Oil Refineries and their Role in the Modern World - Essay Example

Oil Refineries and their Role in the Modern world. Oil Refineries and their Role in the Modern world. Introduction  The modern world runs on petroleum (oil) and petroleum based products. These ubiquitous products are a part of our energy consumption habits, and provide the necessary raw material for the production of a variety of different products like feedstock, plastics, detergents, solvents, wax, nylon, diesel fuel and more than 5000 other diverse items. Petroleum is extracted from Crude oil through a process of Refining which has two major branches of separation processes and conversion processes (Shell, 2014). Oil refining allows for the conversion and purification of crude oil by manipulating and changing the shape of its hydro-carbon bonds to provide new and useful products. The Hydrocarbon molecules present in crude oil contain only hydrogen and carbon, as implied by the name and their chemical properties make them some of the most versatile materials on earth. The process of Oil refining was not discovered in one go but came about as a result of incremental modifications and changes in the process as according to needs of the industries and the changing technologies. Various economic and socio-political factors also supported the research that went into the industry and ultimately shaped the face of oil refining. For the western world the period from 1860 to 1900 marked an era of technological innovations with the biggest contribution made by the petroleum powered engines and machines that emerged as the industry favored. The first oil refinery designed to produce kerosene from crude oil was put up in 1862, kerosene was the more efficient alternative to crude oil at the time and provided the engines with a greater source of energy. (Arabe, 2003). However, it was the byproduct of these distillation units known as Naphtha (gasoline) that would later go on to become the most important product and the one most in demand. As the early petroleum producers improved their production and refinement techniques, the use of petroleum products exponentially with other industrialists trying to find more uses from it. Gasoline had emerged as the preferred energy source over kerosene by 1911, increasingly being used to power automobiles. The development of thermal cracking in 1913 marked another milestone in the history of the oil refining as the refineries were now able to produce gasoline and diesel form a single barrel of crude oil. The US oil company’s partnered with the Federal Fuel Administration in 1917 to develop robust systems for producing, refining and distributing oil. In the coming decades, the car culture of the western world and the highly automated world wars (which made significant use of jet fuel and diesel) encouraged the governments to support and enhance the petroleum industries. The partnership of auto manufacturers and the petroleum producers also contributed greatly to the development of the sector and further research into the efficient uses of petroleum. The next major shift in the oil refining and petroleum use came after the political and environmental shocks of the 1960s. The western world found its dependence on oil products increasing and became concerned about the trade balance with oil producing countries and at the same time there were rising alarm over the harmful effects of the fossil fuels on health and environment. As a response, US government created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 (Maugeri, 2006) which prompted auto manufacturers and oil refiners to once again work jointly on improving their products so that they would be more energy efficient and lower down overall fuel consumption. There were massive improvements on both these accounts (e.g. production of lead based gasoline was virtually eliminated) and refiners are even now continuing research on developing cleaner-burning fuels under pressure from both the government sector and the consumers (Whipple, 2013). Section One: Refined Crude Oil Crude Oil is an organic substance occurs in nature in form of a liquid found in underground reservoirs and retains its state after extraction. This mixture of hydrocarbons is then processed to give out petroleum products at petroleum refineries and liquid hydrocarbons can be extracted from it in natural gas processing plant (Leffler, 2008). At an average crude oil contains a mixture of approximately -87 percent carbon and 11-13 percent hydrogen with the remainder being sulpher (which is treated as an impurity) (Colwell, 2009). However, crude oils do not occur as a homogenous product with the quality of the crude oil extracted from different parts of the world differing greatly; there are various types of crude oils used in oil refineries. Crude oils are categorized according their various characteristics. They may be labeled as “light” or “heavy” to describe their relative density as assigned by the American Petroleum Institute (API) Gravity. Another important distinction is the sulphur content of the crude oil. ‘Sweet’ oils are those with low sulphur content; these are easier to process and give off a cleaner product compared to ‘Sour’ oils that are considered of lower quality (EIA, 2012). Generally speaking the less processing a crude oil required, the more valuable it is considered in the industry (Lyons). The refining process cannot start without understanding the type of crude oil that is being processed. The selection and decision of the type of crude oil to use depends on various economic and business factors