95-707: The Pembroke Refinery is an oil refinery situated on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales at Rhoscrowther in the community of Angle . It first came on stream in 1964 and was Regent/Texaco's only British refinery. The refinery occupies a prominent position on the south bank of the Milford Haven Waterway and can be seen for many miles. Around a quarter of the site is within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park which
190-402: A devolatilization process to separate usable oil from the waste asphaltene material. Certain cracked streams are particularly suitable to produce petrochemicals includes polypropylene, heavier polymers, and block polymers based on the molecular weight and the characteristics of the olefin specie that is cracked from the source feedstock. Oil refineries are large-scale plants, processing about
285-833: A base project cost from one geographic location to another. Chemical plants use chemical processes , which are detailed industrial-scale methods, to transform feedstock chemicals into products. The same chemical process can be used at more than one chemical plant, with possibly differently scaled capacities at each plant. Also, a chemical plant at a site may be constructed to utilize more than one chemical process, for instance to produce multiple products. A chemical plant commonly has usually large vessels or sections called units or lines that are interconnected by piping or other material-moving equipment which can carry streams of material. Such material streams can include fluids ( gas or liquid carried in piping) or sometimes solids or mixtures such as slurries . An overall chemical process
380-632: A broad range of several applications. Once separated and purified of any contaminants and impurities, the fuel or lubricant can be sold without further processing. Smaller molecules such as isobutane and propylene or butylenes can be recombined to meet specific octane requirements by processes such as alkylation , or more commonly, dimerization . The octane grade of gasoline can also be improved by catalytic reforming , which involves removing hydrogen from hydrocarbons producing compounds with higher octane ratings such as aromatics . Intermediate products such as gasoils can even be reprocessed to break
475-761: A capacity of 940,000 bbl/d (149,000 m /d) but effective run rates have been dramatically lower due to the impact of 20 years of sanctions , and SK Energy 's Ulsan in South Korea with 840,000 bbl/d (134,000 m /d) are the second and third largest, respectively. Prior to World War II in the early 1940s, most petroleum refineries in the United States consisted simply of crude oil distillation units (often referred to as atmospheric crude oil distillation units). Some refineries also had vacuum distillation units as well as thermal cracking units such as visbreakers (viscosity breakers, units to lower
570-558: A consequence George E. Davis is regarded as the world's first chemical engineer. Today chemical engineering is a profession and those professional chemical engineers with experience can gain "Chartered" engineer status through the Institution of Chemical Engineers . In plant design, typically less than 1 percent of ideas for new designs ever become commercialized. During this solution process, typically, cost studies are used as an initial screening to eliminate unprofitable designs. If
665-800: A few percent sulfur -containing molecules, elemental sulfur is also often produced as a petroleum product. Carbon , in the form of petroleum coke , and hydrogen may also be produced as petroleum products. The hydrogen produced is often used as an intermediate product for other oil refinery processes such as hydrocracking and hydrodesulfurization . Petroleum products are usually grouped into four categories: light distillates (LPG, gasoline, naphtha), middle distillates (kerosene, jet fuel, diesel), heavy distillates, and residuum (heavy fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax, asphalt). These require blending various feedstocks, mixing appropriate additives, providing short-term storage, and preparation for bulk loading to trucks, barges, product ships, and railcars. This classification
760-446: A full plant is often complicated in a P&ID, so often only individual units or specific fluid systems are shown in a single P&ID. In the plant design, the units are sized for the maximum capacity each may have to handle. Similarly, sizes for pipes, pumps, compressors, and associated equipment are chosen for the flow capacity they have to handle. Utility systems such as electric power and water supply should also be included in
855-428: A heavy, long-chained oil into a lighter short-chained one, by various forms of cracking such as fluid catalytic cracking , thermal cracking , and hydrocracking . The final step in gasoline production is the blending of fuels with different octane ratings, vapor pressures , and other properties to meet product specifications. Another method for reprocessing and upgrading these intermediate products (residual oils) uses
950-430: A hundred thousand to several hundred thousand barrels of crude oil a day. Because of the high capacity, many of the units operate continuously , as opposed to processing in batches , at steady state or nearly steady state for months to years. The high capacity also makes process optimization and advanced process control very desirable. Petroleum products are materials derived from crude oil ( petroleum ) as it
1045-645: A large amount of steam and cooling water need to have an abundant source of water. Oil refineries, therefore, are often located nearby navigable rivers or on a seashore, nearby a port. Such location also gives access to transportation by river or by sea. The advantages of transporting crude oil by pipeline are evident, and oil companies often transport a large volume of fuel to distribution terminals by pipeline. A pipeline may not be practical for products with small output, and railcars, road tankers, and barges are used. Petrochemical plants and solvent manufacturing (fine fractionating) plants need spaces for further processing of
