Manicure 

How is oil processed? Oil refining. Oil refineries Regional distribution of oil refineries

Oil is a mineral that is an oily liquid insoluble in water, which can be either almost colorless or dark brown. The properties and methods of oil refining depend on the percentage of predominantly hydrocarbons in its composition, which varies in different fields.

So, in the Sosninskoye deposit (Siberia), alkanes (paraffin group) occupy a share of 52 percent, cycloalkanes - about 36%, aromatic hydrocarbons - 12 percent. And, for example, in the Romashkinskoye deposit (Tatarstan), the share of alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons is higher - 55 and 18 percent, respectively, while cycloalkanes have a share of 25 percent. In addition to hydrocarbons, this raw material may include sulfur, nitrogen compounds, mineral impurities, etc.

Oil was first "refined" in 1745 in Russia

In its raw form, this natural resource is not used. To obtain technically valuable products (solvents, motor fuels, components for chemical industries), oil is processed using primary or secondary methods. Attempts to transform this raw material were made as early as the middle of the eighteenth century, when, in addition to candles and torches used by the population, "garne oil" was used in the lamps of a number of churches, which was a mixture of vegetable oil and refined oil.

Oil refining options

Refining is often not included directly in oil refining processes. It is rather a preliminary stage, which may consist of:

Chemical cleaning, when oil is treated with oleum and concentrated sulfuric acid. This removes aromatic and unsaturated hydrocarbons.

adsorption cleaning. Here, resins and acids can be removed from oil products by treatment with hot air or by passing oil through an adsorbent.

Catalytic purification - mild hydrogenation to remove nitrogen and sulfur compounds.

Physical and chemical cleaning. In this case, excess components are selectively isolated by means of solvents. For example, the polar solvent phenol is used to remove nitrogenous and sulfurous compounds, and non-polar solvents - butane and propane - release tars, aromatic hydrocarbons, etc.

No chemical changes...

Oil processing through primary processes does not involve chemical transformations of the feedstock. Here, the mineral is simply divided into its constituent components. The first oil distillation device was invented in 1823 in the Russian Empire. The Dubinin brothers guessed to put the boiler in a heated oven, from where a pipe went through a barrel of cold water into an empty container. In the furnace boiler, the oil was heated, passed through the “cooler” and precipitated.

Modern methods of preparation of raw materials

Today, at oil refineries, oil refining technology begins with additional purification, during which the product is dehydrated on ELOU devices (electric desalination plants), freed from mechanical impurities and light-type carbohydrates (C1 - C4). Then the raw material can be sent to atmospheric distillation or vacuum distillation. In the first case, the factory equipment, according to the principle of operation, resembles that which was used back in 1823.

Only the oil refining unit itself looks different. At the enterprise there are furnaces resembling windowless houses in size, made of the best refractory bricks. Inside them are many kilometers of pipes, in which oil moves at high speed (2 meters per second) and is heated up to 300-325 C by a flame from a large nozzle (at higher temperatures, hydrocarbons simply decompose). Today, the pipe for condensation and cooling of vapors is replaced by distillation columns (they can be up to 40 meters in height), where vapors are separated and condensed, and entire towns from different reservoirs are built to receive the resulting products.

What is material balance?

Oil refining in Russia gives different material balances during the atmospheric distillation of raw materials from one or another field. This means that different proportions can be obtained at the output for different fractions - gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, associated gas.

For example, for West Siberian oil, gas yield and losses are one percent each, gasoline fractions (released at temperatures from about 62 to 180 C) occupy a share of about 19%, kerosene - about 9.5%, diesel fraction - 19% , fuel oil - almost 50 percent (is released at temperatures from 240 to 350 degrees). The resulting materials are almost always subjected to additional processing, as they do not meet the operational requirements for the same machine motors.

Production with less waste

Vacuum oil refining is based on the principle of boiling substances at a lower temperature with a decrease in pressure. For example, some hydrocarbons in oil only boil at 450°C (atmospheric pressure), but they can be made to boil at 325°C if the pressure is lowered. Vacuum processing of raw materials is carried out in rotary vacuum evaporators, which increase the speed of distillation and make it possible to obtain ceresin, paraffins, fuel, oils from fuel oil, and use the heavy residue (tar) further for the production of bitumen. Vacuum distillation, compared to atmospheric processing, produces less waste.

Recycling allows you to get high-quality gasoline

The secondary oil refining process was invented in order to obtain more motor fuel from the same feedstock by influencing the molecules of petroleum hydrocarbons, which acquire formulas more suitable for oxidation. Recycling includes various types of so-called "cracking", including hydrocracking, thermal and catalytic options. This process was also originally invented in Russia, in 1891, by engineer V. Shukhov. It is the breakdown of hydrocarbons into forms with fewer carbon atoms per molecule.

Oil and gas processing at 600 degrees Celsius

The principle of operation of cracking plants is approximately the same as that of atmospheric pressure vacuum plants. But here, the processing of raw materials, which is most often represented by fuel oil, is carried out at temperatures close to 600 C. Under such influence, the hydrocarbons that make up the fuel oil mass break down into smaller ones, which make up the same kerosene or gasoline. Thermal cracking is based on high temperature treatment and produces gasoline with a large amount of impurities, catalytic cracking is also based on heat treatment, but with the addition of catalysts (for example, special clay dust), which allows you to get more good quality gasoline.

Hydrocracking: main types

Oil production and refining today can include various types of hydrocracking, which is a combination of hydrotreating processes, splitting large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller ones, and saturating unsaturated hydrocarbons with hydrogen. Hydrocracking can be light (pressure 5 MPa, temperature about 400 C, one reactor is used, mainly diesel fuel and material for catalytic cracking are obtained) and hard (pressure 10 MPa, temperature about 400 C, there are several reactors, diesel, gasoline and kerosene are obtained). fractions). Catalytic hydrocracking makes it possible to produce a range of oils with high viscosity coefficients and a low content of aromatic and sulphurous hydrocarbons.

