Ever wonder how all that black oil becomes gasoline for your car? The gas and oil industry is pretty complex, and turning crude oil into a consumer-ready product is no different.
This blog will go over the basics of crude oil refinement.
Oil-Refining 101
Crude oil is what comes out of the earth during drilling. It's called crude oil because it contains a mixture of hydrocarbons formed millions of years ago. While it does have energy-producing capabilities, it has to go through refinement to achieve its full potential.
Refineries can turn crude oil into a wide range of products using chemistry, and downstream AI solutions help manage the various operations. It's not just automobile gas. Refineries can make aviation fuel, diesel, liquified petroleum, and more from crude oil. Find downstream AI solutions by visiting this website.
Typically, refineries process a specific grade of crude oil for efficiency.
Atmospheric Distillation
The refining process starts with distillation. The crude oil is put into a massive furnace where it heats up enough to transform into a gas. After that, the liquids and vapors enter an atmospheric distillation tower that separates everything based on boiling points.
Streams with higher boiling points fall to the bottom of the tower. In most cases, that turns into asphalt base or industrial fuel. Meanwhile, streams with lower boiling points rise to the top of the tower. Some of the streams are collected and shipped to markets as is. However, others need more refinement.
Further processing
There are a couple of additional processes that the streams can go through. Lighter streams go through reformers to produce a chemical change that results in naphtha and high-octane gas.
Cracking units to break apart heavy molecules. They create motor gas, jet fuel, and diesel. Alkylation units combine molecules into more substantial ones for liquified petroleum gas. Streams can also go through cooking units.
Managing The Refinement Process
As you can see, crude oil goes through a lot before it hits consumers. It's a complex process. Luckily, downstream AI solutions make it more manageable than ever.
Read a similar article about energy modeling service here at this page.