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#17328011613911140-970: A large scale, heat produced or absorbed by chemical reactions must be considered. Some plants may have units with organism cultures for biochemical processes such as fermentation or enzyme production. Separation processes include filtration , settling (sedimentation), extraction or leaching, distillation , recrystallization or precipitation (followed by filtration or settling), reverse osmosis , drying , and adsorption . Heat exchangers are often used for heating or cooling, including boiling or condensation , often in conjunction with other units such as distillation towers. There may also be storage tanks for storing feedstock, intermediate or final products, or waste. Storage tanks commonly have level indicators to show how full they are. There may be structures holding or supporting sometimes massive units and their associated equipment. There are often stairs, ladders, or other steps for personnel to reach points in
1235-658: A large volume of refinery products, or to mix chemical additives with a product at source rather than at blending terminals. The refining process releases a number of different chemicals into the atmosphere (see AP 42 Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors ) and a notable odor normally accompanies the presence of a refinery. Aside from air pollution impacts there are also wastewater concerns, risks of industrial accidents such as fire and explosion, and noise health effects due to industrial noise . Many governments worldwide have mandated restrictions on contaminants that refineries release, and most refineries have installed
1330-462: A number of further chemical processes are integrated into it. For example, light hydrocarbons are steam-cracked in an ethylene plant, and the produced ethylene is polymerized to produce polyethene . To ensure both proper separation and environmental protection, a very low sulfur content is necessary in all but the heaviest products. The crude sulfur contaminant is transformed to hydrogen sulfide via catalytic hydrodesulfurization and removed from
1425-461: A pharmaceutical or polymer manufacturer to be effectively a chemical plant. Petrochemical plants (plants using chemicals from petroleum as a raw material or feedstock ) are usually located adjacent to an oil refinery to minimize transportation costs for the feedstocks produced by the refinery. Speciality chemical and fine chemical plants are usually much smaller and not as sensitive to location. Tools have been developed for converting
1520-505: A plant by pipeline , railroad tank car , or tanker truck . For example, petroleum commonly comes to a refinery by pipeline. Pipelines can also carry petrochemical feedstock from a refinery to a nearby petrochemical plant. Natural gas is a product which comes all the way from a natural gas processing plant to final consumers by pipeline or tubing. Large quantities of liquid feedstock are typically pumped into process units. Smaller quantities of feedstock or product may be shipped to or from
1615-866: A plant in drums . Use of drums about 55 gallons in capacity is common for packaging industrial quantities of chemicals. Smaller batches of feedstock may be added from drums or other containers to process units by workers. In addition to feeding and operating the plant, and packaging or preparing the product for shipping, plant workers are needed for taking samples for routine and troubleshooting analysis and for performing routine and non-routine maintenance. Routine maintenance can include periodic inspections and replacement of worn catalyst, analyzer reagents, various sensors, or mechanical parts. Non-routine maintenance can include investigating problems and then fixing them, such as leaks, failure to meet feed or product specifications, mechanical failures of valves, pumps, compressors, sensors, etc. When working with chemicals, safety
1710-441: A plant. Online analyzers for chemical or physical property analysis have become more common. Solvents can sometimes be used to dissolve reactants or materials such as solids for extraction or leaching, to provide a suitable medium for certain chemical reactions to run, or so they can otherwise be treated as fluids. Today, the fundamental aspects of designing chemical plants are done by chemical engineers . Historically, this
1805-450: A process appears profitable, then other factors are considered, such as safety, environmental constraints, controllability, etc. The general goal in plant design, is to construct or synthesize “optimum designs” in the neighborhood of the desired constraints. Many times chemists research chemical reactions or other chemical principles in a laboratory , commonly on a small scale in a "batch-type" experiment. Chemistry information obtained
1900-872: A shape which can be suited to hold either high pressure or vacuum . Chemical reactions can convert certain kinds of compounds into other compounds in chemical reactors . Chemical reactors may be packed beds and may have solid heterogeneous catalysts which stay in the reactors as fluids move through, or may simply be stirred vessels in which reactions occur. Since the surface of solid heterogeneous catalysts may sometimes become "poisoned" from deposits such as coke , regeneration of catalysts may be necessary. Fluidized beds may also be used in some cases to ensure good mixing. There can also be units (or subunits) for mixing (including dissolving), separation , heating, cooling, or some combination of these. For example, chemical reactors often have stirring for mixing and heating or cooling to maintain temperature. When designing plants on
1995-551: A shoreline necklace of refineries, built in the early 20th century before this area was populated, and associated chemical plants are adjacent to urban areas in Richmond , Martinez , Pacheco , Concord , Pittsburg , Vallejo and Benicia , with occasional accidental events that require " shelter in place " orders to the adjacent populations. A number of refineries are located in Sherwood Park, Alberta , directly adjacent to
