REFINERY PROCESS CHART.

OVERVIEW OF PETROLEUM REFINING PROCESSES.

Process name Action Method Purpose Feedstock(s) Product(s)

Vacuum distillation Separation Thermal Separate w/o cracking Atmospheric tower residual Gas oil, lube stock, residual

CONVERSION PROCESSED--DECOMPOSITION
Catalytic cracking Alteration Catalytic Upgrade gasoline Gas oil, coke distillate Gasoline, petrochemical
feedstock

Coking Polymerize Thermal Convert vacuum residuals Gas oil, coke distillate Gasoline, petrochemical
feedstock

Hydro-cracking Hydrogenate Catalytic Convert to lighter HC's Gas oil, cracked oil, residual Lighter, higher-quality
products

*Hydrogen steam reforming Decompose Thermal/ Produce hydrogen Desulfurized gas, O2, steam Hydrogen, CO, CO2
catalytic

*Steam cracking Decompose Thermal Crack large molecules Atm tower hvy fuel/ distillate Cracked naphtha, coke,
residual

Visbreaking Decompose Thermal reduce viscosity Atmospheric tower residual Distillate, tar
CONVERSION PROCESSES--UNIFICATION
Alkylation Combining Catalytic Unite olefins & Tower isobutane/ Iso-octane (alkylate)
isoparaffins cracker olefin
Grease compounding Combining Thermal Combine soaps & oils Lube oil, fatty acid, alky Lubricating grease
metal
Polymerizing Polymerize Catalytic Unite 2 or more olefins Cracker olefins High-octane naphtha,
petrochemical stocks
CONVERSION PROCESSES--ALTERATION OR REARRANGEMENT
Catalytic reforming Alteration/ Catalytic Upgrade low-octane Coker/ hydro-cracker High oct. Reformate/
dehydration naphtha naphtha aromatic
Isomerization Rearrange Catalytic Convert straight chain Butane, pentane, Isobutane/ pentane/
to branch hexane hexane
TREATMENT PROCESSES
*Amine treating Treatment Absorption Remove acidic Sour gas, HCs w/CO2 & Acid free gases & liquid
contaminants H2S HCs
Desalting Dehydration Absorption Remove contaminants Crude oil Desalted crude oil

Drying & sweetening Treatment Abspt/ therm Remove H2O & sulfur Liq Hcs, LPG, alky Sweet & dry
cmpds feedstk hydrocarbons
*Furfural extraction Solvent extr. Absorption Upgrade mid distillate Cycle oils & lube feed- High quality diesel &
& lubes stocks lube oil
Hydrodesulfurization Treatment Catalytic Remove sulfur, High-sulfur residual/ Desulfurized olefins
contaminants gas oil
Hydrotreating Hydrogenation Catalytic Remove impurities, Residuals, cracked HC's Cracker feed, distillate,
saturate HC's lube
*Phenol extraction Solvent extr. Abspt/ therm Improve visc. index, Lube oil base stocks High quality lube oils
color
Solvent deasphalting Treatment Absorption Remove asphalt Vac. tower residual, Heavy lube oil, asphalt
propane
Solvent dewaxing Treatment Cool/ filter Remove wax from lube Vac. tower lube oils Dewaxed lube
stocks basestock
Solvent extraction Solvent extr. Abspt/ precip. Separate unsat. oils Gas oil, reformate, High-octane gasoline
distillate
Sweetening Treatment Catalytic Remv H2S, convert Untreated High-quality
mercaptan distillate/gasoline distillate/gasoline
Flow diagram of typical refinery
The crude oil distillation unit

ELECTROSTAITC DESALTING
ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATION.
CRUDE OIL PRETREATMENT (DESALTING).

Description.

