Refinery and Petrochemical Processes

The combination of high demand for electric cars and higher automobile engine efficiency in the future will mean less conversion of petroleum into fuels. In a refinery process, petroleum is converted into petroleum intermediate products, including gases, light/heavy naphtha, kerosene, diesel, light gas oil, heavy gas oil, and residue. Oil wells produce predominantly liquid petroleum (crude oil), with some dissolved natural gas. Petroleum is a mixture of a very large number of different hydrocarbons. An oil refinery is an essential part of the downstream side of the petroleum industry. The industrial use of petrochemicals has focused throughout its history on roughly seven main building blocks, often called intermediates, which are obtained from both natural gas and petroleum processing. One aspect that makes the petrochemical building blocks particularly interesting, however, is the versatility to make multiple different products from the same molecule.