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#17328011613912090-541: A system of pressurizing lines to the actuators is needed. Any points where process samples may have to be taken should have sampling lines, valves, and access to them included in the detailed design. If necessary, provisions should be made for reducing high pressure or temperature of a sampling stream, such including a pressure reducing valve or sample cooler. Units and fluid systems in the plant including all vessels, piping, tubing, valves, pumps, compressors, and other equipment must be rated or designed to be able to withstand
2185-624: A variety of workers working throughout a chemical plant facility, often organized into departments, sections, or other work groups. Such workers typically include engineers , plant operators , and maintenance technicians. Other personnel at the site could include chemists, management/administration, and office workers. Types of engineers involved in operations or maintenance may include chemical process engineers, mechanical engineers for maintaining mechanical equipment, and electrical/computer engineers for electrical or computer equipment. Large quantities of fluid feedstock or product may enter or leave
2280-540: Is a concern in order to avoid problems such as chemical accidents . In the United States , the law requires that employers provide workers working with chemicals with access to a material safety data sheet (MSDS) for every kind of chemical they work with. An MSDS for a certain chemical is prepared and provided by the supplier to whoever buys the chemical. Other laws covering chemical safety, hazardous waste, and pollution must be observed, including statutes such as
2375-433: Is based on the way crude oil is distilled and separated into fractions. Over 6,000 items are made from petroleum waste by-products, including fertilizer , floor coverings , perfume , insecticide , petroleum jelly , soap , vitamin capsules . The image below is a schematic flow diagram of a typical oil refinery that depicts the various unit processes and the flow of intermediate product streams that occurs between
2470-423: Is commonly made up of steps called unit operations which occur in the individual units. A raw material going into a chemical process or plant as input to be converted into a product is commonly called a feedstock , or simply feed . In addition to feedstocks for the plant, as a whole, an input stream of material to be processed in a particular unit can similarly be considered feed for that unit. Output streams from
2565-408: Is cooled by exchanging heat with the incoming crude oil. All of the fractions (i.e., the overhead naphtha, the sidecuts, and the bottom residue) are sent to intermediate storage tanks before being processed further. A party searching for a site to construct a refinery or a chemical plant needs to consider the following issues: Factors affecting site selection for oil refinery: Refineries that use
2660-744: Is fed (or charged ) into a process or unit, then the chemical process takes place, then the product(s) and any other outputs are removed. Such batch production may be repeated over again and again with new batches of feedstock. Batch operation is commonly used in smaller scale plants such as pharmaceutical or specialty chemicals production, for purposes of improved traceability as well as flexibility. Continuous plants are usually used to manufacture commodity or petrochemicals while batch plants are more common in speciality and fine chemical production as well as active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacture. In continuous operation, all steps are ongoing continuously in time. During usual continuous operation,
2755-417: Is more efficient in many large-scale operations like petroleum refineries. It is possible for some units to operate continuously and others be in batch operation in a chemical plant; for example, see Continuous distillation and Batch distillation . The amount of primary feedstock or product per unit of time which a plant or unit can process is referred to as the capacity of that plant or unit. For examples:
2850-424: Is processed in oil refineries . The majority of petroleum is converted to petroleum products, which includes several classes of fuels. Oil refineries also produce various intermediate products such as hydrogen , light hydrocarbons, reformate and pyrolysis gasoline . These are not usually transported but instead are blended or processed further on-site. Chemical plants are thus often adjacent to oil refineries or
2945-413: Is removed from the distillation column by a pumparound system as shown in the diagram below. As shown in the flow diagram, the overhead distillate fraction from the distillation column is naphtha. The fractions removed from the side of the distillation column at various points between the column top and bottom are called sidecuts . Each of the sidecuts (i.e., the kerosene, light gas oil, and heavy gas oil)
Pembroke Refinery - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-475: Is then processed further in the other refinery processing units. The CDU is often referred to as the atmospheric distillation unit because it operates at slightly above atmospheric pressure. Below is a schematic flow diagram of a typical crude oil distillation unit. The incoming crude oil is preheated by exchanging heat with some of the hot, distilled fractions and other streams. It is then desalted to remove inorganic salts (primarily sodium chloride). Following
3135-429: Is then used by chemical engineers, along with expertise of their own, to convert to a chemical process and scale up the batch size or capacity. Commonly, a small chemical plant called a pilot plant is built to provide design and operating information before construction of a large plant. From data and operating experience obtained from the pilot plant, a scaled-up plant can be designed for higher or full capacity. After
