Oil refining

An Oil refinery, in Canada

Refineries often need transport facilities, this is the railway station of the Godorf Oil refinery, near Cologne.

Oil refining is the name for a number of processes from chemical engineering, which transform crude oil into useful products such as different fuel oils, Liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, kerosene or diesel oil. These transformation occur in plants called petroleum refineries. The transformations are done in many steps. The refineries are large industrial complexes, that have many different sub-units, and facilities. Each refinery has its own unique arrangement and combination of refining processes. The exact setup of the refinery is largely determined by the its location, desired products and economic considerations.

History

The beginnings of refining crude petroleum trace back to the successful drilling of the first oil wells in Ontario, Canada, in 1858, and in Titusville, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1859. Prior to these pivotal events, petroleum was scarce, mainly sourced from natural seepage in select regions worldwide. Its limited availability confined its use to medicinal and specialized applications. However, the discovery of "rock oil" in northwestern Pennsylvania altered the landscape, providing ample crude oil for the development of large-scale processing systems. Early refineries utilized basic distillation units, or "stills," to heat crude oil in vessels, condensing the resulting vapors into distinct liquid fractions. Initially, the primary product was kerosene, a cleaner-burning lamp oil more abundant and consistent than whale oil or animal fat, thus revolutionizing illumination.

Modern petroleum refineries process as much as 800,000 to 900,000 barrels (127,000 to 143,000 cubic meters) per day of crude oil.

Oil Refining Media

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  Anacortes Refinery, on the north end of March Point southeast of Anacortes, Washington, United States

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  Grangemouth Refinery, in Scotland

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  Jamnagar Refinery, the world's largest oil refinery, in Gujarat, India

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  Oil refinery in Brod, Republika Srpska

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  Baton Rouge Refinery (the sixth-largest in the United States)

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  Refinery, Bayport Industrial Complex, Harris County, Texas

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  Neste Oil refinery in Porvoo, Finland

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  The oil refinery in Haifa, Israel, is capable of processing about 9 million tons (66 million barrels) of crude oil a year. Its two cooling towers are landmarks of the city's skyline.

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  Crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional distillation. The fractions at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling points than the fractions at the bottom. The heavy bottom fractions are often cracked into lighter, more useful products. All of the fractions are processed further in other refining units.

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  A breakdown of the products made from a typical barrel of US oil