Bitumen – Bitumen’s viscosity is so high

that for practical purposes it is immovable

in a reservoir. Only if the reservoir is
shallow enough for a mining/retorting
operation can be bitumen be commercial.
It is therefore only of interest to the
mining industry, not to the oil and gas
industry.

Tar or Heavy Oil – With lighter ends

than bitumen and a small amount of gas
in solution heavy oil flows sluggishly
through a reservoir. To attain commercial
production rates, however, it’s usually
necessary to reduce the crude’s viscosity
by injecting steam.
Low-Shrinkage Oil (Black Oils) –
This oil’s viscosity is low enough for it
to move through the formation
readily, so low shrinkage reservoirs
are normally commercially
producible. When production starts,
however, the limited quantity of gas
in solution blows off quickly and
causes reservoir pressure to decline
rapidly.

High-Shrinkage Oils (Volatile Oil) -

Because of its low viscosity, volatile
oil produces at high rates and its high
Rs results in good recovery factors. It
is also contains a maximum of higher
valued gasoline-range compounds.
Retrograde Condensate Gas – Refers
to the fact that these gases liquefy when
pressure is reduced, while normal fluid
behavior is for gas to liquefy when
pressure is increased.

Wet Gas – All hydrocarbons in a wet gas

reservoir are in a gaseous state. When
the gas is produced, the associated
cooling causes condensate to drop out in
the surface facilities.

Dry Gas – The gas is composed primarily

of methane with only small amounts of
ethane, propane and butane. These
reservoirs produce no condensate.
1. Gasoline. The most important refinery
product is motor gasoline, a blend of
hydrocarbons with boiling ranges from
ambient temperatures to about 400 °F.

The important qualities for gasoline are

octane number (antiknock), volatility
(starting and vapor lock), and vapor
pressure (environmental control).

2. Kerosene. Kerosene is a refined middle-

distillate petroleum product that finds
considerable use as a jet fuel and around
the world in cooking and space heating.

When used as a jet fuel, some of the critical

qualities are freeze point, flash point, and
smoke point. Commercial jet fuel has a
boiling range of about 375°-525° F, and
military jet fuel 130°-550° F.
3. Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). LPG,
which consists principally of propane and
butane, is produced for use as fuel and is
an intermediate material in the manufacture
of petrochemicals.

The important specifications for proper

performance include vapor pressure and
control of contaminants.

4. Distillate Fuels. Diesel fuels and

domestic heating oils have boiling ranges
of about 400°-700° F.

The desirable qualities required for distillate

fuels include controlled flash and pour
points, clean burning, no deposit formation
in storage tanks, and a proper diesel fuel
cetane rating for good starting and
combustion.
5. Residual Fuels. Many marine vessels,
power plants, commercial buildings and
industrial facilities use residual fuels or
combinations of residual and distillate
fuels for heating and processing.

The two most critical specifications of

residual fuels are viscosity and low sulfur
content for environmental control.

6. Coke and Asphalt. Coke is almost

pure carbon with a variety of uses from
electrodes to charcoal briquets. Asphalt,
used for roads and roofing materials,
must be inert to most chemicals and
weather conditions.
7. Solvents. A variety of products,
whose boiling points and
hydrocarbon composition are closely
controlled, are produced for use as
solvents. These include benzene,
toluene, and xylene.

8. Petrochemicals. Many products

derived from crude oil refining, such
as ethylene, propylene, butylene,
and isobutylene, are primarily
intended for use as petrochemical
feedstock in the production of
plastics, synthetic fibers, synthetic
rubbers, and other products.
9. Lubricants. Special refining
processes produce lubricating oil base
stocks. Additives such as demulsifiers,
antioxidants, and viscosity improvers
are blended into the base stocks to
provide the characteristics required for
motor oils, industrial greases, lubricants,
and cutting oils.
The most critical quality for lubricating-
oil base stock is a high viscosity index,
which provides for greater consistency
under varying temperatures.

10. Leaded Gasoline Additives

Tetraethyl lead (TEL) and tetramethyl
lead (TML) are additives formerly used
to improve gasoline octane ratings but
are no longer in common use except in
aviation gasoline.
11. Oxygenates. Ethyl tertiary butyl ether
(ETBE), methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE),
tertiary amyl methyl ether (TAME), and other
oxygenates improve gasoline octane ratings and
reduce carbon monoxide emissions.

