How do you separate crude oil by distillation?
Separating crude oil. Fran Scott explains fractional distillation - the separation of crude oil into fractions. Fractional distillation is used to separate crude oil into simpler, more useful mixtures. This method can be used because different hydrocarbons have different boiling points.
How is crude oil treated?
There’s a few basic methods of treating crude oil, some as simple as time, and others more complex. If separation happens in just a few moments or minutes, as when gas separates from fluid, it’s called flash separation. Separation that takes longer is called slow separation.
Why is cracking used to separate crude oil?
Cracking is used to convert long alkanes into shorter, more useful hydrocarbons. Separating crude oil. Fractional distillation is used to separate crude oil into simpler, more useful mixtures. This method can be used because different hydrocarbons have different boiling points.
What must be removed from crude oil before it is transported?
All, however, must be removed from the crude before it is transported. Separation is responsible for removing most of the water and a good portion of the natural gas. During this process, separation equipment uses a vessel that is much wider than the flow line, gravity, and the natural properties of oil, water, and gas.
What process is used to separate the components of crude oil?
Fractional distillation is a process used in the purification of crude oil. This process separates crude oil into different fractions based on the boiling point of component molecules.
What are the methods of treatment of crude oil?
Our crude oil treatment technologies include multiphase separation systems, dehydration and desalting electrostatic treaters, and distillate treaters.
How is heavy crude oil treated?
There are several methods in practice to reduce the viscosity of heavy crude oils in an effort to increase their mobility. These methods include (i) heating, (ii) dilution with light liquid hydrocarbons, (iii) oil-in-water emulsion formation, and (iv) depression of pour point [5, 6].
What is the need for treating crude oil?
Most oil can't just be pumped out of the ground and sold. It needs to be treated, to one extent or another, to separate the water, sediment, and other contaminants from the hydrocarbons.
Why is fractional distillation used to separate crude oil?
This method can be used because different hydrocarbons have different boiling points.
Do hydrocarbons condense?
Small hydrocarbon molecules have weak intermolecular forces, so they have low boiling points. They do not condense, but leave the column as gases. Long hydrocarbon molecules have stronger intermolecular forces, so they have high boiling points. They leave the column as hot liquid bitumen.
Is crude oil a finite resource?
Crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes. Crude oil is a finite resource. Petrol and other fuels are produced from it using fractional distillation. Cracking is used to convert long alkanes into shorter, more useful hydrocarbons. Part of.
What is the process of stabilizing oil?
Stabilization. Oil must be stabilized before it is safe to transport or store. The process that accomplishes this is aptly called a stabilizer or flash separator. Like a heater treater, a burner, coils, or an element is used to heat the oil. Without the presence of water and salt, higher temperatures can be achieved.
What are the three processes that make motor oil?
There are several processes crude must go through to become motor oil, among other things. Separation, heat treating , and stabilization are the first three and all critically important to the overall process. Without the combined effect of these three processes, moving the crude to storage, and eventually refining, would be complicated at best.
How does a heater treater work?
The treating process or heater treater, uses a gas-fired burner, circulation coils, or an electric element to apply heat directly to the emulsion. Being part water and part oil, the emulsion floats between the two liquids. Heat disrupts the bond between the water and oil molecules, and breaks the emulsion down allowing separation. The salt generally stays with the water but, it is attracted to heat so some of it sticks to the burner, coils, or element. The higher the temperature, the more the salt sticks.
What is the percentage of emulsions in crude oil?
PetroWiki defines an emulsion as “a dispersion (droplets) of one liquid in another immiscible liquid..” and says that the percentage of emulsions in crude oil can range from “1% to 80%”. Since formation water is salty, the emulsion also traps sodium, calcium, and potassium chloride (salts) in the oil.
What happens when oil is broken down?
Once the emulsion has been broken down, the oil can move to the final process before it is made ready for shipping. At this point, most of the natural gas and all of the free and entrained water should have been removed. Additionally, the added heat in the treater works to vaporize some of the lightest natural gas liquids. ...
