Petroleum Refinery Processes

Petroleum refining or petroleum processing is the recovery and/or generation of usable or salable fractions and products from crude oil, either by distillation or by chemical reaction of the crude oil constituents under the effects of heat and pressure. Petroleum refining also involves treating the raw products by a variety of finishing processes to yield marketable products. A refinery is an integrated group of manufacturing plants that vary in number according to the variety of products produced; it must be flexible and able to change operations as needed. Refinery processes must be selected to produce products according to demand. This article deals with the processes used to refine petroleum, from the initial pretreating of the well fluids to the finishing processes for products as well as the gas treating processes for reducing emissions to the environment. Keywords: Distillation fractions; Desalting; Dewatering; Feedstock; Refining; Catalytic cracking; Hydroprocessing; Reforming; Gas processing; Polymerization; Treatment; Alkylation; Liquefied petroleum gas; Solvents; Kerosene; Fuel oil; Wax; Lubricating oil; Asphalt; Coke; Petrochemicals