An Investigation of the Petroleum Industry - Assignment Example

SCIENCE DEGREE FOUNDATION CHEMISTRY AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY Write a brief account of how petroleum was formed and is nowfound in subterranean deposits. Petroleum was formed from the remnants of ancient marine organisms. The remains got buried in the muddy bottom layers of the large lakes and the oceans, where they became trapped and got buried and lithified. Actually, what happens is that the pressure and heat present under the earth’s surface, cause these remains to break down into molecules known as hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons remain in the rock till they are expelled in the form of oil, which occurs due to the pressure of the overlying rocks. The porous reservoir rocks which lie above the source rock serve as a passageway, and the oil travels through these passages as it rise towards surface. This rising oil gets accumulated under the impermeable rock layers, which serve as cap rocks. (Laycock D., n.d.) For the past six hundred million years, incompletely decayed animal and plant remains have got buried under the thick rocky layers of earth. These remains break down to hydrocarbons due to the pressure and heat of the earth. These are the subterranean deposits or the oil that remains in the subterranean surface till it is extracted. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Russia, United States are some of the notable mentions of the leading producers of petroleum. (Petroleum, n.d., A) 2. Primary treatments: briefly describe the process of Fractional Distillation of Petroleum. You must include Diagram of Tower Principles underlying the distillation process Table of Principal Fractions/Boiling Points Diagram of Tower Fractional Distillation is represented below that shows the stages of the process involved in the fractional distillation of crude oil. Figure 1A Figure 1B Figure 1C Topic: Fractional Distillation Source: Fractional Distillation, (n.d., A) Crude oil comprises a hundred different types of carbons, which are all mixed together. These hydrocarbons need to be separated for extracting useful substances. It is referred as the primary treatment of petroleum and the process is referred as Fractional Distillation. Distillation is defined as a technique through which the liquids are separated based on their differences in boiling points. This process is carried out in fractional towers consisting of a crude oil container, a boiler, and a distillation column with several outputs at different levels, as shown in the figure. At first, crude oil enters the boiler or the furnace as shown in figure 1A. It then gets heated and most of the components vapourise and enter the tower, as shown in figure 1B. The vapours rise up in the tower that establish a temperature gradient and it results into the separation of the vapours, with the hottest ones near the bottom and the coolest vapours at the top region. As the vapours rise inside the tower, they partially condense and the liquids come out from specific outlets, as shown in figure 1C, and are collected in separate trays. (Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil, n.d.) The Alkanes along with their boiling points are represented below. Topic: Boiling Points of Alkanes Source: Fractional Distillation, (n.d., B) The gasoline fractions along with their boiling temperatures that come out of the distillation tower are represented below. Topic: Petroleum Fractions Source: (The Chemistry of Petroleum Products, n.d.) 3. Secondary Treatments: (a) Briefly describe why a large proportion of the heavy fractions from the primary distillation undergo cracking stating what types of useful products result. In the process of petrol formation, the heavy fractions from the primary distillation undergo cracking as the pressures and the temperatures increase, which leads to the process of catagenesis, also known as cracking. This condition determine the product, as higher pressure and temperature lead to more cracking that results into smaller and lighter hydrocarbons. Some of the useful products that result are methane and light hydrocarbons. (Petroleum, n.d., B) Methane gas is widely used in the firedamp of coal mines. (Methane, n.d.) (b) Briefly describe the following processes: Catalytic cracking Platforming Catalytic Cracking Catalytic cracking processes are developed for producing high octane gasoline. Generally, solid materials are used as catalysts in the catalytic processes. Reaction stimulation tales place on the surface of the catalyst used and the impurities present in the catalyst affect the performance of the used catalytic material. The catalysts that can increase the effectiveness are termed as ‘promoters’ and all other types are referred as ‘poisons’. The raw materials for fluid catalytic cracking are generally light oil with API gravity of about thirty degrees. The finely divided catalyst is delivered to the plant and it is conveyed to oil vapour pipe and very well mixed with the vapour. The catalyst is then carried to that cracking chamber where the vapours are directed, in a way that it gets mixed throughout. The temperature of the reaction chamber is maintained in the range of 800 degrees Fahrenheit and the pressure is maintained in the range of ten to twenty per square inch. It is really important to recover the material after the process of cracking. The recovery of about 85% of the material can be accomplished just by passing the mixture of the cracked vapour along with the suspended solid, through