Human Body and A Petroleum Refinery

Utpal K Dutta
Published: August 2016 Contact: ukdutta@outlook.com Website: https://www.technomanage.com

As a Chemical Engineer who has designed major facilities in production and refining of
oil and natural gas, I have always been amazed with the similarities between a petroleum
refinery and human body.
A petroleum refinery has hundreds of complex equipment interconnected by piping
through which liquid, gases and solids pass, undergoing complex processing. The
processing generates energy (Petrol, diesel etc.) on which we survive and other
chemicals as products. Similarly, human body has a large number of organs and limbs
interconnected by arteries, veins and intestines through which liquid gases and solids
move and undergo more complex processing. Human body also produces energy and
products (e.g. cell regeneration, blood).
Both refinery and human body produce solid, liquid and gaseous waste products, disposal
of which require further processing. Refinery wastes are oily sludge, sulfide bearing
smelly gases and waste water. Human body also produces wastes in the form of smelly
gases, sludge and waste water of similar nature which need no description here.
And look at the similarities of some of the refinery equipment with the organs in the body.
The heart is like pumps used in a refinery, only a bit more complex. Lungs are like blowers
used in a refinery. Tongue, pushing the food down into stomach, is like a screw pump we
use to push dense mixtures of solid or paste for processing.
Stomach is like a reactor in a refinery. A reactor in a refinery can be as complex a design
as stomach. Refinery and human body both have many reactors doing different types of
processing. Again some of the reactors in the body are far more complex.
Similarities are astounding! I can write pages on it. Urine is filtered out of the body.
Refinery also has filtration equipment and molecular sieves to separate out undesirable
components from a product.
Let us take surgeries like knee replacement. It is essentially structural engineering
modifications in a refinery.
Most interesting is the similarity between the brain and the control room of a refinery.
Numerous nerves end up from different parts of the body into the brain, transmitting
electrical signals. Brain controls certain functions automatically like breathing, heart
beats, body temperature, blood pressure. And it controls certain functions by will of the
persons – like movement.
Similarly, in a refinery, transmitters placed at numerous points around the refinery
transmit signals regarding temperature, pressure and other functioning of the equipment
through optical fiber network which function as nerves. The signal reaches the control
room which records and analyses the signals like brain. Numerous monitors placed in the
control room which looks like the control center of a space station can give command to
different equipment. Health parameters of the refinery like temperature, pressure, and
composition etc. (call it blood test report) are controlled and maintained at steady state
by the control room.
My biggest surprise was when I had to get an angiogram done. Some medical device was
inserted through an artery in my groin to create an image of deposits and blockages in
my heart. While the doctors were doing it in the operation theater, I was imagining
‘pigging’ operation we as engineers do in long distance crude oil and product pipelines.
A gadget of the same diameter as the pipeline is inserted in the oil pipeline from a side
entry point. The gadget is strangely named ‘Pig’. There are ‘intelligent pigs’ with scanners
and electronic instruments built within. It travels all along the pipeline scanning and
transmitting the information on the inner surface of the pipeline (deposits, corrosion) to a
control center, where the information recorded. That operation can be called ‘angiogram’
of the pipeline.
Comparison can be endless. The catch is that body created by the almighty is far more
complex than a refinery created by human beings. Every function of a refinery is
understood by scientific and engineering theories and the entire refinery can be simulated
in computer. That is not true for the human body. Perhaps a synthesis of engineering and
medical topics in a biomedical engineering course can bring in innovative approach.
Key subjects in Chemical Engineering like fluid dynamics, heat transfer or process
automation are equally applicable to engineering of the human body. Perhaps it is time
for the universities to device courses merging chemical engineering with physiology and
some amount of medical science to evolve a new breed of medical technologists. Cross
fertilization of ideas and concepts in different areas of science and technology is a sure
shot formula for outstanding innovation.
No, no! I am not partisan to Chemical engineers. Many disciplines of science and
engineering have contributed to development of medical science. Though the analogy
between chemical plant and human body is striking.