Petroleum Refinery Company

A barrel of crude oil always contains a mixture of several different hydrocarbons in it, and all these hydrocarbons are extremely useful to industries in one way or another, but they cannot be used in an impure form. A petroleum refinery company separates petroleum into these useful substances through different processes and steps.

The oldest method of separating petroleum was to use the differences in boiling temperature of these substances to our advantage. This is called fractional distillation, and involves heating up petroleum, letting each component vaporize once it reaches its boiling temperature, and then letting that particular component condense in order to collect it separately.

There are newer methods that are used now. Chemical processing changes some fractions of petroleum into others, and this shorter process is known as conversion. An example is when a long chain hydrocarbon is broken down into a shorter one. Some other methods are also employed by petroleum refineries, such as cracking, alkylation, reforming, isomerization and polymerization.

The methods that refiners use sometimes depend on the demand for a certain product. For example, processes were developed as a response to the change in market demands. When the internal combustion engine came about, the main goal of petroleum refineries was the production of petrol. Fractional distillation alone does not give sufficient petrol to meet a growing consumer demand, and thus refineries looked for more ways in which they could make more petrol that was of a better quality. Refineries sometimes convert diesel fuel to gasoline, based on the general demand for gasoline.

Petroleum refining companies also have to treat the fractions of petroleum to ensure that any impurities are removed. This is done in several ways, some of which are desalting, dehydration, hydro treatment and sulphur removal. They combine the processed as well as unprocessed fractions they obtain into mixtures and then manufacture desired products out of them. Different mixtures of these fractions can, for example, create different types of gasoline that have different octane ratings.

The products obtained are stored within the refinery until they are delivered to the markets in which they are required, such as chemical plants, airports and gas stations. Another important process that all refineries heed to is to treat any waste products that form as a result of the processing of petroleum. They need to do this in such a way as to cause as little pollution to the air and water as possible.

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ExxonMobil is an American gas, and oil company. It became a company in late 1999 when two oil companies merged into one. Exxon and Mobil. The company descended from the former Standard Oil company founded by John D Rockefeller. The merger of Exxon and Mobil to...

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