Secondary oil refining, in addition, can use the following technological processes:

Visbreaking. In this case, at temperatures up to 500 C and pressures ranging from half to three MPa, secondary asphaltenes, hydrocarbon gases, gasoline are obtained from raw materials due to the splitting of paraffins and naphthenes.

Coking of heavy oil residues is a deep processing of oil, when raw materials are processed at temperatures close to 500 C under a pressure of 0.65 MPa to obtain gas oil components and petroleum coke. The process steps end in a "coke cake" preceded (in reverse order) by compaction, polycondensation, aromatization, cyclization, dehydrogenation and cracking. In addition, the product must also be dried and calcined.

Reforming. This method of processing petroleum products was invented in Russia in 1911 by engineer N. Zelinsky. Today, catalytic reforming is used to produce high-quality aromatic hydrocarbons and gasolines from naphtha and gasoline fractions, as well as hydrogen-containing gas for further processing in hydrocracking.

Isomerization. The processing of oil and gas in this case involves the production of an isomer from a chemical compound due to changes in the carbon skeleton of the substance. So, high-octane components are isolated from low-octane oil components to produce commercial gasoline.

Alkylation. This process is based on the incorporation of alkyl substituents into the organic molecule. Thus, components for high-octane gasolines are obtained from hydrocarbon gases of an unsaturated nature.

Striving for European standards

The technology of oil and gas processing at refineries is constantly being improved. Thus, domestic enterprises noted an increase in the efficiency of processing raw materials in terms of the depth of processing, an increase in the selection of light oil products, a decrease in irretrievable losses, etc. The plans of plants for the 10-20s of the twenty-first century include a further increase in the depth of processing (up to 88 percent) , improving the quality of manufactured products to European standards, reducing the technogenic impact on the environment.

The quality of the produced oil is the main factor influencing the oil refining market.

Experts note that in recent years, the vector of crude oil production has shifted in favor of extracting a high-viscosity product (heavy oil). This movement is also reflected in raw material processing plants, by changing production structures and technological equipment.

History of oil refining

The formation of black gold is a process that takes up to 330-360 million years in nature; crude oil can be found at a depth of tens of meters or at kilometer depths. The history of production on the territory of the USSR begins in 1847, when the first well was made in Baku, which subsequently made this region a pioneer in the production of crude oil. Development of oil production and refining by historical dates:

The Polish chemist Lukasiewicz, who was engaged in pharmaceuticals, proposed in 1853 to use kerosene as a source of light in the process of its combustion. He also discovered the process of extracting kerosene from oil and made the first kerosene lamp. Łukasiewicz built the first oil distillation plant in Austria.

1859 was marked by the first wells in the USA, in the state of Pennsylvania, when they were drilled to extract water, but fell on oil-bearing formations. The value of this product was already known, the process of easy extraction of this raw material was important.

Caucasus in 1866 (Kudakin field), oil production, organization of the first drilling rig.

According to statistics, at the end of the twentieth century, the reserves of all oil amounted to a little over a trillion barrels. A barrel is a unit of measure of oil, which equates to 159 liters. As a standard of quality, the grade of Brent oil is accepted. The greater the difference from the reference barrel, the cheaper the oil.

Modern market and prospects for oil refining

Natural resources are always valuable for the state, but oil is the main indicator of the country's wealth, the state's economy is built around it. Russia is an advanced country in the production of crude oil, which is among the top three leaders in oil production. In addition to the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and the United States are among the leaders. In the top three there is a constant struggle for leadership in the oil production rating.

Active hydrocarbon production is carried out in such countries as:

  • China;
  • Iraq;
  • Iran;
  • Canada;
  • Kuwait;
  • Venezuela.

The rating of oil production does not depend on the volume of proven oil volumes available in the country. Recently, in order to maintain the cost of this product, the OPEC countries, together with Russia, have suspended the amount of raw materials produced.

Oil production, oil refining and petrochemical enterprises

Vygon Consulting, which conducts consulting research in Russia, held an event to study and analyze the state of the oil industry in 2016 and its prospective development until 2018.

The results of this study are as follows:

A decrease in the volume of crude oil refining was recorded in 2016; the volume of lost products amounted to 3.5 million tons.

With the restoration of the cost of a barrel of oil, 2017 will be marked by an increase in refining volumes by 2 million tons and by the end of 2018 by 8 million tons of products, which will return the original 289 million tons of oil products in 2014. Growth is achieved by the following actions: modernization of production processes, optimization of the structure of the refinery enterprise, increase in margins.

The growth in the volume of processing of raw materials is growing due to the correct actions with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, in relation to refineries, which made it possible to maintain the financial position of Russian oil companies in the market.

Experts note that the modern export of refined products has a direction vector, these are the Middle East (Iran), Africa.

Products of oil refining and petrochemistry

Russia is one of the world leaders in the production of petroleum products and processing of crude oil. On the territory of the Russian Federation there are more than 50 enterprises in the field of petrochemistry and processing of feedstock, these are: RNK, Omsk Oil Refinery, Lukoil-Norsi, and other enterprises. All of them have close contact with producing companies: Rosneft, Gazprom, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz.

Experts emphasize that the fuel industry is not one enterprise, but a combination of several mutually interconnected industries. A refinery is a complex that, with the help of production lines, workshops and units, in the presence of auxiliary services, produces the required volume of petroleum products, and also produces raw materials for petrochemistry.

Processing enterprises are divided into groups:

  • fuel direction of the refinery;

  • petrochemical and fuel profile of the refinery;

  • fuel and oil direction of the refinery;

  • fuel, petrochemical and oil enterprises.

Three main segments of oil refining in the Russian Federation:

  • refinery enterprises are large, these are 27 facilities, in total they process 262 million tons of raw materials per year;

  • enterprises processing oil and gas, the Gazprom sector, a total of 8.4 million tons per year;

  • small refineries, more than 50 facilities with a total processing of about five million tons per year.

The result of the work of refineries in Russia is the production of petroleum products: motor oil, gasoline of various grades, aviation fuel, kerosene, rocket fuel, fuel oil and other heavy fractions.