3230-479: Is transformed and refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel , asphalt base , fuel oils , heating oil , kerosene , liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum naphtha . Petrochemical feedstock like ethylene and propylene can also be produced directly by cracking crude oil without the need of using refined products of crude oil such as naphtha. The crude oil feedstock has typically been processed by an oil production plant . [1] There
3325-590: Is usually an oil depot at or near an oil refinery for the storage of incoming crude oil feedstock as well as bulk liquid products. In 2020, the total capacity of global refineries for crude oil was about 101.2 million barrels per day. Oil refineries are typically large, sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units, such as distillation columns. In many ways, oil refineries use many different technologies and can be thought of as types of chemical plants . Since December 2008,
3420-648: The Allies , during the Oil Campaign of World War II . Another close contender for the title of hosting the world's oldest oil refinery is Salzbergen in Lower Saxony , Germany. Salzbergen's refinery was opened in 1860. At one point, the refinery in Ras Tanura , Saudi Arabia owned by Saudi Aramco was claimed to be the largest oil refinery in the world. For most of the 20th century, the largest refinery
3515-619: The Edeleanu process . This increased the refining efficiency compared to pure fractional distillation and allowed a massive development of the refining plants. Successively, the process was implemented in France, Germany, U.S. and in a few decades became worldwide spread. In 1910 Edeleanu founded "Allgemeine Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie" in Germany, which, given the success of the name, changed to Edeleanu GmbH, in 1930. During Nazi's time,
3610-873: The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and regulations such as the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards in the United States. Hazmat (hazardous materials) teams are trained to deal with chemical leaks or spills. Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) is used to assess potential hazards in chemical plants. In 1998, the U. S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has become operational. Chemical Plants used particularly for commodity chemical and petrochemical manufacture, are located in relatively few manufacturing locations around
3705-493: The hydrocarbons to be separated by distillation . Since the lighter liquid products are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher-value products. Oil can be used in a variety of ways because it contains hydrocarbons of varying molecular masses , forms and lengths such as paraffins , aromatics , naphthenes (or cycloalkanes ), alkenes , dienes , and alkynes . While
3800-416: The octane rating of their product gasoline, lower the sulfur content of their diesel fuel and home heating fuels to comply with environmental regulations and comply with environmental air pollution and water pollution requirements. In the 19th century, refineries in the U.S. processed crude oil primarily to recover the kerosene . There was no market for the more volatile fraction, including gasoline, which
3895-422: The petrochemical industry with increased risk of various cancers, such as mesothelioma . It also found reduced risks of other cancers, such as stomach and rectal . The systematic review did mention that several of the associations were not due to factors directly related to the petroleum industry, rather were related to lifestyle factors such as smoking . Evidence for adverse health effects for nearby residents
Pembroke Refinery - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-408: The vacuum distillation unit may also produce fractions that can be refined into end products such as spindle oil used in the textile industry, light machine oil, motor oil, and various waxes. The crude oil distillation unit (CDU) is the first processing unit in virtually all petroleum refineries. The CDU distills the incoming crude oil into various fractions of different boiling ranges, each of which
4085-399: The viscosity of the oil). All of the many other refining processes discussed below were developed during the war or within a few years after the war. They became commercially available within 5 to 10 years after the war ended and the worldwide petroleum industry experienced very rapid growth. The driving force for that growth in technology and in the number and size of refineries worldwide was
4180-628: The 12th century. In the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), a workshop called the "Fierce Oil Workshop", was established in the city of Kaifeng to produce refined oil for the Song military as a weapon. The troops would then fill iron cans with refined oil and throw them toward the enemy troops, causing a fire – effectively the world's first " fire bomb ". The workshop was one of the world's earliest oil refining factories where thousands of people worked to produce Chinese oil-powered weaponry. Prior to
4275-860: The 1800s, primarily producing kerosene for oil lamps. In the early twentieth century, the introduction of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles created a market for gasoline that was the impetus for fairly rapid growth of the petroleum industry. The early finds of petroleum like those in Ontario and Pennsylvania were soon outstripped by large oil "booms" in Oklahoma , Texas and California . Samuel Kier established America's first oil refinery in Pittsburgh on Seventh Avenue near Grant Street, in 1853. Polish pharmacist and inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz established an oil refinery in Jasło , then part of
