JSS2 Basic Science Lesson Note on Refining of Crude Oil and Petrochemicals

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TOPIC: CRUDE OIL AND PETROCHEMICALS

CONTENT: REFINING OF CRUDE OIL AND PETROCHEMICALS

Refining is the process of preparation of useful products such as petrol, kerosene, diesel, and lubricating oil from crude oil.

Crude oil and natural gas are extracted from the ground, on land, or under the oceans through drilling, by sinking an oil well, and are then transported by pipeline and/or ship to refineries where their components are processed into refined products. Crude oil and natural gas are of little use in their raw state; their value lies in what is created from them: fuels, lubricating oils, waxes, asphalt, petrochemicals, and pipeline-quality natural gas. Crude oil is separated to its component fractions by fractional distillation carried out in the refineries.

Some organic compounds produced from petroleum are ethanol, ethane, propanol, benzene, and toluene. These small–molecule organic compounds are in turn used to make large-molecule organic compounds like plastics, synthetic rubber, detergent, insecticide, and synthetic fibers like Dacron and nylon which has made an impact in the manufacturing industry.

Oil Production in Venezuela

Venezuela’s petroleum industry is highly mechanized. Crude and refined oil production drive the economy. A founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), most of Venezuela’s oil production goes to the United States after refining in the Netherlands Antilles.

An oil refinery is an organized and coordinated arrangement of manufacturing processes designed to produce physical and chemical changes in crude oil to convert it into everyday products like petrol, diesel, lubricating oil, fuel oil and bitumen.

Oil Refining and Fractional Distillation

Crude oil is refined into products such as gasoline, asphalt, and waxes by a process called fractional distillation. During the process, the parts, or fractions, of crude oil are divided out successively by their increasing molecular weight. For instance, gasoline has a low molecular weight and vaporizes at a fairly low temperature. This means that at the appropriate temperature, while all of the rest of the oil is still in liquid form, gasoline may be separated out. The remaining oil goes through the same process at a slightly higher temperature, and jet fuel is divided out. Repeating the distillation process several times will separate out several constituents of crude oil, which are then processed and put to a wide range of uses.

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