The industry development strategy is a reliable supply of processed products to public and private structures in the Russian Federation.

Oil refining in Kazakhstan

More than 28 million tons of oil have already been produced on the territory of Kazakhstan in 2017, which is twice as high as last year for the same time period. The increase in production is characterized by the ability to process raw materials. Kanat Bozumbaev, the republic's energy minister, noted that the increase in production was possible due to the launch of a new field, Kashagan.

The growth factor was influenced by timely modernized refineries: Atyrau refinery, Shymkent and Pavlodar enterprises. During the modernization of production, new equipment was installed, new technological processes were adjusted. The products of these refineries make it possible to completely meet the needs of Kazakhstan in oil products. Although the results of 2016 showed Kazakhstan's dependence in the supply of gasoline by 40% on demand, these are mainly high-octane brands.

Oil refining in the USA

For specialists and experts, the indicators of oil reserves in the United States are an indicator of the quotation of this product between its demand on the market and existing proposals. Information on the amount of oil in the United States is published by API (American Petroleum Institute), the Petroleum Institute of America.

The weekly report includes:

  • quantitative stock of gasoline;
  • how much oil is in the reserve;
  • the presence of kerosene;
  • amount of fuel oil;
  • how many distillates.

These products account for 85% of American oil refining. There is another report that is presented by an independent structure - the Energy Agency of America EIA.

The only difference in the figures is that: the EIA agency indicates data from the US Department of Energy, the API agency indicates forecasts for the near future.

The figures of the reports say everything about the policy in the field of oil sales. This is due to the fact that the greater the actual reserves of strategic natural resources in the United States, the lower the price of oil on the world market.

Major US Refining Centers

America is always in the top three in oil production, the permanent reserve fluctuates within 20.8 billion barrels, which is 1.4% of the world's oil production.

Refining centers in the United States are located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean:

  • port facilities for processing imported oil, US Northeast;
  • processing centers along the main transport channels for oil supply.

In the US economy, the profit received from the sale of refined oil products occupies a significant position, it is almost 7% of the total GDP, 36.7% of oil in America is spent on energy needs.

Shale oil production is a necessity for America in order to reduce dependence on raw materials from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Canada, Venezuela and other countries.

WBH Energy is a leader in oil production, and the most developed areas are: Alaska, offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico, California, Texas. Until 2015, the United States had a ban on the export of its own oil, but now it has been lifted in order to attract the European market to sell its own raw materials.

Companies and refineries in Russia

Consider the top 5 large and advanced refineries in Russia, which in total already process about 90 million tons of crude oil.

  • Omsk refinery, Gazprom Neft ONPZ, a structure of Gazprom of Russia, owner Gazprom Neft, construction year 1949, commissioning year 1955. The capacity of the enterprise is 20.88 million tons. The ratio of processing to manufactured products (depth of processing) reaches 91%. Plant products: fuel of different grades, acids, bitumen, other products. The company monitors environmental cleanliness, emissions into the atmosphere have decreased five times compared to 2000.

  • The Kirishi Refinery, Kirishinefteorgsintez, is a plant of Surgutneftegaz, which has a capacity of 20.14 million tons, is located in the Leningrad region, the city of Kirishi, commissioned in 1966. The depth of processed raw materials is 54%. A distinctive feature of the production is the production of not only fuels and lubricants, but also: ammonia, xylene, bitumen, solvents, gas. No fixation of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

  • Ryazan Oil Refinery, Ryazan Oil Refining Company, Rosneft structure. It has a capacity of 18.81 million tons. The plant's products: motor gasoline of various grades, diesel fuel, boiler fuel, aviation kerosene, bitumen for the construction industry and roadworks. The processing depth reaches 68%. The plant operates a center for environmental research in the region, and annually laboratory tests and measurements of harmful emissions into the atmosphere are carried out.

  • Enterprise of the company Lukoil "Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez", the city of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod region. The capacity of the enterprise is 17.1 million tons, the plant was put into operation in 1958. Depth of processing up to 75%. The enterprise of the city of Kstovo produces about 70 types of products, including fuel and lubricants, in addition, it has its own specifics, this is the production of food paraffin.

  • The Lukoil-Volgogradneftepererabotka enterprise, put into operation in 1957, has been a structure of the Lukoil company since 1991. Processes raw materials with a depth of 93%. The capacity of the enterprise is 15.71 million tons, it produces products: liquefied gas, gasoline, diesel fuel, up to 70 types of products.

Experts note an increase in the depth of processing of crude oil in the Russian Federation, an increase in the primary processing of raw materials, an increase in the capacity of enterprises, which improves the quality of products. At the same time, the active position of refineries in the fight to reduce harmful emissions and air pollution is noticed.

Centers, complexes and oil refining facilities

Oil is not used in its raw form, it needs primary and secondary processing, which is done by centers and complexes around the world.

Russia is considered the leader in production, but is not the leader in the processing of "black gold", world centers are ranked by:

  • USA;
  • Japan;
  • Germany;
  • France;
  • China;
  • England;
  • Brazil;
  • other states.

The volumes of Russian processed products on the market are represented by the following companies: Lukoil, Salavatnefteorgsintez, Ufaorgsintez, Bashkiria Chemistry and other companies.

The following advanced petrochemical enterprises are located in the Moscow region and in the industrial zone of the capital: Polymeria, AquaChem, Rospostavka, ChemExpress, and other enterprises.

Operation of oil refining facilities

Oil refining facilities are systems of complex organization that solve the problems of processing hydrocarbon raw materials into marketable products or semi-finished products for petrochemistry.

The main elements included in the operation of NPP facilities:

  • reactors and technological pipelines;

  • column apparatus;

  • tanks and compressor equipment together with pumps.

In addition to the main equipment and installations, the equipment that provides the technological process is involved in the operation of NPP facilities:

  • electrical cabinets and other electrical equipment;

  • control instrumentation systems;

  • engineering water supply systems.