4370-589: The Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Poland ) in 1854. The first large refinery opened at Ploiești , Romania, in 1856–1857. It was in Ploiesti that, 51 years later, in 1908, Lazăr Edeleanu , a Romanian chemist of Jewish origin who got his PhD in 1887 by discovering amphetamine , invented, patented and tested on industrial scale the first modern method of liquid extraction for refining crude oil,
4465-523: The City of Edmonton , which has a population of over 1,000,000 residents. NIOSH criteria for occupational exposure to refined petroleum solvents have been available since 1977. Modern petroleum refining involves a complicated system of interrelated chemical reactions that produce a wide variety of petroleum-based products. Many of these reactions require precise temperature and pressure parameters. The equipment and monitoring required to ensure
4560-584: The U.S. from 1976 until 2014 when the small Dakota Prairie Refinery in North Dakota began operation. More than half the refineries that existed in 1981 are now closed due to low utilization rates and accelerating mergers. As a result of these closures total US refinery capacity fell between 1981 and 1995, though the operating capacity stayed fairly constant in that time period at around 15,000,000 barrels per day (2,400,000 m /d). Increases in facility size and improvements in efficiencies have offset much of
4655-491: The UK, with 96 per cent going by ship as there was no rail link to the national rail network. Pembroke refinery also supplied fuel oil to the nearby oil-fired 2,000 MW Pembroke power station (commissioned in 1968). Chevron acquired Texaco in 2000. Valero Energy Corporation bought the refinery from Chevron in 2011. In August 1992, Texaco offered to purchase the entire village of Rhoscrowther which lies immediately adjacent to
4750-948: The United Kingdom for example there are four main locations for commodity chemical manufacture: near the River Mersey in Northwest England, on the Humber on the East coast of Yorkshire, in Grangemouth near the Firth of Forth in Scotland and on Teesside as part of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). Approximately 50% of the UK's petrochemicals, which are also commodity chemicals, are produced by
4845-710: The capacity of an oil refinery may be given in terms of barrels of crude oil refined per day; alternatively chemical plant capacity may be given in tons of product produced per day. In actual daily operation, a plant (or unit) will operate at a percentage of its full capacity. Engineers typically assume 90% operating time for plants which work primarily with fluids, and 80% uptime for plants which primarily work with solids. Specific unit operations are conducted in specific kinds of units. Although some units may operate at ambient temperature or pressure, many units operate at higher or lower temperatures or pressures. Vessels in chemical plants are often cylindrical with rounded ends,
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#17328011613914940-555: The company was bought by the Deutsche Erdöl-AG and Edeleanu, being of Jewish origin, moved back to Romania. After the war, the trademark was used by the successor company EDELEANU Gesellschaft mbH Alzenau (RWE) for many petroleum products, while the company was lately integrated as EDL in the Pörner Group . The Ploiești refineries, after being taken over by Nazi Germany , were bombed in the 1943 Operation Tidal Wave by
5035-555: The construction of new refineries may have also contributed to rising fuel prices in the United States. Additionally, many refineries (more than 100 since the 1980s) have closed due to obsolescence and/or merger activity within the industry itself. Environmental and safety concerns mean that oil refineries are sometimes located some distance away from major urban areas. Nevertheless, there are many instances where refinery operations are close to populated areas and pose health risks. In California's Contra Costa County and Solano County ,
5130-414: The control room can control various aspects of the plant operation, often including overriding automatic control. Process control with a computer represents more modern technology. Based on possible changing feedstock composition, changing products requirements or economics, or other changes in constraints, operating conditions may be re-optimized to maximize profit. As in any industrial setting, there are
5225-667: The crude oil and depending on the demands of the market, refineries can produce different shares of petroleum products. The largest share of oil products is used as "energy carriers", i.e. various grades of fuel oil and gasoline . These fuels include or can be blended to give gasoline, jet fuel , diesel fuel , heating oil , and heavier fuel oils. Heavier (less volatile ) fractions can also be used to produce asphalt , tar , paraffin wax , lubricating and other heavy oils. Refineries also produce other chemicals , some of which are used in chemical processes to produce plastics and other useful materials. Since petroleum often contains
5320-487: The desalter, the crude oil is further heated by exchanging heat with some of the hot, distilled fractions and other streams. It is then heated in a fuel-fired furnace (fired heater) to a temperature of about 398 °C and routed into the bottom of the distillation unit. The cooling and condensing of the distillation tower overhead is provided partially by exchanging heat with the incoming crude oil and partially by either an air-cooled or water-cooled condenser. Additional heat
5415-406: The entire range of pressures, temperatures, and other conditions which they could possibly encounter, including any appropriate safety factors . All such units and equipment should also be checked for materials compatibility to ensure they can withstand long-term exposure to the chemicals they will come in contact with. Any closed system in a plant which has a means of pressurizing possibly beyond