12. Caustics. Caustics are added to desalting

water to neutralize acids and reduce corrosion.
They are also added to desalted crude in order
to reduce the amount of corrosive chlorides in
the tower overheads. They are used in some
refinery treating processes to remove
contaminants from hydrocarbon streams.

13.Sulfuric Acid and Hydrofluoric Acid.

Sulfuric acid and hydrofluoric acid are used
primarily as catalysts in alkylation processes.
Sulfuric acid is also used in some treatment
processes.
 Discovered by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch at the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research in Berlin, Germany
in 1923 . The two created the process in 1925.

The Fischer –Tropsch Process is a set of chemical reaction

that convert a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into a
liquid hydrocarbons.
The process, a key component of gas to liquid technology,
produces a petroleum substitute, typically from coal, natural, or
biomass for use as synthetic lubricant oil and as synthetic fuel
• A process in which a synthesis gas (i.e. syngas) consisting of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide is reacted with a cobalt or Iron
catalyst under certain pressures and temperatures to produce a
liquid distillate.

• The feedstock which is referred to as a syngas can comes from

coal, methane or gasified biomass such as gasified black liquor.
•

A process in which a synthesis gas (i.e. syngas) consisting of

hydrogen and carbon monoxide is reacted with a cobalt or Iron
catalyst under certain pressures and temperatures to produce a
liquid distillate.

The feedstock which is referred to as a syngas can comes from

coal, methane or gasified biomass such as gasified black liquor.
Two main catalyst used:
Iron (Fe) - Used for both Low Temperature and High
Temperature process
Low Temperature (200-240oC) High
Temperature (300-350oC)

Cobalt (Co) - Much higher activity than Fe and much

more expensive than iron based catalyst.
Used for Low Temperature (200-240oC)

Two rarely used catalyst:

Nickel (Ni) - is a very active metal, however, tends to
promote the synthesis of methane, which is the least
desired product of FTS.

Ruthenium (Ru) - is an extremely active catalyst metal,

very rare metal and is extremely expensive.
 
Steam Reforming is a process in which
methane from natural gas is heated, with
steam, usually with a catalyst, to produce
a mixture of carbon monoxide and
hydrogen used in organic synthesis and
as a fuel.

The development of catalytic partial

oxidation technology for the
conversion of natural gas to synthesis
gas (CO + H2) from steam reforming
to autothermal reforming to direct
oxidation.
The Fischer-Tropsch process is a catalytic chemical reaction in which carbon monoxide
(CO) and hydrogen (H2) in the syngas are converted into hydrocarbons of various
molecular weights according to the following equation:
(2n+1) H2 + n CO → Cn H(2n+2) + n H2O

A process in which a synthesis gas (i.e. syngas) consisting of hydrogen and

carbon monoxide is reacted with a cobalt or Iron catalyst under certain
pressures and temperatures to produce a liquid distillate.

The feedstock which is referred to as a syngas can comes from coal, methane
or gasified biomass such as gasified black liquor.

The F-T process has received intermittent attention as a source of low-sulfur

diesel fuel and to address the supply or cost of petroleum-derived
hydrocarbon.

First, reactant gases entering a F-T reactor must first be desulfurized to

protect the catalysts that are readily poisoned.
 There are multiple FT plants throughout the world

 Plant in Malaysia produces low-sulfur diesels

 South Africa uses both coal and natural gas

 There have been proposed facilities in the US to turn

coal and “waste-coal” into FT fuels
 The Bergius Process is a very simple process for converting brown coal
completely into crude oil invented by Dr. Friedrich Bergius.

 The most important result of his research was the hydrogenating effect
of hydrogen on coal and heavy oils under high pressure, in 1912 and
1913.
 Dr. Bergius received the Nobel Prize in 1931 for this contribution to
industrial science.

 The brown coal, also known as lignite, is ground into a fine powder and
placed into a high pressure reactor where it is reacted with hydrogen
gas at high temperature and pressure.
First the coal is pulverized and mixed
with water and a solvent to create
slurry.

This slurry is then hydrogenated in a

reactor at a pressure of 200 bars (2800
psi) and a temperature of 450 0C.

Hydrogen is injected in the reactor

(Hydrogen accounts for 5 to 14% of the
total mass in the reactor).

The reaction occurs to a catalyst made

of Nickel and Molybdenum (Ni-Mo)
doped with Silicium. During this
reaction, the carbon reacts with
hydrogen to create alkanes