The number of elements involved in the operation of the RPE facility, due to which an emergency situation may arise due to their decommissioning (breakage), reaches different values ​​from hundreds to thousands. For this reason, it is important to conduct a risk analysis of the technological system in a timely manner. There are special methods for carrying out such calculations.

Refining technologies

Oil refining at refinery enterprises consists in the passage of raw materials through several stages:

  1. The division of the feedstock into fractions, the parameter responsible for this, the boiling point.

  2. The use of chemical compounds in the processing of the obtained associations, obtaining a commercial product.

  3. The process of mixing components with the addition of special mixtures.

Petrochemistry is a scientific department that deals with the thorough processing of raw materials. The task of this direction is to obtain the final product from oil, as well as semi-finished products for the chemical industry.

The main products are ammonia, ketone, acid, alcohol, aldehydes and other compounds. Only 10% of the produced oil and its processing are now used to obtain petrochemical products.

Basic technological processes and methods of oil refining

The main oil refining processes are primary, which do not make a chemical impact on the feedstock, the produced oil is divided into fractions, as well as secondary, when the task is to obtain large volumes of fuel by influencing the chemical structure of oil and obtaining simpler compounds.

The primary process consists of three stages:

  • the preparatory stage of the extracted oil, cleaning and removal of gases with water is carried out, electric desalination equipment is used;

  • atmospheric distillation of purified raw materials, where a distillation column is used, and fractions are obtained: kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel;

  • further distillation - to obtain fuel oil.

Catalytic processes in oil refining

The catalytic process is used to increase the quality of the output product. Modern catalytic processes include: desulfurization, cracking, hydrocracking, reforming, isomerization.

One of the widely used catalytic processes is catalytic cracking, due to which it became possible to obtain large volumes of fractions with a low boiling point in the processing of raw materials.

Due to the use of modern catalysts with synthetic zeolites, elements of oxides of rare earth metals, the volume of products obtained has increased up to 40%.

Catalysts in oil refining

In catalytic processes, the catalysts used are of great importance. For example, hydrocracking consists in the splitting of a hydrocarbon structure under pressure in a hydrogen environment.

The reforming process involves the use of finely dispersed platinum as a catalyst, which is deposited on an aluminum oxide support. Thus, from paraffins, an aromatic product is obtained for high-octane gasoline grades and aromatic semi-finished products for the chemical industry.

The use of rhenium as an additive to catalysts made it possible to intensify the processing process. Platinum and palladium catalysts are essential to obtain the best quality gasoline.

Refining in oil refining

The process of oil refining, which occurs when mixtures are separated due to the movement of oncoming masses and the applied heat exchange between liquid and vapor, is called rectification. This process is the primary processing of feedstock, when the following products are obtained by dividing into fractions: diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil.

In rectification, light fractions (gasoline and kerosene, diesel fuel) are obtained at AT units (atmospheric tubulars). Heating takes place in a tube furnace. The rest of this distillation fuel oil is processed in a vacuum plant to obtain motor and lubricating oils.

Secondary Refining Processes

In oil refining, secondary processes bring the obtained products of primary processing to a marketable form.

Types of secondary processes:

  • increase in volume (deepening of processing) using thermal and catalytic cracking, hydrocracking;

  • quality improvement through the use of reforming, hydrotreating, isomerization;

  • production of aromatic hydrocarbons, production of oils.

Reforming is mainly used for gasoline. During reforming, saturation with aromatic mixtures occurs to produce high-quality gasoline.

Hydrocracking is necessary to obtain high-quality diesel fuel. The process uses the method of molecular splitting of gas in excess hydrogen.

Modern processing equipment is combined plants, where primary and secondary processes are combined.

Refining depth

The depth of oil refining is a parameter (GPN), which shows the ratio between the amount of extracted raw materials and the resulting commercial product or semi-finished products for chemistry. On the basis of GPN, the efficiency of the refinery is determined.

The value of GPN, as well as the scope of products, depends on the quality of the feedstock. Western countries consider GPN only in the fuel direction, and take into account only the products of the light fraction.

Specialists now subdivide refineries according to the type of processing into: deep and shallow. The GPN indicator indicates the saturation of production with equipment and installations for the processing of raw materials.

Automation of oil refining processes

Oil refining is a complex of interrelated processes (physical and chemical) that should improve the quality of the product at the end.

Refinery automation increases the efficiency of production processes. In modern conditions, the requirements for the resulting quality product can be implemented by introducing automatic control to obtain a commercial product.

To increase the level of refinery automation:

  • technological ideas are being introduced using digital equipment;

  • automatic control devices are used.

Automation of the enterprise reduces the expenditure part of the refinery, makes it possible to monitor processes by computer.

Installations, devices, equipment for oil refining

Oil refining enterprises mainly use the following equipment and installations: tanks and generators, filters, gas and liquid heaters, flare systems, steam turbines and heat exchangers, compressor units, pipelines and other equipment.

Refinery enterprises use furnaces for thermal distillation of oil and its division into fractions. Tube furnaces are used to incinerate residues from the production process. The basis of processing is the division of raw materials into fractions.

Then, taking into account the orientation of the refinery and the type of equipment, further processing of primary products takes place, purification and subsequent division are carried out to obtain a marketable product.

Furnaces and heat exchangers in oil refining

Furnaces used in oil refining are units necessary for:

  • for heating produced oil, emulsion, gas condensate and gas;

  • to ensure the recovery process;

  • for oil pyrolysis.

The main problem in the use of furnaces in oil refining is coke formation when cracking processes occur, which leads to inefficient use of pipelines and heat exchangers.

The heat exchanger is a device without which the refinery cannot operate. The number of heat exchangers at the enterprise depends on the volume of the final product and technological equipment.

A modern oil refinery has about 400 heat exchange devices, the medium that passes through them: diesel fuel, kerosene, gasoline, fuel oil.

The applied pressure in the heat exchangers reaches 40 atmospheres when the medium is heated to 400 degrees Celsius. Devices designed for a pressure of 25 atmospheres are often used, it depends on the profile technologies of the refinery.

