Refining of petroleum, Chemistry

Assignment Help:

Refining of petroleum:

Petroleum (crude) extracted from earth's crust is an intimate mixture of many organic compounds. Crude petroleum needs to be purified and its components are to be separated. This process of purification of crude petroleum and separation of its constituents into useful products is called refining of petroleum. The process of petroleum refining involves three steps.


1) Separation of water: Crude petroleum consists of salt water mixed with components of petroleum. Water is separated by allowing crude oil to flow between two highly charged electrodes. Water gets separated and settles on electrodes which is later removed.

2) Removal of sulphur compounds: Crude oil free from water is treated with copper oxide sulfur present in crude oil reacts with copper oxide and precipitates copper sulphate which is removed by filtration.

3) Fractionation: The crude oil which is free from water and sulphur is heated to 400°C in an iron tank. All components of crude oil get evaporated leaving behind a residue called 'asphalt' The vapours are passed through a tall, cylindrical fractionating column. Fractionating column contains large number of horizontal stainless steel trays. Each tray consists of a chimney which is covered with a loose cap. The crude oil vapours go up in the fractionating column and the components are cooled and condensed at different heights depending on boiling points of the components. The components with height boiling points are condensed at the lower trays and the components with lower boiling points are condensed at higher trays.
The products obtained after fractionation are
(a) uncondensed gas - used as fuel
(b) petroleum ether - used as solvent
(c) naptha - used as solvent and fuel
(d) kerosene - used as motor fuel
(e) diesel - fuel for diesel engines
(f) heavy oil - as lubricant
(g) residue - as road tar.


Related Discussions:- Refining of petroleum

Merits of atomic fluorescence spectrometry technique, Merits of atomic fluo...

Merits of atomic fluorescence spectrometry technique: The merit of the AFS methods lies within the greater sensitivity achievable because of low background and interference.

Boiler troubles and their consequences, Q. What are boiler troubles? Discus...

Q. What are boiler troubles? Discuss their consequences? Sol. Boiler feed water (water for steam making): water is very important engineering material which is mainly used fo

What is the mass of the tube, A covered glass tube contains 2.25g of copper...

A covered glass tube contains 2.25g of copper and 3.32g of sulphur. The mass of the tube as well as its contents is 18.48 g. Upon heating a chemical reaction forms copper(II) sulph

What is line graphs, Q. What is Line graphs? The points on a line graph...

Q. What is Line graphs? The points on a line graph symbolize the intersection of data for two variables. The independent variable is contrived on the horizontal axis. The depen

Determine the final pressure and steam condenses, A 15 m 3 tank contains s...

A 15 m 3 tank contains steam at 10 bar and 300 o C. The system is then cooled until the temperature reaches 150 o C . Some of the steam condenses. a) How much heat was transf

Scale and sludge formation, How scale and sludge formed in boilers explain ...

How scale and sludge formed in boilers explain in kannKan

Nacl is dissolved in water the sodium ion, When  Nacl  is dissolved in wat...

When  Nacl  is dissolved in water the sodium ion becomes: (1) Oxidized                                       (2) Reduced   (3) Hydrolysed           (4) Hydr

Mechanism.., give the mechanism of additin of HCN to acetaldehyde?????

give the mechanism of additin of HCN to acetaldehyde?????

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd