Name: Sri Retina

Class: R004

Student ID number: A1B222101

Oil Refinery

Do you know when petroleum was first discovered and utilized? The world's first industrial petroleum
refinery was built in Ploiesti, Romania, in 1856 using the abundant oil available in Romania. In North
America, the first oil well was drilled in 1858 by James Miller Williams in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada.
Period to that time, petroleum was available only in very small quantities from natural seepage of
subsurface oil in various areas throughout the world. However, such limited availability restricted the
uses of petroleum for medicinal and specialty purposes.

First, the earliest refineries employed simple distillation units, or “stills,” to separate the various
constituents of petroleum by heating the crude oil mixture in a vessel and condensing the resultant
vapors into liquid fractions. Initially, the primary product was kerosene, which proved to be a more
abundant, cleaner-burning lamp oil of more consistent quality than whale oil or animal fat.

On the other hand, the perfection of oil-drilling techniques quickly spread to Russia, and by 1890
refineries there were producing large quantities of kerosene and fuel oils. At first, commercial oil
companies only targeted sailors, because at that time oil was needed to support trade by sea. But the
development of the automobile at the turn of the century sharply increased the demand for quality
gasoline, and this finally provided a home for the petroleum fractions that were too volatile to be
included in kerosene. As demand for automotive fuel rose, methods for continuous distillation of crude
oil were developed.

In addition, the oil refinery not only has a positive space on the world but also has a negative impact on
people and the environment. Refineries are generally considered a major source of pollutants. Some of
the chemicals released are known or suspected cancer-causing agents, responsible for developmental
and reproductive problems. They may also aggravate certain respiratory conditions such as childhood
asthma. As result, solutions to reduce the negative impacts of oil refineries is maintaining infrastructure
will help to reduce the likelihood of pollution loss. periodic inspections can allow companies to identify
and repair potentially damaged production equipment before trouble strikes.

In conclusion, oil refineries are great for processing crude oil for usable vehicles today. although there
are negative impacts that can endanger health, it does not mean that there is no solution to this
problem.