Refinery reactors

Refinery enterprises use reactor equipment for such processes as hydrotreatment, reforming, hydrocracking, hydroconversion to improve the GPN parameter (refining depth). This is equipment for deep processing of feedstock, obtaining gasoline of European brands.

The equipment is manufactured under licenses from such global companies as ExxonMobil, Chevron Lummus Global.

Oil products and waste

When the extracted oil is sent for processing, in addition to marketable products, there is always oil refining waste at the output.

The main products of oil refining are refinery products obtained through the use of primary and secondary processing processes, they include: high-quality gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation kerosene, rocket fuel, motor oils, fuel oil, petrochemical products.

Oil refining wastes include adsorbents. These are chemicals that cannot be further regenerated. The main method of waste disposal is incineration. But incineration can cause significant harm to the environment.

There are options for the use of ash and slag, oil refinery waste, as fillers for construction products, rarely used for fertilizers or for the production of chemical elements. When it is impossible to dispose of waste, they are sent for storage in special dumps.

Ecology and environmental protection in oil refining

Refinery enterprises have an impact on the ecology of the entire region. The whole process of processing is accompanied by the presence of harmful substances in the ecology of the region.

Large refinery plants have their own laboratories for continuous monitoring of harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Based on the direction of the work of processing enterprises, we can talk about the harm that can be done to the environment.

For example, during the processing of sour oil, atmospheric pollution spreads over long distances. Therefore, each enterprise has planned work to reduce pollution of the environment surrounding the enterprise.

Products, installations, equipment, technologies, processes, centers, oil refineries at the Neftegaz exhibition at Expocentre Fairgrounds.

Read our other articles:

World oil refining is a global, strategically important industry. One of the most knowledge-intensive and high-tech industries and, accordingly, one of the most capital-intensive. An industry with a rich history and long-term plans.

A number of factors contribute to the development of modern oil refining today. First, the growth of the economy by region of the world. Developing countries are consuming more and more fuel. Every year their energy needs are growing exponentially. Therefore, most of the new large refineries are being built in the Asia-Pacific region, South America and the Middle East. To date, the most powerful refinery in the world is the plant of the private Indian company Reliance Industries (RIL) in Jamnagar (western Gujarat). It was put into operation in 1999 and today it processes almost 72 million tons of oil per year! The three largest enterprises in the world also include Ulsan Refinery in South Korea and Paraguana Refinery Complex in Venezuela (about 55 million tons of oil per year). For comparison, the largest domestic enterprise, the Omsk Oil Refinery, owned by Gazprom Neft, processes about 22 million tons of oil per year.

At the same time, it should be noted that the main trend in the development of refineries is not just an increase in volumes, but an increase in the depth of processing. After all, the more expensive light oil products can be obtained from the same volume of oil, the more profitable the production will be. To increase the depth of processing, the share of secondary processes is increasing all over the world. The efficiency of a modern refinery reflects the so-called Nelson Index, a measure of the level of secondary conversion capacity at a refinery in relation to the primary distillation capacity. The Nelson Complexity Index assigns a factor to each facility in the plant based on its complexity and cost compared to downstream equipment, which is assigned a complexity factor of 1.0. For example, a catalytic cracker has a factor of 4.0, which means it is 4 times more complex than a crude oil distillation plant at the same capacity. The Nelson index for the refinery in Jamnagar is 15. For the same Omsk refinery, it is now 8.5. But the adopted program for the modernization of domestic plants until 2020 involves the commissioning of new capacities of secondary processes, which will “pull up” this figure. So the calculated Nelson index of the TANECO plant in Tatarstan after the completion of construction should be 15 units!

The second most important factor in the development of world oil refining is the constant tightening of environmental requirements. The requirements for the content of sulfur and aromatic hydrocarbons in fuels are becoming more and more stringent. The fight for the environment, which began in the United States and Western Europe, is gradually moving to the markets of developing countries. Even 10 years ago it was difficult to imagine the introduction of environmental class 5 requirements in our country, but for more than a year now we have been living with these standards.

Compliance with stringent environmental regulations is not an easy task. It is also complicated by the fact that the quality of oil, on average, is only deteriorating. The reserves of easily accessible high-quality oils are coming to an end. The share of heavy, bituminous and shale raw materials, containing less and less gasoline and diesel fractions, is increasing.

Scientists and engineers around the world are working to solve these problems. The result of their developments is complex expensive installations and the most modern multi-component catalysts that allow squeezing the maximum of environmentally friendly fuels even from the lowest quality oil. However, all this leads to significant costs for refineries, directly affecting the profitability of plants. The downward trend in their income is visible around the world.

All the trends described above are obvious for Russia as well. Being a part of the world economy and accepting the general rules of work, more and more funds are being invested in our country in the development of domestic oil refining, engineering, and science. This is complicated by the fact that practically not a single enterprise was built in the 1990s and 2000s, much was lost for domestic science, and new qualified personnel for the industry were not trained. But the adopted state program “Energy Efficiency and Economic Development”, designed to radically improve the state of domestic oil refining until 2020, will make it possible to catch up. Its fruits can already be seen today at every gas station, where there is practically no fuel below the 5th ecological class.

Modern oil refining is characterized by multistage production of high quality products. In many cases, along with the main processes, preparatory and final processes are also carried out. The preparatory technological processes include: 1. desalting of oil before processing; 2. separation of narrow fractions from distillates of a wide fractional composition; 3. hydrotreatment of gasoline fractions before their catalytic reforming; 4. hydrodesulfurization of gas oil feedstock sent to catalytic cracking; 5. tar deasphalting; 6. hydrotreatment of kerosene distillate before its absorption separation, etc.