5510-443: The equipment needed to comply with the requirements of the pertinent environmental protection regulatory agencies. In the United States, there is strong pressure to prevent the development of new refineries, and no major refinery has been built in the country since Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana facility in 1976. However, many existing refineries have been expanded during that time. Environmental restrictions and pressure to prevent
5605-562: The feeding and product removal are ongoing streams of moving material, which together with the process itself, all take place simultaneously and continuously. Chemical plants or units in continuous operation are usually in a steady state or approximate steady state. Steady state means that quantities related to the process do not change as time passes during operation. Such constant quantities include stream flow rates , heating or cooling rates, temperatures , pressures , and chemical compositions at any given point (location). Continuous operation
5700-429: The feedstock(s), the product(s), or both may be individual compounds or mixtures. It is often not worthwhile separating the components in these mixtures completely; specific levels of purity depend on product requirements and process economics. Chemical processes may be run in continuous or batch operation. In batch operation, production occurs in time-sequential steps in discrete batches. A batch of feedstock(s)
5795-858: The fundamental aspects of a plant design are determined, mechanical or electrical engineers may become involved with mechanical or electrical details, respectively. Structural engineers may become involved in the plant design to ensure the structures can support the weight of the units, piping, and other equipment. The units, streams, and fluid systems of chemical plants or processes can be represented by block flow diagrams which are very simplified diagrams, or process flow diagrams which are somewhat more detailed. The streams and other piping are shown as lines with arrow heads showing usual direction of material flow. In block diagrams, units are often simply shown as blocks. Process flow diagrams may use more detailed symbols and show pumps, compressors, and major valves. Likely values or ranges of material flow rates for
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#17328011613915890-412: The growing demand for automotive gasoline and aircraft fuel. In the United States, for various complex economic and political reasons, the construction of new refineries came to a virtual stop in about the 1980s. However, many of the existing refineries in the United States have revamped many of their units and/or constructed add-on units in order to: increase their crude oil processing capacity, increase
5985-514: The highly automated and technically advanced nature of modern petroleum refineries, nearly all processes are contained within engineering controls and represent a substantially decreased risk of exposure to workers compared to earlier times. However, certain situations or work tasks may subvert these safety mechanisms, and expose workers to a number of chemical (see table above) or physical (described below) hazards. Examples of these scenarios include: A 2021 systematic review associated working in
6080-542: The hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules in crude oil are separated in a refinery into components that can be used as fuels , lubricants , and feedstocks in petrochemical processes that manufacture such products as plastics , detergents , solvents , elastomers , and fibers such as nylon and polyesters . Petroleum fossil fuels are burned in internal combustion engines to provide power for ships , automobiles , aircraft engines , lawn mowers , dirt bikes , and other machines. Different boiling points allow
6175-501: The industry cluster companies on Teesside at the mouth of the River Tees on three large chemical parks at Wilton , Billingham and Seal Sands . Corrosion in chemical process plants is a major issue that consumes billions of dollars yearly. Electrochemical corrosion of metals is pronounced in chemical process plants due to the presence of acid fumes and other electrolytic interactions. Recently, FRP ( Fibre-reinforced plastic )
6270-480: The inlet crude oil feedstock and the final end products. The diagram depicts only one of the literally hundreds of different oil refinery configurations. The diagram also does not include any of the usual refinery facilities providing utilities such as steam, cooling water, and electric power as well as storage tanks for crude oil feedstock and for intermediate products and end products. There are many process configurations other than that depicted above. For example,
6365-621: The late Northern Wei dynasty , the Chinese geographer, writer and politician Li Daoyuan introduced the process of refining oil into various lubricants in his famous work Commentary on the Water Classic . Crude oil was often distilled by Persian chemists , with clear descriptions given in handbooks such as those of Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi ( c. 865–925 ). The streets of Baghdad were paved with tar , derived from petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in
6460-411: The less profitable refineries. Raw or unprocessed crude oil is not generally useful in industrial applications, although "light, sweet" (low viscosity, low sulfur ) crude oil has been used directly as a burner fuel to produce steam for the propulsion of seagoing vessels. The lighter elements, however, form explosive vapors in the fuel tanks and are therefore hazardous, especially in warships . Instead,
6555-415: The lost physical capacity of the industry. In 1982 (the earliest data provided), the United States operated 301 refineries with a combined capacity of 17.9 million barrels (2,850,000 m ) of crude oil each calendar day. In 2010, there were 149 operable U.S. refineries with a combined capacity of 17.6 million barrels (2,800,000 m ) per calendar day. By 2014 the number of refinery had reduced to 140 but