such as the desired quality, availability, volume, and price of the final product. (Shell, 2014). Combinations of different crude oils may also be used. The process of refining can be divided into several distinct parts, each of which adds to the quality of the final product. The first and main part is known as distillation, or fractionation and it takes place in a special construction called the Distillation Column. Here the crude oil is boiled and recondensed to break it into separate types of hydrocarbons based on the different range of boiling point for each type; the end result is that each hydrocarbon component is separated according to their relative densities. The heavier components are collected in the lower part of the column and lighter components, which boil more easily, are collected from the top (Colwell, 2009) . Some of the heaviest components cannot be brought to boil in the temperatures provided in the distillation column, these components form a stream called as residue are collected from the bottom of the column. Liquefied Petroleum Gas, or LPG converts into a gas at the same temperatures and is collected in that form (Leffler, 2008). The next step in the process is called Hydroprocessing- this step has been recently added in refining in order to meet environmental specifications and to help in further processing. Hydroprocessing removes the sulphur from the component stream by using hydrogen as a raw material. The sulphur extracted from this process is in pure form and can be treated as by product to be sold off for production of acid and fertilizer. Besides these two main steps, the refining process has secondary steps that allow for customizing the end products. Reforming/Platforming can change low value naphtha into reformate or platformate used for gasoline blending that has a higher octane number and higher value in the market. Larger hydrocarbon molecules gained through fractionation can be further broken down into smaller molecules through Catalytic Cracking that uses heat and catalysts to create more products. Created products can be further treated and polished through Secondary Treating. The final stage of the whole process is called Blending where different hydrocarbon components are mixed and combined to create the final market-ready products that are send out of the factory (Shell 2014). The following products are generally created through the refining process: Liquefied Petroleum Gas, or "LPG" Propylene Gasoline, or Petrol Jet Fuel, or Avtur Gasoil, or Diesel Sulphur LPG is created at the lowest distillation temperatures and over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit is used to isolate the heaviest products. Section two: Gasoline and Natural gas Gasoline is one of the most popular products derived from crude oil but it is not the only one in high demand. Environmental and efficiency concerns have spurred manufacturers and distillers to look for alternate fuel sources. Natural Gas is a byproduct released during extraction of crude oil and is being increasingly utilized for domestic fuel usage and in automobiles. While natural gas and gasoline are both made up of hydrocarbons molecules, the number of atoms in each molecule is different. Natural gas gets its characteristics from the presence of very small molecules containing one carbon atom bonded with four hydrogen ones; it exists in a natural gaseous state at normal room temperature and pressure. It also means it is very light, in fact lighter than air. Gasoline meanwhile has eight carbon atoms chained together with 18 hydrogen atoms bonded to the chain (Brain, 2009)- as a result gasoline is a much heavier material, existing as a liquid. When talking about availability, natural gas supplies are also two and six times more abundant than crude oil. As of 2012, 28% of US energy demand is met through Natural Gas alternatives with the majority going towards domestic use. Almost 51% of US households are heated using natural gas as a fuel. On the transport side, approximately 142,000 natural gas vehicles are now operating on American roads. (Hartley, 2007). Section three: Comparison between Gasoline and Crude Oil Crude oil is the starting point for many useful fuels and products, however, in its natural form it is simply a combination of all these energy consumption products and without the refining process the crude oil cannot be used in any of our modern machinery/industries. Both Crude oil and natural gas also contain different types of impurities that negatively impact both the potential for direct consumption and the refinement and distribution process. Water, acid, incombustible gases, sulfur molecules, heavy metals etc all make these compounds highly corrosive for extraction, transportation and storage equipment (Planete energies, 2013). While crude oils and liquid petroleum can be transported easily in their natural liquid state, Hydrocarbon gases have to be transported, handled and stored in either liquid or gaseous form. The liquefaction process requires energy but the Liquefied natural gas (LNG) at -162°C can be stored in a smaller space and then it will expand to its gaseous state due to the atmospheric temperature when released in the storage area (Kraus, 1998) The widely distributed pipeline network in all of the world’s countries is the most convenient form of transport of crude oil, natural gas and gasoline. The refined product gasoline which his used directly by the consumers is accessible through conveniently placed gas stations wherever road networks exist, while the raw material is directed towards the processing