How does heat affect the bond between water and oil?
Heat disrupts the bond between the water and oil molecules, and breaks the emulsion down allowing separation. The salt generally stays with the water but, it is attracted to heat so some of it sticks to the burner, coils, or element. The higher the temperature, the more the salt sticks. Once the emulsion has been broken down, ...
What is the process of separating water and gas?
Separation. Separation is responsible for removing most of the water and a good portion of the natural gas. During this process, separation equipment uses a vessel that is much wider than the flow line, gravity, and the natural properties of oil, water, and gas. Free water flows to a separate set of tanks, gas goes to pipeline or flare, ...
How is crude oil refined?
How crude oil is refined into petroleum products. Petroleum refineries change crude oil into petroleum products for use as fuels for transportation, heating, paving roads, and generating electricity and as feedstocks for making chemicals. Refining breaks crude oil down into its various components, which are then selectively reconfigured ...
Where is crude oil stored?
Both incoming crude oil and the outgoing final products are stored temporarily in large tanks on a tank farm near the refinery. Pipelines, trains, and trucks carry the final products from the storage tanks to other locations across the country.
What are the different types of crackers in refineries?
Complex refineries may have one or more types of crackers, including fluid catalytic cracking units and hydrocracking/hydrocracker units. Cracking is not the only form of crude oil conversion. Other refinery processes rearrange molecules to add value rather than splitting molecules.
What happens after distillation?
After distillation, heavy, lower-value distillation fractions can be processed further into lighter, higher-value products such as gasoline. This is where fractions from the distillation units are transformed into streams (intermediate components) that eventually become finished products.
How does alkylation work?
Alkylation, for example, makes gasoline components by combining some of the gaseous byproducts of cracking. The process, which essentially is cracking in reverse, takes place in a series of large, horizontal vessels and tall, skinny towers.
Where do liquids stay in the distillation tower?
Medium weight liquids, including kerosene and distillates, stay in the middle of the distillation tower. Heavier liquids, called gas oils, separate lower down in the distillation tower, while the heaviest fractions with the highest boiling points settle at the bottom of the tower.
How are hydrocarbons treated?
Smaller hydrocarbons can also be treated to form longer carbon chain molecules in the refinery. This is done through the process of catalytic reforming, When heat is applied in the presence of a platinum catalyst, short carbon chain hydrocarbons can bind to form aromatics, used in making chemicals.
How is crude oil transported?
Once crude oil is extracted from the ground, it must be transported and refined into petroleum products that have any value. Those products must then be transported to end-use consumers or retailers (like gasoline stations or the company that delivers heating oil to your house, if you have an oil furnace).
What is cracking hydrocarbons?
Cracking involves breaking up heavy molecules into lighter (and more valuable) hydrocarbons. Reforming involves changing the chemical nature of hydrocarbons to achieve desired physical properties (and also to increase the market value of those chemicals). The link below will take you to a 10-minute long video that provides more details on ...
What is the major source of hydrocarbons?
Catalytic cracking is the major source of hydrocarbons, with 5 to 10 carbon atoms in the chain. The molecules most formed are the smaller alkanes used in petrol, such as propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, and octane, the components of liquid petroleum gas.
What is midstream oil?
Midstream activities involve the distribution of crude oil to refiners; the refining of crude oil into saleable products; and the distribution of products to wholesalers and retailers.
What are some examples of upstream midstream and downstream?
Some companies in the petroleum industry have activities that would fall into upstream, midstream and downstream segments. ExxonMobil is one example of such a firm. Others have activities that fall primarily into only one segment. The KinderMorgan pipeline company is an example of a specialized petroleum firm, ...
What is distillation in science?
Distillation involves the separation of materials based on differences in their volatility. This is the first and most basic step in the refining process, and is the precursor to cracking and reforming. Cracking involves breaking up heavy molecules into lighter (and more valuable) hydrocarbons.