6650-473: The manufacturing process. Other kinds of plants, such as polymer, pharmaceutical, food, and some beverage production facilities, power plants , oil refineries or other refineries , natural gas processing and biochemical plants, water and wastewater treatment, and pollution control equipment use many technologies that have similarities to chemical plant technology such as fluid systems and chemical reactor systems. Some would consider an oil refinery or
6745-436: The molecules in crude oil include different atoms such as sulfur and nitrogen, the hydrocarbons are the most common form of molecules, which are molecules of varying lengths and complexity made of hydrogen and carbon atoms , and a small number of oxygen atoms. The differences in the structure of these molecules account for their varying physical and chemical properties , and it is this variety that makes crude oil useful in
6840-487: The nineteenth century, petroleum was known and utilized in various fashions in Babylon , Egypt , China , Philippines , Rome and Azerbaijan . However, the modern history of the petroleum industry is said to have begun in 1846 when Abraham Gessner of Nova Scotia , Canada devised a process to produce kerosene from coal. Shortly thereafter, in 1854, Ignacy Łukasiewicz began producing kerosene from hand-dug oil wells near
6935-447: The plant as a whole are final products and sometimes output streams from individual units may be considered intermediate products for their units. However, final products from one plant may be intermediate chemicals used as feedstock in another plant for further processing. For example, some products from an oil refinery may be used as feedstock in petrochemical plants, which may in turn produce feedstocks for pharmaceutical plants. Either
7030-419: The plant design. Additional piping lines for non-routine or alternate operating procedures, such as plant or unit startups and shutdowns, may have to be included. Fluid systems design commonly includes isolation valves around various units or parts of a plant so that a section of a plant could be isolated in case of a problem such as a leak in a unit. If pneumatically or hydraulically actuated valves are used,
7125-596: The plant is subject to, design parameters are optimized for good economic performance while ensuring the safety and welfare of personnel and the surrounding community. For flexibility, a plant may be designed to operate in a range around some optimal design parameters in case feedstock or economic conditions change and re-optimization is desirable. In more modern times, computer simulations or other computer calculations have been used to help in chemical plant design or optimization. In process control , information gathered automatically from various sensors or other devices in
7220-579: The plant is used to control various equipment for running the plant, thereby controlling operation of the plant. Instruments receiving such information signals and sending out control signals to perform this function automatically are process controllers . Previously, pneumatic controls were sometimes used. Electrical controls are now common. A plant often has a control room with displays of parameters such as key temperatures, pressures, fluid flow rates and levels, operating positions of key valves, pumps, and other equipment, etc. In addition, operators in
7315-464: The product stream via amine gas treating . Using the Claus process , hydrogen sulfide is afterward transformed to elementary sulfur to be sold to the chemical industry. The rather large heat energy freed by this process is directly used in the other parts of the refinery. Often an electrical power plant is combined into the whole refinery process to take up the excess heat. According to the composition of
7410-455: The proper progression of these processes is complex, and has evolved through the advancement of the scientific field of petroleum engineering . The wide array of high pressure and/or high temperature reactions, along with the necessary chemical additives or extracted contaminants, produces an astonishing number of potential health hazards to the oil refinery worker. Through the advancement of technical chemical and petroleum engineering,
7505-460: The rating of its equipment, such as heating, exothermic reactions, or certain pumps or compressors, should have an appropriately sized pressure relief valve included to prevent overpressurization for safety. Frequently all of these parameters (temperatures, pressures, flow, etc.) are exhaustively analyzed in combination through a Hazop or fault tree analysis , to ensure that the plant has no known risk of serious hazard. Within any constraints
7600-430: The refinery. Many of the residents accepted the offer - especially after a large explosion which occurred two years later - which included their properties being purchased at market price plus reasonable expenses. Once the properties were acquired by the refinery, they were demolished. Today, only five houses, a 14th-century church and a farm are all that remain of Rhoscrowther. The historical refining distillation capacity
7695-626: The region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku , Azerbaijan. These fields were described by the Arab geographer Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Arab and Persian chemists also distilled crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain , distillation became available in Western Europe by
7790-609: The time, reports of the health impacts of working in an oil refinery can be found as early as the 1800s. For instance, an explosion in a Chicago refinery killed 20 workers in 1890. Since then, numerous fires, explosions, and other significant events have from time to time drawn the public's attention to the health of oil refinery workers. Such events continue in the 21st century, with explosions reported in refineries in Wisconsin and Germany in 2018. However, there are many less visible hazards that endanger oil refinery workers. Given