plants and transporting units. From a carbon standpoint, natural gas seems to be the cleaner option as compared to both gasoline and crude oil there are four times as many hydrogen atoms as carbon atoms, making the release of carbon based produced much more controlled. Where- as the 2:1 ratio of hydrogen to carbon in gasoline makes it the more polluting substance (Hartley, 2007). Autos powered by Compressed Natural Gas also have other advantages over traditional vehicles such as the lower price point for an equivalent amount of CNG as that of a gallon of diesel or gasoline. In 2009 in certain states of the US the price of CNG was 1$ per gasoline gallon equivalent, the difference of a whole dollar from the prices of other fuels (Kazimi, 1997). On an annual bases the accumulated costs of a CNG vehicle are lower than those of gasoline hybrids and these vehicles also offer equivalent horsepower ratings to their diesel and gasoline-powered counterparts. The octane rating for natural gas is estimated to be near 130. In terms of mileage of these cars, regular gasoline-powered car averages thirty two miles per gallon while a CNG-powered car can give upto forty three miles per gallon in ideal conditions (Kazimi, 1997).. Other estimates state that the CNG run vehicles cost upto to forty percent less than the regular gasoline run ones for total fuel cost. But research also shows that the cost of these specialized vehicles themselves is almost $3,500 more than simple gasoline powered cars. This is due to the high price of CNG fuel cylinders. However, Natural gas has some distinct disadvantages which make their widespread use difficult. The Gas is more difficult to store than gasoline which can be easily be transported in a liquid form. For vehicle use, the natural gas has to be compressed first which requires extra energy and then the tank of natural gas has to be larger than the one needed for gasoline or diesel to release the same amount of energy (Brain, 2009). Natural Gas also has properties that make it difficult to convert it into other useful chemicals (e.g. those needed to make plastic) like is done with crude oil; so it cannot be used as a cheaper alternate raw material for the fractionating process (Bullis, 2014). Talking about environmental concerns further, Natural gas is the cleaner option than traditionally used gasoline or diesel because of its lower carbon content. Depending on the vehicle make, drive cycle, and engine calibration the use of CNG fuel can significantly lower down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to the conventional fuels (CNG Vehicles, 2014). Natural gas emits approximately 6% to 11% less of GHGs overall (Tzenga and Lina, 2005). The environmental effect of crude oil versus gasoline fuel cannot be accurately measured as there is no direct use of crude oil in the industrial society. The environmental costs associated with crude oil are the pollution caused during the refinement process and the damage inflicted upon local terrains during the extraction process itself, which can damage the eco system and remove essential nutrients from the soil. Other concerns related to crude oil deal with transport and extraction accidents leading to oil spills. In the quest for unearthing more sources of crude oil to maintain necessary level of supplies worldwide, the policy makers and industrialists have to contend with the environmental concerns related with extraction, purification and use of crude oil and crude oil products balanced against the costs for fast and speedy extraction. The best answer to all of these concerns is further advances in research and technology leading to cleaner processes and more energy efficient products. Conclusion Oil Refining changed the industrial world by providing access to efficient forms of energy. While the processes were directly responsible for many of the advances in the modern world most notable the gasoline powered engine and its use in factories and automobiles they also brought along many challenges regarding the long term environmental impact as well as the role of oil in the geo-political arena (Maugeri, 2006). The process itself is an effective and well planned out, utilizing basic scientific ideas to isolate useful products from a single raw material. However it is expected that the process will continue to be changed as the requirements for products changes with time. As gasoline replaced kerosene once the technology had been developed, Natural gas may also replace gasoline as the most popular energy generating fuel. Or it may be that some other product is discovered through technological and scientific processes that can lower our dependency on petroleum products all together. References Arabe, K.C., (2003). How Oil Refining Transformed U.S. History & Way of Life. Industry Market Trends, Thomasnet News. Available at: http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/2003/01/17/how_oil_refinin/ Adler, K., (2002). Oil Refining Changes Transportation, History, and Ways of Life. Chemical Week, Sept. 18, 2002. Available at: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-92232563.html BRAIN, M., (2009). What is the difference between regular gasoline and natural gas? Brain stuff. Available at: http://www.brainstuffshow.com/blog/what-is-the-difference- between-regular-gasoline-and-natural-gas/  Bullis, K., (2014).  Chasing the Dream of Half-Price Gasoline from Natural Gas. 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Available at: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Energy-Efficiency-Vital-to-Cutting- Oil-Demand.html Read More