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How Oil Refining Works

by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. 504
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QUIZ CORNER Test your knowledge of oil and oil production with our Oil Shale Quiz.

From Crude Oil

The oil refining process starts with a fractional distillation column. The problem with crude oil is that it contains hundreds of different types of hydrocarbons all mixed together. You have to separate the different types of hydrocarbons to have anything useful. Fortunately there is an easy way to separate things, and this is what oil refining is all about. Different hydrocarbon chain lengths all have progressively higher boiling points, so they can all be separated by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery - in one part of the process, crude oil is heated and the different chains are pulled out by their vaporization temperatures. Each different chain length has a different property that makes it useful in a different way. To understand the diversity contained in crude oil, and to understand why refining crude oil is so important in our society, look through the following list of products that come from 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 boiling range = less than 104 degrees Fahrenheit / 40 degrees Celsius often liquified under pressure to create LPG (liquified petroleum gas) Naphtha or Ligroin - intermediate that will be further processed to make gasoline mix of 5 to 9 carbon atom alkanes boiling range = 140 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit / 60 to 100 degrees Celsius Gasoline - motor fuel liquid mix of alkanes and cycloalkanes (5 to 12 carbon atoms) boiling range = 104 to 401 degrees Fahrenheit / 40 to 205 degrees Celsius Kerosene - fuel for jet engines and tractors; starting material for making other products liquid mix of alkanes (10 to 18 carbons) and aromatics boiling range = 350 to 617 degrees Fahrenheit / 175 to 325 degrees Celsius Gas oil or Diesel distillate - used for diesel fuel and heating oil; starting material for making other products liquid alkanes containing 12 or more carbon atoms boiling range = 482 to 662 degrees Fahrenheit / 250 to 350 degrees Celsius

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Lubricating oil - used for motor oil, grease, other lubricants liquid

HowStuffWorks "How Oil Refining Works"

long chain (20 to 50 carbon atoms) alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics boiling range = 572 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit / 300 to 370 degrees Celsius Heavy gas or Fuel oil - used for industrial fuel; starting material for making other products liquid long chain (20 to 70 carbon atoms) alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics boiling range = 700 to 1112 degrees Fahrenheit / 370 to 600 degrees Celsius Residuals - coke, asphalt, tar, waxes; starting material for making other products solid multiple-ringed compounds with 70 or more carbon atoms boiling range = greater than 1112 degrees Fahrenheit / 600 degrees Celsius You may have noticed that all of these products have different sizes and boiling ranges. Chemists take advantage of these properties when refining oil. Look at the next section to find out the details of this fascinating process.

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68 comments Sudhanshu Ramteke jhaklat Reply 1 Like Follow Post October 5, 2012 at 4:13pm Follow Works at Student

HowStuffWorks "How Oil Refining Works"

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Oliver Jack Hellis Really useful when I was doing my chemistry homework. Reply 26 Like Follow Post March 6, 2011 at 4:26pm Geofrey Kato Sales Executive at Achelis Tanganyika Limited Good lesson. Oscar Thomas Nyambilezi - Geita Tanzania East Africa Reply Like November 18, 2012 at 1:50pm Ken Coutts you know it bby Reply 1 Like June 4 at 6:39am Follow Follow

Ken Coutts hi Reply View 3 more Priya Angel

1 Like June 4 at 6:39am

it didn't help wit my chem project bt d info is gud. Reply 2 Like Follow Post May 11, 2011 at 4:56am Martin Harvey Burnley, Lancashire fool - learn to speak english !!! Reply 9 Like November 13, 2011 at 9:56pm Follow London, United Kingdom

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Correcting somebody's grammar on the internet. How edgy. Reply Like March 6 at 7:38pm Ashish Tiwari one barrel accounts fr 31 gallon of crude oil...40% is 12.8 gallons of gas... Reply 2 Like Follow Post April 13, 2011 at 10:26am

Jack Burris Morris High School Any one know how many gallons of gasoline are extracted from a single barrel of crude oil? Reply 3 Like Follow Post March 8, 2011 at 9:22pm Tyrone Key Loyola University Maryland i believe there are about 20 gallons per barrel Reply 1 Like March 9, 2011 at 12:04am

Jack Burris Morris High School Thank you sir. Reply 1 Like March 9, 2011 at 8:10pm

Kohl Hoffman High Point Central High Hi! Can you please tell me generally how long the process takes for oil to be shipped from the Middle East to the US, processed, and shipped to a gas station? I would very much appreciate an answer. Reply View 9 more Steven Hughes Chipping Sodbury School A "barrel" of crude oil is 42 gallons. Reply 3 Like Follow Post March 9, 2011 at 12:49am 5 Like March 20, 2011 at 11:22am

Charlie Smith Works at CountryMark Alkylation makes gasoline, not kerosene. The alkylation chart is not correct. Reply 1 Like Follow Post April 14, 2011 at 1:54am

Gina Davis Ahh thanks this was very helpful.....chemisry and writing papers...not so great with no answers. Reply 2 Like Follow Post March 11, 2011 at 3:01am

Kwai Chung, Hong Kong Thanks 4 the useful flash. Reply 5 Like Follow Post March 7, 2011 at 8:42pm

Siripun Oom I would like to know what is the petroleum distillaes? and kerosene and jet fuel are a petroleum distillates, right? please tell me. Reply View 33 more
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