7885-458: The total capacity increased to 18.02 million barrels (2,865,000 m ) per calendar day. Indeed, in order to reduce operating costs and depreciation, refining is operated in fewer sites but of bigger capacity. In 2009 through 2010, as revenue streams in the oil business dried up and profitability of oil refineries fell due to lower demand for product and high reserves of supply preceding the economic recession , oil companies began to close or sell
7980-621: The town of Krosno , Poland . Romania was registered as the first country in world oil production statistics, according to the Academy Of World Records . In North America, the first oil well was drilled in 1858 by James Miller Williams in Oil Springs, Ontario , Canada. In the United States, the petroleum industry began in 1859 when Edwin Drake found oil near Titusville , Pennsylvania . The industry grew slowly in
8075-768: The units for sampling, inspection, or maintenance. An area of a plant or facility with numerous storage tanks is sometimes called a tank farm , especially at an oil depot . Fluid systems for carrying liquids and gases include piping and tubing of various diameter sizes, various types of valves for controlling or stopping flow, pumps for moving or pressurizing liquid, and compressors for pressurizing or moving gases. Vessels, piping, tubing, and sometimes other equipment at high or very low temperatures are commonly covered with insulation for personnel safety and to maintain temperature inside. Fluid systems and units commonly have instrumentation such as temperature and pressure sensors and flow measuring devices at select locations in
8170-543: The various streams are determined based on desired plant capacity using material balance calculations. Energy balances are also done based on heats of reaction , heat capacities , expected temperatures, and pressures at various points to calculate amounts of heating and cooling needed in various places and to size heat exchangers. Chemical plant design can be shown in fuller detail in a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) which shows all piping, tubing, valves, and instrumentation, typically with special symbols. Showing
8265-420: The vast majority of these processes are automated and enclosed, thus greatly reducing the potential health impact to workers. However, depending on the specific process in which a worker is engaged, as well as the particular method employed by the refinery in which he/she works, significant health hazards remain. Although occupational injuries in the United States were not routinely tracked and reported at
8360-557: The world largely due to infrastructural needs. This is less important for speciality or fine chemical batch plants. Not all commodity/petrochemicals are produced in any one location but groups of related materials often are, to induce industrial symbiosis as well as material, energy and utility efficiency and other economies of scale . These manufacturing locations often have business clusters of units called chemical plants that share utilities and large scale infrastructure such as power stations, port facilities, road and rail terminals. In
8455-601: The world's largest oil refinery has been the Jamnagar Refinery owned by Reliance Industries , located in Gujarat , India, with a processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels (197,000 m ) per day. Oil refineries are an essential part of the petroleum industry's downstream sector. The Chinese were among the first civilizations to refine oil. As early as the first century, the Chinese were refining crude oil for use as an energy source. Between 512 and 518, in
8550-485: Was also weak, with the evidence primarily centering around neighborhoods in developed countries . Chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals , usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use specialized equipment, units, and technology in
8645-459: Was as follows. The refinery has a fluid catalytic cracking unit that came on stream in 1982. The refinery also has an HF Alkylation unit, catalytic reforming unit and three hydrotreating type units. Pembroke refinery has the capability of refining high Total Acid Number crude oils like Captain and Doba crudes. Oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil)
8740-503: Was considered waste and was often dumped directly into the nearest river. The invention of the automobile shifted the demand to gasoline and diesel, which remain the primary refined products today. Today, national and state legislation require refineries to meet stringent air and water cleanliness standards. In fact, oil companies in the U.S. perceive obtaining a permit to build a modern refinery to be so difficult and costly that no new refineries were built (though many have been expanded) in
8835-620: Was created in 1952. The refinery came on stream in 1964. It was initially owned by the Regent Oil Company, a large domestic marketer of Trinidad-produced oils. Regent was fully acquired by Texaco in 1956 (although the brand name was only phased out in the UK in favour of Texaco in the late 1960s). When it first came on-stream most of the crude oil for the refinery came from the Middle East with some from Libya , Venezuela and Trinidad . Products were shipped to all parts of
8930-493: Was not always the case, and many chemical plants were constructed haphazardly before the discipline of chemical engineering became established. Chemical engineering was first established as a profession in the United Kingdom when the first chemical engineering course was given at the University of Manchester in 1887 by George E. Davis in the form of twelve lectures covering various aspects of industrial chemical practice. As
9025-846: Was the Abadan Refinery in Iran . This refinery suffered extensive damage during the Iran–Iraq War . Since 25 December 2008, the world's largest refinery complex is the Jamnagar Refinery Complex, consisting of two refineries side by side operated by Reliance Industries Limited in Jamnagar, India with a combined production capacity of 1,240,000 barrels per day (197,000 m /d). PDVSA 's Paraguaná Refinery Complex in Paraguaná Peninsula , Venezuela , with
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