2nd stage, 1st stage Primary processing 3rd stage Secondary processing Reforming Desalination Fractionation Cracking 4th stage Refining of petroleum products Hydrotreating Selective Solvent Refining Dewaxing Hydrotreating

Stage 1: Desalting of oil The production cycle starts with CDU. This abbreviation stands for “electric desalination plant”. Desalting begins with the fact that the oil is taken from the factory tank, mixed with wash water, demulsifiers, alkali (if there are acids in the crude oil). Then the mixture is heated to 80-120°C and fed into an electric dehydrator. In an electrohydrator, under the influence of an electric field and temperature, water and inorganic compounds dissolved in it are separated from oil. The requirements for the desalination process are strict: no more than 3 - 4 mg / l of salts and about 0.1% of water should remain in the oil. Therefore, most often in production, a two-stage process is used, and after the first one, the oil enters the second electric dehydrator. After that, the oil is considered suitable for further processing and enters the primary distillation.

Stage 2: Primary distillation of oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates Primary oil refinery units form the basis of all technological processes of oil refineries. The quality and yields of the resulting fuel components, as well as raw materials for secondary and other oil refining processes, depend on the operation of these plants.

Stage 2: Primary distillation of oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates In industrial practice, oil is divided into fractions that differ in boiling point temperature limits: liquefied gas gasoline (automobile and aviation) jet fuel kerosene diesel fuel (diesel oil), fuel oil Fuel oil is processed to obtain: paraffin, bitumen , liquid boiler fuel, oils.

Stage 2: Oil Refining The essence of the oil refining process is simple. Like all other compounds, each liquid petroleum hydrocarbon has its own boiling point, that is, the temperature above which it evaporates. The boiling point increases as the number of carbon atoms in the molecule increases. For example, benzene C 6 H 6 boils at 80.1 ° C, and toluene C 7 H 8 at 110.6 ° C.

Stage 2: Oil distillation For example, if you put oil in a distillation device, which is called a still, and start heating it, then as soon as the temperature of the liquid exceeds 80 ° C, all benzene will evaporate from it, and with it other hydrocarbons with close boiling points . Thus, a fraction is separated from the oil from the beginning of boiling to 80 ° C, or n. k. - 80 ° C, as it is customary to write in the literature on oil refining. If you continue heating and raise the temperature in the cube by another 25 ° C, then the next fraction will separate from the oil - C 7 hydrocarbons, which boil in the range of 80 -105 ° C. And so on, up to a temperature of 350 °C. It is undesirable to raise the temperature above this limit, since the remaining hydrocarbons contain unstable compounds, which, when heated, tar oil, decompose to carbon and can coke, clog all the equipment with tar.

Stage 2: Primary distillation of oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates The separation of oil into fractions is carried out at primary distillation units using heating, distillation, rectification, condensing and cooling processes. Direct distillation is carried out at atmospheric or slightly elevated pressure, and residues under vacuum. Atmospheric (AT) and vacuum tubular installations (VT) are built separately from each other or combined as part of one installation (AVT).

Stage 2: Primary distillation of oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates In modern refineries, instead of fractional distillation in batch stills, distillation columns are used. Above the cube in which the oil is heated, a high cylinder is attached, blocked by a multitude of distillation plates. Their design is such that the vapors of oil products rising upwards can partially condense, collect on these plates and, as the liquid phase accumulates on the plate, drain down through special drain devices. At the same time, vaporous products continue to bubble through the layer of liquid on each plate.

Stage 2: Primary distillation of oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates The temperature in the distillation column decreases from the bottom to the very last, upper plate. If in the cube it is 380 ° C, then on the top plate it should not be higher than 35 -40 ° C in order to condense and not lose all C 5 hydrocarbons, without which commercial gasoline cannot be prepared. Uncondensed hydrocarbon gases C 1 -C 4 leave at the top of the column. Everything that can condense remains on the plates. Thus, it is enough to make taps at different heights in order to obtain oil distillation fractions, each of which boils within the specified temperature limits. The fraction has its own specific purpose and, depending on it, it can be wide or narrow, that is, boil away in the range of two hundred or twenty degrees.

Stage 2: Primary distillation of oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates Modern refineries usually operate atmospheric tubulars or atmospheric vacuum tubulars with a capacity of 6 to 8 million tons of processed oil per year. Usually there are two or three such installations at the plant. The first atmospheric column is a structure with a diameter of about 7 meters at the bottom and 5 meters at the top. The height of the column is 51 meters. Essentially, these are two cylinders stacked one on top of the other. Other columns are condensers, furnaces and heat exchangers

Stage 2: Primary distillation of crude oil and secondary distillation of gasoline distillates In terms of costs, the broader fractions obtained in the end, the cheaper they are. Therefore, oil was first distilled into broad fractions: gasoline fraction (straight-run gasoline, 40 -50 -140 -150 ° C). jet fuel fraction (140 -240 °С), diesel (240 -350 °С). oil distillation residue - fuel oil Currently, distillation columns separate oil into narrower fractions. And the narrower the factions want to get, the higher the columns should be. The more plates they should have, the more times the same molecules must, rising up from plate to plate, go from the gas phase to the liquid and back. This requires energy. It is brought to the cube of the column in the form of steam or flue gases.

Stage 3: Cracking of petroleum fractions In addition to desalting, dehydration and straight distillation, many refineries have another processing operation - secondary distillation. The task of this technology is to obtain narrow fractions of oil for further processing. The products of secondary distillation are usually gasoline fractions used to produce automotive and aviation fuels, as well as raw materials for the subsequent production of aromatic hydrocarbons - benzene, toluene and others.

Stage 3: Cracking of petroleum fractions Typical secondary distillation plants are very similar in appearance and operation to atmospheric tubular units, only their dimensions are much smaller. Secondary distillation completes the first stage of oil refining: from desalting to obtaining narrow fractions. At the 3rd stage of oil refining, in contrast to the physical processes of distillation, deep chemical transformations take place.

