regions and years. Fuel combustion energy for processing increased by approximately 61 MJ/m 3 crude feed for each 1 kg/m 3 sulfur and 44 MJ/m 3 for each 1 kg/m 3 density of crude refined. Differences in products, capacity utilized, and fuels burned were not confounding factors. Fuel combustion increments observed predict that a switch to heavy oil and tar sands could double or triple refinery emissions and add 1.6-3.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually from fuel combustion to process the oil.
Lecture Notes in Modern Petroleum Refining Processes
2022
The most prolific and dynamic industries of this century are the petroleum and the petrochemical. Mankind consumes more than 2,500 million tons of oil yearly. This significantly reveals the magnitude, economic edifice, and necessity of industry. From the most primitive method of extraction and refining of petroleum, a great transformation has occurred throughout these years to materialize the modern refinery. This due to the timely inductions of the scientific and technological advancements into refinery operations. Advancements are many and knowledge is expanding, one has to keep abreast with these things. This lecture notes describes refinery processes in a concise manner which is necessary for students in engineering college and technical institute, also who working in petroleum refineries.