cyclone separator series. (Kackenmester H. P., n.d.) Other products obtained from Catalytic Cracking are methane, propane, ethane and butanes. (Catalytic Reforming, n.d.) Platforming Platforming is a process, which was introduced in the year 1947, in response to the heavy demand of light products like jet, petroleum and diesel fuels. In this process, platinum is used as the catalyst in the process of refining petroleum. It is therefore, also known as Petroleum Refining. This results into relatively fewer emissions that removes much of sulfur along with other contaminants and also generates major amounts of hydrogen as well as other raw materials, which are used to manufacture plastics. Hydrogen has become so prominent that a number of refineries incorporate hydrogen processing plants even in their processing schemes. (Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies, n.d.) 4. The naphtha fraction from the primary distillation is a starting point of the Petrochemical Industry. List 3 useful chemicals that are made from this fraction stating the uses to which they are put. In the process of petroleum manufacturing, a residual oil comes out in the distillation process that contains large volume of naphtha, which is allowed to stand as long as necessary and is exposed to low temperature tank. The waxy components thus settle at the bottom of the tank. Then the naphtha is removed as overhead steam. A number of useful chemicals, mainly lubricating oils are made from this fraction. These oils can be divided into two groups, oils for continuous service as turbine oils and oils for intermittent service. (Speight J. G., 1999) Valuable aromatic compounds like toluene, benzene, ethyl benzene and xylenes are obtained from the commercial reforming of petroleum naphtha. (Recovery of Mesitylene and Ethyltoluene from Petroleum Naphtha Reformate, n.d.) Benzene is mostly used in the development of some other compounds. It is an integral constituent in the production of adhesives, nylon, resins, plastics, polymers, detergents, lubricants, dyes, pesticides and explosives. (Post-Regulation Uses of Benzene, n.d.) Ethyl Benzene is mostly used in the production of synthetic polymers and styrene. It is also used in fuels, synthetic rubber, carpet glues, inks, paints, tobacco products, varnishes and insecticides. (Common Uses, April 2006) Xylene is used in the manufacturing of hydrogen peroxide, insect repellents, perfumes, quartz crystal oscillators, leather, vitamins, dyes and pharmaceuticals. (Exposure Sources and control Methods, n.d.) 5. Briefly describe one potential source of damage to the environment caused by the Petroleum Industry. There are a number of potential sources of damage produced by the Petroleum Industry. Exploration is the first stage of oil production, which is done by seismic surveying. In this process, underwater explosions are created with the help of air guns that produce sound waves. It has a disturbing effect on the cetaceans, which use sound for navigation and communication. The blasts also damage the tissues including the guts, lungs and ears in mammals along with swim bladders in fish. So, the only the primary stage of petroleum production affects the marine life and as a whole causing damage to the environment. (Ecological Impacts of the UK Offshore Industry, n.d.) List of References: Catalytic Reforming, (No Date), The Free Dictionary, retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Common Uses, (April 2006), Ethylbenzene Fact Sheet, Australian Government – Department of the Environment, Water, heritage and the Arts, retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Ecological Impacts of the UK Offshore Industry, (No Date), The Oil Industry, Do or Die, Issue 7, Pg. 59-65, retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Exposure Sources and control Methods, (No Date), Occupational Safety and Health Guideline for Xylene, United States Department of Labor – Occupational Safety and Health Administration, retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Fractional Distillation, (No Date, A), retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Fractional Distillation, (No Date., B), retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil, (No Date), CHM 10 – Chemistry and Issues in the Environment, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Kackenmester H. P., (No Date), Catalytic Cracking of Light Oil, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Laycock D., (No Date), Where Does Oil Come From?, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Methane, (No Date), Chemical of the Week, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Petroleum, (No Date, A), The Institute of Sustainable Energy – At Eastern Connecticut State University, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Petroleum, (No Date, B), Fuel Research and Development for the 21st Century, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies, (No Date), retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Post-Regulation Uses of Benzene, (No Date), Uses of Benzene, MediaFact – Health Information Resources, retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Recovery of Mesitylene and Ethyltoluene from Petroleum Naphtha Reformate, (No Date), FreePatentsOnline, retrieved on March 10, 2009, from The Chemistry of Petroleum Products, (No Date), Petroleum and Coal, retrieved on March 9, 2009, from Speight J. G., (1999), The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum, Third Edition, Publisher – Dekker M., retrieved on March 10, 2009, from Read More