Stage 3: thermal cracking of oil fractions One of the most common technologies of this cycle is cracking (from the English word cracking - splitting) Cracking is a reaction of splitting the carbon skeleton of large molecules when heated and in the presence of catalysts. During thermal cracking, complex recombinations of fragments of broken molecules occur with the formation of lighter hydrocarbons. Under the influence of high temperature, long molecules, for example, C 20 alkanes, are split into shorter ones - from C 2 to C 18. (Hydrocarbons C 8 - C 10 are the gasoline fraction, C 15 - diesel) The reactions of cyclization and isomerization of oil hydrocarbons also occur

Stage 3: thermal cracking of oil fractions Cracking technologies allow increasing the yield of light oil products from 40-45% to 55-60%. Gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel (solar) are made from these petroleum products.

Stage 3: catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions Catalytic cracking was discovered in the 30s of the 20th century. when it was noticed that contact with some natural aluminosilicates changes the chemical composition of thermal cracking products. Additional studies have led to two important results: 1. the mechanism of catalytic transformations has been established; 2. realized that it is necessary to specifically synthesize zeolite catalysts, and not look for them in nature.

Stage 3: catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions Mechanism of catalytic cracking: the catalyst sorbs on itself molecules that are able to dehydrogenate quite easily, that is, give off hydrogen; the resulting unsaturated hydrocarbons, having an increased adsorption capacity, come into contact with the active centers of the catalyst; as the concentration of unsaturated compounds increases, their polymerization occurs, resins appear - the precursors of coke, and then coke itself;

Stage 3: catalytic cracking of oil fractions, the released hydrogen takes an active part in other reactions, in particular hydrocracking, isomerization, etc., as a result of which the cracked product is enriched with hydrocarbons not only light, but also high-quality - isoalkanes, arenes, alkylarenes with boiling points of 80 - 195 ° C (this is the wide gasoline fraction, for the sake of which catalytic cracking of heavy raw materials is carried out).

Stage 3: catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions Typical parameters of catalytic cracking when operating on vacuum distillate (fr. 350 - 500 °C): temperature 450 - 480 °C pressure 0.14 - 0.18 MPa. The average capacity of modern plants is from 1.5 to 2.5 million tons, however, there are plants with a capacity of 4.0 million tons at the plants of the world's leading companies. As a result, hydrocarbon gases (20%), gasoline fraction (50%), diesel fraction (20%) are obtained. The rest is heavy gas oil or cracked residue, coke and losses.

Stage 3: catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions Microspherical cracking catalysts provide a high yield of light oil products (68–71 wt.%), depending on the brand of catalyst.

Reactor unit for catalytic cracking using Exxon technology. Mobil. On the right side is the reactor, to the left of it is the regenerator.

Stage 3: Reforming - (from the English reforming - to remake, improve) the industrial process of processing gasoline and naphtha oil fractions in order to obtain high-quality gasolines and aromatic hydrocarbons. Until the 1930s, reforming was a type of thermal cracking and was carried out at 540 o. C to obtain gasoline with an octane rating of 70 -72.

Stage 3: Reforming Since the 1940s, reforming has been a catalytic process, the scientific foundations of which were developed by N. D. Zelinsky, as well as V. I. Karzhev, B. L. Moldavsky. This process was first carried out in 1940 in the USA. It is carried out in an industrial plant with a heating furnace and at least 3-4 reactors at a temperature of 350-520 o. C, in the presence of various catalysts: platinum and polymetallic, containing platinum, rhenium, iridium, germanium, etc. .

Stage 3: Reforming is carried out under high pressure hydrogen, which is circulated through the heating furnace and reactors. These catalytic conversions allow the dehydrogenation of naphthenic hydrocarbons to aromatics. At the same time, the dehydrogenation of alkanes into the corresponding alkenes occurs, these latter are immediately cyclized into cycloalkanes, and the dehydrogenation of cycloalkanes into arenes occurs at an even greater rate. So, in the process of aromatization, a typical transformation is the following: n-heptane n-heptene methylcyclohexane toluene. As a result of reforming gasoline fractions of oil, 80-85% gasoline with an octane rating of 90-95, 1-2% hydrogen and the rest of gaseous hydrocarbons are obtained

Stage 4: Hydrotreatment - purification of petroleum products from organic sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen compounds using hydrogen molecules. As a result of hydrotreatment, the quality of oil products is improved, equipment corrosion is reduced, and air pollution is reduced. The hydrotreatment process has become very important due to the involvement in the processing of large quantities of sulphurous and high-sulphurous (more than 1.9% sulfur) types of oil.

Stage 4: Hydrotreatment When processing oil products on hydrogenating catalysts using aluminum, cobalt and molybdenum compounds at a pressure of 4 - 5 MPa and a temperature of 380 - 420 °C. several chemical reactions occur: Hydrogen combines with sulfur to form hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S). Some nitrogen compounds are converted to ammonia. Any metals contained in the oil are deposited on the catalyst. Some olefins and aromatics are saturated with hydrogen; in addition, naphthenes are hydrocracked to some extent and some methane, ethane, propane and butanes are formed.

Stage 4: Hydrotreatment Under normal conditions, hydrogen sulfide is in a gaseous state, and when the oil product is heated, it is released from it. It is taken up in water in reflux towers and then converted into either elemental sulfur or concentrated sulfuric acid. The sulfur content, especially in light oil products, can be reduced to thousandths. Why bring the content of impurities of organosulfur substances in gasoline to such a strict standard? It's all about later use. It is known, for example, that the more severe the catalytic reforming regime, the higher the yield of high-octane gasoline at a given octane number or the higher the octane number at a given catalyzate yield. As a result, the yield of "octane-tons" is increased - this is the name given to the product of the amount of reforming catalysate or any other component and its octane number.

Stage 4: Hydrotreating Refiners primarily care about increasing the octane-tons of the product compared to the raw material. Therefore, they are trying to tighten all secondary processes of oil refining. In reforming, hardness is determined by a decrease in pressure and an increase in temperature. At the same time, aromatization reactions proceed more fully and faster. But the increase in stiffness is limited by the stability of the catalyst and its activity.

