FLUID MECHANICS II

Petroleum industry

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Fluid Mechanics II

Petroleum industry
Petroleum industry is the process industry. It includes the processes of upstream (exploration
and extraction) midstream (refining) and downstream (transporting and marketing).

In petroleum industries, the refining process of petroleum is separated into 5 basic areas. The
process diagram or flow chart of petroleum industry is given below.

“Simplified flow chart of crude oil refinery processes.”

1. Introduction and origin of crude oil:

The word petroleum is derived from two Latin words, (petro means rock and oleum means
oil). So it is known as Rock oil. It is also known as crude oil or unprocessed oil. The petroleum
or crude oil contain hundreds of hydrocarbons of different types that are mixed together.
Petroleum is also called fossil fuel. It means it has been created by the decomposition of the
organic compound over millions of years under earth crust.
“Petroleum is used as a fuel. It is a dark colored viscous liquid found deep in the earth's crust.”

2. Desalting: “Desaltation is the process in which corrosive salts and suspended solids form
crude oil are removed.”
Since crude oil contains water, salts and suspended solids. Hence desaltation of crude oil is
necessary.
3. Distillation: “Distillation is the separation process in which a mixture of liquid is separated
into their constituents.”

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Crude oil is made up of complex hydrocarbons (e.g. Paraffinic, olefinic, and aromatic) with
small quantities of optically active compound containing O, N, S, P and traces of metallic
constituents. So the crude oil is refined by the frictional distillation column. The frictional
distillation column separates the mixture of crude oil on the bases of their boiling points. The
products obtain from fraction distillation are residuals, fuel oil, lubricant oil, diesel, kerosene,
gasoline, naphtha, CNG. This process of separation of crude oil under temperature on the
basis of their boiling points is done in refinery.
4. Downstream processing: After obtaining products from distillation column the
molecular structure of hydrocarbons molecules present in crude oil is changed by emission
of H2S and other unwanted gases.
“Downstream operations can include refining crude oil and distributing its byproducts such
as gasoline, natural gas liquids, diesel and a variety of other energy sources down to the retail
level.”
5. Purification:
“After production process of crude oil in the frictional distillation column. The product that
are obtained are purified by denitrogenation and desulphurization. “

o There are number of fluids which are attainable after above process. Sine crude oil is mixture
of many fluids which can be classified.
 Types of fluid: There are five main types of fluids obtained from petroleum reservoir
which are given below:
 Black oil
 Volatile oil
 Condensate gas
 Wet gas
 Dry gas
1) Black oil: Black oil is made up of a variety of components including large, heavy, and non-
volatile hydrocarbons. When the reservoir pressure lies anywhere, the oil is said to be under
saturated - meaning the oil could dissolve more gas if more gas was present. A reduction in
pressure at this point will release gas to form a free gas phase inside the reservoir. Additional
gas evolves from the oil as it moves from the reservoir to the surface. This causes some
shrinkage of the oil. Black oil is often called low shrinkage crude oil or ordinary oil.
2) Volatile oil: Volatile oil contain fewer heavy molecules and more intermediate components
than black oils. The color is generally lighter than black oil – brown, orange, or green. As the
reservoir temperature approaches the critical temperature a volatile oil will become more
gas-like such that with even moderate depletion, a volatile oil reservoir can flash mainly to
gas and have a relatively low liquid content.

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3) Condensate gas: Condensate gas is very similar to volatile oils in terms of the color and
gravity of the produced oil. As pressure is reduced in a condensate gas reservoir, the fluid will
pass through the dew point and large volumes of liquid will condense in the reservoir. Since
the gas flows preferentially to oil, much of this oil will be unrecoverable. Consequently, it is
important to recognize that a reservoir contains a condensate gas and re-inject dry gas to
maintain reservoir pressure above the dew point to maximize recovery of the liquids.
4) Wet gas: Natural gas that contains significant heavy hydrocarbons such as propane, butane
and other liquid hydrocarbons is known as wet gas or rich gas. if the gas contains less methane
(typically less than 85% methane) and more ethane, and other more complex hydrocarbons,
it is labelled as wet gas.
5) Dry gas: Natural gas that occurs in the absence of condensate or liquid hydrocarbons, or gas
that had condensable hydrocarbons removed, is called dry gas. It is primarily methane with
some intermediates. The hydrocarbon mixture is solely gas in the reservoir and there is no
liquid (condensate surface liquid) formed either in the reservoir or at surface.
 Properties of fluid:
1) Bubble point pressure: At a given temperature, this condition occurs when an oil releases
an infinitesimal bubble of gas from solution when pressure drops below the bubble point.
2) Retrograde dew point pressure: At a given temperature, this condition occurs when a
gas condenses an infinitesimal drop of oil from solution when pressure drops below the dew
point.
3) Saturated condition: A condition where an oil and gas are in thermodynamic equilibrium,
that is, the chemical force exerted by each component in the oil phase is equal to the chemical
force exerted by the same component in the gas phase, thereby eliminating mass transfer of
components from one phase to the other.
4) Under saturated condition: A condition when an oil or a gas is in a single phase but not
at its saturation point (bubble point or dew point), that is, the mixture is at a pressure greater
than its saturation pressure.
5) Solution oil-gas ratio (OGR): The amount of surface condensate that can be vaporized
in a surface gas at a specific pressure and temperature; sometimes referred to as liquid
content. Denoted mathematically as (STB/MMSCF).
6) Liquid specific gravity: The ratio of density of any liquid measured at standard conditions
(usually 14.7 psi and 60 °T) to the density of pure water at the same standard conditions.
Denoted mathematically as γo (where water = 1).
o Sine in petroleum industries during the process of refining or in other processes fluid are
moved or transferred from one place to another through pipelines.
Hence number of valves are used for the controlling the flow rate, pressure, velocity, and
amount of fluid as well.
 Types of valves: There are some types of valves used in petroleum industry which are given
below:

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1) Ball valves: These are quarter-turn rotation motion valves, which comprise a ball shaped
disk, which helps control the flow of the liquid or pressure of gases. The valves are one of the
most popular, because they offer a very tight sealing at low torque.
2) Gate Valves: The valves are designed to restrict a straight line flow of liquid at a certain
point. These valves are either kept fully open or fully closed.
3) Pressure seal valve: This type of valve used in industry to control the flow of high pressure
fluids. It is used mostly for the pressure higher than 170 bars. One of the important feature
is that its bonnet seal improves as internal pressure increase unlike other construction in
which seal affected cause leakage by high pressure.
4) Check valve: This type of valve designed to avoid the reverse effect of flow of fluids. It is
mostly used for pumps and compressors where back flow of fluids causes and create damage.
It is also used to avoid the unnecessary shutdown of apparatus.
5) Globe valve: A globe valve is used for transporting fuel and turbine oils, and cooling water
systems. It is basically a linear motion valve, which is used for stopping, starting, as well as
regulating the flow.

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