a. Crude oil often contains water, inorganic salts, suspended solids, and water-soluble trace
metals. As a first step in the refining process, to reduce corrosion, plugging, and fouling of
equipment and to prevent poisoning the catalysts in processing units, these contaminants
must be removed by desalting (dehydration).
b. The two most typical methods of crude-oil desalting, chemical and electrostatic separation,
use hot water as the extraction agent. In chemical desalting, water and chemical surfactant
(demulsifiers) are added to the crude, heated so that salts and other impurities dissolve into
the water or attach to the water, and then held in a tank where they settle out. Electrical
desalting is the application of high-voltage electrostatic charges to concentrate suspended
water globules in the bottom of the settling tank. Surfactants are added only when the crude
has a large amount of suspended solids. Both methods of desalting are continuous. A third and
less-common process involves filtering heated crude using diatomaceous earth.
c. The feedstock crude oil is heated to between 150 and 350F to reduce viscosity and surface
tension for easier mixing and separation of the water. The temperature is limited by the vapor
pressure of the crude-oil feedstock. In both methods other chemicals may be added. Ammonia
is often used to reduce corrosion. Caustic or acid may be added to adjust the pH of the water
wash. Wastewater and contaminants are discharged from the bottom of the settling tank to
the wastewater treatment facility. The desalted crude is continuously drawn from the top of
the settling tanks and sent to the crude distillation (fractionating) tower.
Following the desalter, the crude oil is further heated by exchanging heat with some of
the hot, distilled fractions and other streams. It is then heated in a fuel-fired furnace
(fired heater) to a temperature of about 398 C and routed into the bottom of the
distillation unit.
The cooling and condensing of the distillation tower overhead is provided partially by
exchanging heat with the incoming crude oil and partially by either an air-cooled or
water-cooled condenser. Additional heat is removed from the distillation column by a
pump around system as shown in the diagram below.
As shown in the flow diagram, the overhead distillate fraction from the distillation
column is naphtha. The fractions removed from the side of the distillation column at
various points between the column top and bottom are called sidecuts. Each of the
sidecuts (i.e., the kerosene, light gas oil and heavy gas oil) is cooled by exchanging heat
with the incoming crude oil. All of the fractions (i.e., the overhead naphtha, the sidecuts
and the bottom residue) are sent to intermediate storage tanks before being processed
further.
Vacuum distillation
Vacuum Distillation Tower. In order to further distill the residuum or topped crude
from the atmospheric tower at higher temperatures, reduced pressure is required
to prevent thermal cracking. The process takes place in one or more vacuum
distillation towers. The principles of vacuum distillation resemble those of fractional
distillation and, except that larger-diameter columns are used to maintain
comparable vapor velocities at the reduced pressures, the equipment is also similar.
The internal designs of some vacuum towers are different from atmospheric towers
in that random packing and demister pads are used instead of trays. A typical first-
phase vacuum tower may produce gas oils, lubricating-oil base stocks, and heavy
residual for propane deasphalting. A second-phase tower operating at lower
vacuum may distill surplus residuum from the atmospheric tower, which is not used
for lube-stock processing, and surplus residuum from the first vacuum tower not
used for deasphalting. Vacuum towers are typically used to separate catalytic
cracking feedstock from surplus residuum.
Delayed coker
Residual oil from the vacuum distillation unit (sometimes including high-boiling oils from
other sources within the refinery) is pumped into the bottom of the distillation column
called the main fractionator. From there it is pumped, along with some injected steam, into
the fuel-fired furnace and heated to its thermal cracking temperature of about 480 C.
Thermal cracking begins in the pipe between the furnace and the coke drums, and finishes
in the coke drum that is on-stream. The injected steam helps to minimize the deposition of
coke within the furnace tubes.
Pumping the incoming residual oil into the bottom of the main fractionator, rather than
directly into the furnace, preheats the residual oil by having it contact the hot vapors in the
bottom of the fractionator. At the same time, some of the hot vapors condense into a high-
boiling liquid which recycles back into the furnace along with the hot residual oil.
As cracking takes place in the drum, gas oil and lighter components are generated in vapor
phase and separate from the liquid and solids. The drum effluent is vapor except for any
liquid or solids entrainment, and is directed to main fractionator where it is separated into
the desired boiling point fractions.
The solid coke is deposited and remains in the coke drum in a porous structure that allows
flow through the pores. Depending upon the overall coke drum cycle being used, a coke
drum may fill in 16 to 24 hours.
After the drum is full of the solidified coke, the hot mixture from the furnace is switched to
the second drum. While the second drum is filling, the full drum is steamed out to reduce
the hydrocarbon content of the petroleum coke, and then quenched with water to cool it.
The top and bottom heads of the full coke drum are removed, and the solid petroleum coke
is then cut from the coke drum with a high pressure water nozzle, where it falls into a pit,
pad, or sluiceway for reclamation to storage.
Fluid catalytic cracking
The feedstock to an FCC is usually that portion of the crude oil that has an initial boiling
point of 340 C or higher at atmospheric pressure
This portion of crude oil is often referred to as heavy gas oil. The FCC
process vaporizes and breaks the long-chain molecules of the high-boiling hydrocarbon
liquids into much shorter molecules by contacting the feedstock, at high temperature
and moderate pressure, with a fluidized powdered catalyst.