Stage 4: Hydrotreating Sulfur, being a catalyst poison, poisons the catalyst as it accumulates on it. From this it is clear: the less it is in the raw material, the longer the catalyst will be active with increasing hardness. As in the rule of leverage: if you lose at the refinement stage, you win at the reforming stage. Usually, not all, for example, the diesel fraction is subjected to hydrotreating, but only a part of it, since this process is quite expensive. In addition, it has one more drawback: this operation practically does not change the hydrocarbon composition of the fractions.

Stage 4: SELECTIVE CLEANING of petroleum products. carried out by solvent extraction of harmful impurities from petroleum fractions to improve their physical, chemical and operational characteristics; one of the main technological processes for the production of lubricating oils from petroleum feedstocks. Selective purification is based on the ability of polar solvents to selectively (selectively) dissolve polar or polarizable components of raw materials, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and high molecular weight resinous asphaltene substances.

The Russian Federation is one of the world leaders in oil extraction and production. More than 50 enterprises operate in the state, the main tasks of which are oil refining and petrochemistry. Among them are Kirishi NOS, Omsk Oil Refinery, Lukoil-NORSI, RNA, YaroslavNOS and so on.

At the moment, most of them are connected to well-known oil and gas companies such as Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz. The period of operation of such production is about 3 years.

Main products of oil refining These are gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel. Now more than 90% of all mined black gold is used to produce fuel: aviation, jet, diesel, furnace, boiler, as well as lubricating oils and raw materials for future chemical processing.

Oil refining technology

Oil refining technology consists of several stages:

  • separation of products into fractions that differ in boiling point;

  • processing of these associations with the help of chemical compounds and the production of marketable petroleum products;

  • mixing components using a variety of mixtures.

The branch of science that is devoted to the processing of combustible minerals is petrochemistry. She studies the processes of obtaining products from black gold and final chemical workings. These include alcohol, aldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen, acid, ketone, and the like. To date, only 10% of the produced oil is used as a raw material for petrochemicals.

Basic Refining Processes

Oil refining processes are divided into primary and secondary. The former do not imply a chemical change in black gold, but ensure its physical separation into fractions. The task of the latter is to increase the volume of produced fuel. They contribute to the chemical transformation of hydrocarbon molecules, which is part of the oil, into simpler compounds.

Primary processes occur in three stages. The initial one is the preparation of black gold. It undergoes additional purification from mechanical impurities, removal of light gases and water is carried out using modern electric desalination equipment.

This is followed by atmospheric distillation. The oil moves to the distillation column, where it is divided into fractions: gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and finally into fuel oil. The quality that the products have at this stage of processing does not correspond to the commercial characteristics, therefore, the fractions are subjected to secondary processing.

Secondary processes can be divided into several types:

  • deepening (catalytic and thermal cracking, visbreaking, slow coking, hydrocracking, bitumen production, etc.);

  • refining (reforming, hydrotreating, isomerization, etc.);

  • other operations for the production of oil and aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as alkylation.

Reforming is applied to the gasoline fraction. As a result, it is saturated with aromatic mixtures. The extracted raw material is used as an element for the production of gasoline.

Catalytic cracking is used to break down molecules of heavy gases, which are then used to release fuel.

Hydrocracking is a method of splitting gas molecules in an excess of hydrogen. As a result of this process, diesel fuel and elements for gasoline are obtained.

Coking is an operation for the extraction of petroleum cokes from the heavy fraction and residues of the secondary process.

Hydrocracking, hydrogenation, hydrotreatment, hydrodearomatization, hydrodewaxing are all hydrogenation processes in oil refining. Their distinguishing characteristic is the carrying out of catalytic transformations in the presence of hydrogen or a gas that contains water.

Modern installations for the primary industrial refining of oil are often combined and can perform some secondary processes in a variety of volumes.

Oil refining equipment

Oil refining equipment is:

  • generators;

  • reservoirs;

  • filters;

  • liquid and gas heaters;

  • incinerators (devices for thermal waste disposal);

  • flare systems;

  • gas compressors;

  • steam turbines;

  • heat exchangers;

  • stands for hydraulic testing of pipelines;

  • pipes;

  • fittings and the like.

In addition, the enterprises use technological furnaces for oil refining. They are designed to heat the process medium using the heat released during fuel combustion.

There are two types of these units: tube furnaces and devices for burning liquid, solid and gaseous production residues.

The basics of oil refining are that, first of all, production begins with the distillation of oil and its formation into separate fractions.

Then the main part of the compounds obtained is converted into more necessary products by changing their physical characteristics and molecular structure under the influence of cracking, reforming and other operations that are related to secondary processes. Further, oil products sequentially undergo various types of purification and separation.

Large refineries are engaged in fractionation, conversion, processing and blending of black gold with lubricants. In addition, they produce heavy fuel oil and asphalt, and can also carry out further distillation of petroleum products.

Design and construction of oil refinery

To begin with, it is necessary to carry out the design and construction of oil refining. This is a rather complex and responsible process.

The design and construction of oil refining takes place in several stages:

  • formation of the main goals and objectives of the enterprise and investment analysis;

  • selection of a territory for production and obtaining a permit for the construction of a plant;

  • the project of the oil refining complex itself;

  • collection of necessary devices and mechanisms, construction and installation, as well as commissioning;

  • the final stage is the commissioning of the oil producing enterprise.

The production of products from black gold occurs with the help of specialized mechanisms.

Modern technologies of oil refining at the exhibition

The oil and gas industry is widely developed on the territory of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the question arises of creating new industries and improving and modernizing technical equipment. In order to bring the Russian oil and gas industry to a new, higher level, an annual exhibition of scientific achievements in this field is held. "Naftogaz".

Exposition "Neftegaz" will be distinguished by its scale and a large number of invited companies. Among them are not only popular domestic firms, but also representatives of other states. They will demonstrate their achievements, innovative technologies, fresh business projects and the like.

In addition, the exhibition will feature refined oil products, alternative fuels and energy, modern equipment for enterprises, and so on.

As part of the event, it is planned to hold various conferences, seminars, presentations, discussions, master classes, lectures and discussions.

Read our other articles.

Have questions?

Report a typo

Text to be sent to our editors:

Send