Petroleum Refining – CN4201R

Chapter 1 of 8 (Crude oil and Products)

Presented by
Er. Srinivasan Premkumar
AY 2018/19 – 1st Semester

Note: The Lecture Notes was developed based on the listed references for the education purpose only.
Objectives
• Overview on the crude oil origin, occurrence and recovery
• Properties and specifications of the crude oil and its products
Petroleum Refineries
• The petroleum refineries use crude oil and produces:
▫ Fuels for transportation, power generation and heating
▫ Specialties such as solvents and lube oils
▫ Intermediates - especially for the petrochemical industries
Petroleum Refineries
• About 700 refineries across the globe
• Singapore is home to 3 large refineries
▫ ExxonMobil Jurong Island Refinery (605,000 bbl/day)
▫ Shell Pulau Bukom Refinery (500,000 bbl/day)
▫ Singapore Refining Company (SRC) Jurong Island Refinery (290,000 bbl/day)
• Singapore ExxonMobil refinery is the 7th largest in the world
Jurong Island & Pulau Bukom
Oil & Gas Industry
Video
• Video 1.1 (Refinery Overview)
Crude oil
• Feedstock/raw material to the petroleum refineries
• Thick, dark-brown or greenish liquid
• Origin
• About 100 countries produce crude oil
• Some of the top producers are
▫ Russia
▫ Saudi Arabia
▫ United States
▫ Iraq
▫ Iran
Origin
Crude oil – Elemental composition
Crude oil – Functional groups
• Paraffins
• Olefins
• Naphthenes
• Aromatics
• Sulfur compounds
• Oxygen compounds
• Nitrogen compounds
• Metallic compounds
• Asphaltenes and resins
Paraffins
Paraffins
Olefins (alkenes)
Naphthenes (cycloalkanes)
Aromatics
Crude oil Characterization
• Crude is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons – multiple properties are
required to characterize
▫ Fractionation techniques
▫ Physical properties
▫ Chemical properties
▫ Analytical techniques

• The set of complete analyses that characterize a crude oil is referred as crude
assay
▫ Assay results provide analysis data for refiners, oil traders and producers
▫ Assay data help the refineries determine if a crude oil feedstock is compatible for
a particular refinery or if the crude oil could cause yield, quality, production,
environmental and other problems
Crude Comparison
Crude oil Characterization
• A typical crude assay includes the following major specifications:
▫ API Gravity
▫ Total Sulfur (% wt)
▫ Pour Point (°C)
▫ Viscosity @ 20°C (cSt)
▫ Viscosity @ 40°C (cSt)
▫ Nickel (ppm)
▫ Vanadium (ppm)
▫ Total Nitrogen (ppm)
▫ Total Acid Number (mgKOH/g)
▫ Distillation Data
▫ Characterization factor KUOP, KW
Crude oil
• Crude oil is a blend of hydrocarbon molecules
▫ Classified and priced by density, sulfur content and acidity
• Density is measured in API Gravity (relative density of crude oil to water)
▫ API > 10: lighter, floats on water
▫ API < 10: heavier, sinks in water
• Sulfur content is measured in weight percent
▫ Less than 0.5% sulfur content = sweet
▫ Greater than 0.5% sulfur content = sour
• Acidity is measured by Total Acid Number (TAN)
▫ High acid crudes are those with TAN greater than 0.7
▫ Acidic crudes are corrosive to refinery equipment, require greater investment to
process significant volumes or higher TAN levels

Light, sweet, low TAN crudes are easier to process

API Gravity
• The API gravity can range from 8.5 for very heavy crudes to
44 for light crudes
TBP and ASTM Distillation Curves
Tapis Crude (Malaysia) – Crude Assay
Basrah Heavy (Iraq) – Crude Assay
Video
• Video 1.2 (Crude oil origin)
Products
• Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
• Naphtha
• Gasoline or Motor Gasoline (Mogas)
• Kerosene
• Jet fuel
• Diesel
• Fuel oil
• Lube oil
• Asphalt
• Petroleum coke
Product Characterization & Specification
• Chemical
▫ Functional groups
• Physical
▫ API gravity
▫ TBP/ASTM distillation curves
▫ Sulfur
▫ Viscosity
▫ Flash and fire point
▫ Cloud and pour point
▫ Octane number
▫ Cetane number
Summary
• Crude
▫ Origin
▫ Composition
▫ Characterization
• Products
▫ Composition
▫ Characterization
Discussion
Q&A
References
1. Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining by Mohamed A. Fahim, Taher A.
Alsahhaf and Amal Elkilani, First Edition, 2010
2. Chemical Process Technology by Jacob A. Moulijn, Michiel Makkee
and Annelies E. Van Diepen, Second Edition, 2013
3. Refinery Processes Handbook by Surinder Parkash, 2003