Petroleum Refinery: A refinery processes crude oil into different components such as

kerosene, gasoline, diesel, LPG (light petroleum gases), etc.

Petrochemical Plant:A petrochemical plant is a chemical plant that will use a petroleum
based feedstock, such as LPG or other products from a petroleum refinery to produce a chemical
product, such as plastics for example

Hydrocarbons: Hydrocarbons are molecules made out of hydrogen atoms and

carbon atoms. The simplest hydrocarbon molecule is methane, which is one carbon
atom with four hydrogen atoms stuck to it. Because both carbon and hydrogen were
common in nebulae, hydrocarbon molecules are very common in space. Many of these
molecules are small, like methane, but others are very big, involving hundreds of
atoms. One of the interesting things about carbon is that can easily make itself into
long chains of carbon atoms, so it is easy to build big molecules using carbon as a
building block.
Out in space, the biggest hydrocarbon molecules are amino acids. But here on Earth,
those amino acids were able to hook up with each other to make protein molecules.
One protein molecule can contain hundreds of amino acids in various combinations.
All living cells are made out of those protein molecules, so all living cells are made out
of hydrocarbons: your body, fish, sweet potatoes, trees, cheese, seaweed. Anything that
was once alive is also made of hydrocarbons, so that also includes things like oil
(made out of plants that died billions of years ago), gasoline and plastic (made out of
oil), rubber, wood, food, alcohol, and many medicines like antibiotics.
Crude oil:
Crude oil quality is measured in terms of density (light to heavy) and sulfur content (sweet
to sour) Density is classified by the American Petroleum Institute (API). API gravity is
defined based on density at a temperature of 15.6 C. The higher the API gravity, the lighter
the crude. Light crude generally has an API gravity of 38 degrees or more, and heavy crude
an API gravity of 22 degrees or less. Crude with an API gravity between 22 and 38 degrees is
generally referred as medium crude.
Sweet crude is commonly defined as oil with a sulfur content of less than 0.5%, while sour
crude has a sulfur content of greater than 0.5%.
( The most common method of crude oil extraction is drilling)
1 unit Barrel = 42 U.S. gallons.
1 unit Gallon=3.78 Litre

A mixture of hydrocarbons that exists in liquid phase in natural underground

reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface
separating facilities Crude oil, commonly known as petroleum, is a liquid found
within the Earth comprised of hydrocarbons, organic compounds and small amounts
of metal. While hydrocarbons are usually the primary component of crude oil, their
composition can vary from 50%-97% depending on the type of crude oil and how it is
extracted. Organic compounds like nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur typically make-up
between 6%-10% of crude oil while metals such as copper, nickel, vanadium and iron
account for less than 1% of the total composition.
Crude distillation unit:
Crude oil is sent to the atmospheric distillation unit after desalting and heating. The
purpose of atmospheric distillation is primary separation of various cuts of
hydrocarbons namely, fuel gases, LPG, naphtha, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil. The
heavy hydrocarbon residue left at the bottom of the atmospheric distillation column
is sent to vacuum distillation column for further separation of hydrocarbons under
reduced pressure. The different cuts of hydrocarbons taken out at this stage are the
result of primary separation and undergo further processing before being
transformed to end products.
Vacuum distillation unit:
The residue from atmospheric distillation is sometimes referred to as long residue and
to recover more distillate product, further distillation is carried out at a reduced
pressure and high temperature. This vacuum distillation process is important in
maximising the upgrading of crude oil. The residue from vacuum distillation,
sometimes referred to as short residue, is used as a feedstock for further upgrading or
as a fuel component. Unlike the fractionating column for atmospheric distillation, a
system of packed beds instead of trays is used for condensation of the low-pressure
vapours.

Atmospheric Pressure: The Standard Atmospheric Pressure is defined at sea-level at 273oK

(0oC) and is 1.01325 bar or 101325 Pa (absolute). The temperature of 293oK (20oC) is also
used.

1 atm = 1.01325 bar = 101.3 kPa = 14.696 psi (lbf/in2)= 760 mmHg =10.33
mH2O = 760 torr = 29.92 inHg = 1013 mbar = 1.0332 kgf/cm2 = 33.90 ftH2O

Vacuum pressure: Pressures below atmospheric pressure are called vacuum

pressures and are measured by vacuum gages that indicate the difference between
the atmospheric pressure and the absolute pressure.
Absolute pressure :The actual pressure at a given position is called the absolute
pressure, and it is measured relative to absolute vacuum (i.e., absolute zero
pressure).
Gage pressure : Gage pressure is the pressure relative to the atmospheric pressure.
In other words, how much above or below is the pressure with respect to the
atmospheric pressure.

Boiling point:

The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which it can change its
state from a liquid to a gas throughout the bulk of the liquid .A liquid may change to a gas at
temperatures below the boiling point through the process of evaporation. Any change of state from a
liquid to a gas at boiling point is considered vaporization.

Pressure vessel and column difference:

1.Pressure vessel stores pressurised product in it dependingon the requirements of processColumn
normally has atmospheric pressure.
2.Pressure vessel is designed to withstand circumferentialload,known as Hoope Stess, but column
takes the axial load.
3. Column act as a force through one direction equal, pressurevessel act as a force all direction
equal.

4.Colum is using for seperation of gases or liquids .thatswhy we are using trays inside .vessel always
using to storeor gas through demester pads.colum always higher thanvessel.colum actual a staic
producer .vessel storespressorised product.