The development of petroleum refinery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The development of petroleum refinery - Essay Example of the first oil well in 1859 at the state of Pennsylvania where developing larger-scale processing systems were sought to refine massive quantities â€Å"rock oil†. Basically, petroleum refinery is established to perform the core duty of fundamental distillation by which the components of ‘crude oil’ are separated into fractions when crude oil is heated in the distillation column after which different hydrocarbon products may be obtained at varying temperatures. Under low temperatures conditions, light distillates at the top of the column include liquid petroleum gases (LPG), ‘straight run’ gasoline, and naphtha. Out of the middle streams are recovered moderately heavy products such as kerosene and jet fuel whereas the through column’s bottoms are distilled the heaviest of yield being the residual fuel oil. Since production is chiefly concerned with an optimum output, schematic plant and equipment designs for refinery are developed such that desired products are maximized at minimum operating costs as much as possible. On this ground, certain refineries customize plant structure in such fashion as to recycle streams particularly those at the bottom to be fed back to lines where lighter products are processed in order that heavy distillates may be taken advantage of further upon conversion to less heavy form. Manufacturers may also opt to decide on the feasibility of adjusting other factors that directly or indirectly impact the efficiency of distillation such as the number of column plates or stages, the type, design, or number of auxiliary equipments used if necessary, and more essentially, a strategic approach with separating components to remedy relatively close boiling points for the purpose of increasing percent purity of the desired yield. Moreover, refineries of crude petroleum have become enhanced through a system of downstream processing facilities utilized to change the molecular structure of the input whether by catalytic or non-catalytic