Petroleum Engineering Guys, I need a lil help plz...

[M.D. Holloway]

There are some great prizes and gifts that await if I can get some info...

Any of you guys working at an oil refinery? I need some help. I am working on a piece and I need some real world information on the various tests performed on crude coming into the plant as well as the tests run during refining.

Also, if any of you have any text books or the like on Petroleum Engineering, I would love to be able to borrow them for a month or so. I will pay for shipping as well as compensate you with some great prizes and gifts.


I hope you can help me out. Thanks!

[GH85Carrera]

Just ask any Congressman. Congress is all knowing about the entire refining business. They know way more than the companies that run the refineries.

[sammyg2]

I work at a refinery and the information you are asking for could fill a library or three.

Just testing the process stream products keeps about 16 chemists employed full time at this refinery.

I've got lots of books but most are either company property, proprietary, or so egg head and specific they probably won't be of much use.
One sitting on my desk right now is called "applied process design for chemical and petrochemical plants" volume 1.
It tells you how to design and build process units and all the components and I use it all the time, but there are parts that even I can't figure out. It's deep.

I remember reading a long time ago called "petroleum refining for the non-technical person". It's a very good book for general refining theory.

If you could let us know exactly what you are after it could be easier to help.

[M.D. Holloway]

Agree, I was looking through all the ASTM tests related to crude oil and refining and there are a bunch. Generally speaking viscosity, sulphur and water content would be very important as well as some others. Those are the types of tests I am looking for as well as why they are important.

Specifically I am looking for the tests for the crude oil (the basic ones) as well as the in-prcocess tests run on the distillates primarlilly the bright stock and light oils - the middle distillate range.

Any info on the QC/QA would be fantastic.

[MotoSook]

You might consider contacting an indepent lab. Try SPL. They have an office in your area probably.

[M.D. Holloway]

I need an idea of the things that go on at the refinery.

[cmccuist]

It's all about the hydrocarbons. Broken down to the very basic function - you heat up crude, and you take your product. There are so many processes - hydro cracking, cat cracking, vacuum units, gas oil units, asphalt, sulphur removal...

But at it's core, a refinery turns crude into product - jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene, propane, butane, asphalt etc.

[MotoSook]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

I need an idea of the things that go on at the refinery.

The independent test labs should be able to get into the very details of testing and sampling. They might even be able to hook you up with a local refinery that can offer some help.

[M.D. Holloway]

Craig, yup, got that covered, what I was needing was the in situ (process) analysis of the material before, during and after for quality control / quality assurance.

Soukus, yup they could but I really need to know is the actual tests run during production for quality control / quality assurance.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by cmccuist

It's all about the hydrocarbons. Broken down to the very basic function - you heat up crude, and you take your product. There are so many processes - hydro cracking, cat cracking, vacuum units, gas oil units, asphalt, sulphur removal...

But at it's core, a refinery turns crude into product - jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene, propane, butane, asphalt etc.

There are three basic processes in refining. First is distillation, seperating products by boiling point.
That doesn't "make" anything, it simply seperates and sorts what is already there.
The test for distillation is range and percentage of boiling points of the mixture. Organic chemistry tells us that everything is a mixture.
Nearly all process streams have some sort of distillation.

The second type of process is cracking or reforming.
Using either temperature or catalyst (and sometimes hydrogen) to change the shape or size of the actual molecules. Then it goes to distillation.

Third type of process stream is cleaning.
Removing sulfur, ammonias, water, etc. Usually they use amine products to strip the bad stuff out.
The tests for that is just to see how much of the bad crap is still left.


Here's a little info from a company I worked for a few years ago:

The laboratory is divided into five primary testing work areas according to the type of test to run. They are:
1. Main Lab: General Testing Area performs routine control tests such as flash, viscosity, gravity, RVP, color, acid, Antek (S,N), and oxidation.

2. Anti-Knock and Cetane Lab: Octane Testing Area performs octane testing on various gasoline grades and cetane number on diesel from plant rundown streams and for shipment.

3. Gas Chromatography (GC) Lab: Gas Analysis Area performs gas chromatography.

4. Analytical Lab: Chemical Area Handles special and analytical problems and chemical analysis. Environmental tests are also performed here only.
5. Distillation Lab: Distillation Area performs mainly distillation tests on process streams.

There are other areas in the lab such as the Bottle Wash Room and the Sample Storage Room. In these areas sample bottles are washed and stored. Sample that are retained are also stored in this area.
Additionally, another area is the Supply Room. The Supply room maintains a stock of chemicals and equipment for laboratory use.

Here's a partial list of the different test procedures they regularly run on duifferent products. Like I said, it could fill a library. Each one of these procedures can be 10 or 20 pages long. If there is a specific test you are interested I can provide some more detail:

Ag_Strip_Mod130
FIA_1319
MCRT_4530
Ox_Stab_525
TAN_1.doc
Water_pH
Alky_Acid
Cloud_5773
Flash_56 (TCC)
MDEA_H2O
Pour_5949
Thiosulfate in Lean MDEA
Water_TDS
Aromatic_HPLC
Color_1500
Flash_93 (PM)
MDEA_SW_H2S
RVP_5191
Viscosity_445
Water_Thio
Aromatic/PAH_5186
Color_6045
Freeze_5972
Millipore_5452
S.A.F.E.
Water_Tolerance_1094
Aromatic/Benzene_5580
Cu_Strip_130
FTNIR
MTBE/ETOH_4815
Sediment_473
Water_Tot_Res_Chlorine
Ash_482
DEA_HSS_H2O.doc
GC_2163
Water_Cl
Water_Sett_Solids
Baume_223
DEA_SW_H2S.doc
GC_MTI_2504_2163
N2_Antek9000_4629
SIMDIS_2887
Water_COD
Water_Sulfide (H2S)
Benzene/Aromatic_5580
_on_4815/5580_GC
DEA_Thio.doc
Gravity_4052
Soda
Water_Content _Dist_95
Water_Susp_Solids
BS&W_4007
DHA_Twin_6733
Gum_381
Octane_2699
Smoke_1322
Caustic
Distillation_86
JFTOT_3241
Octane_2700
Sulfur_Antek9000_5453
Water_NH3_VACuttes
Cetane_613
Doctor_4952
H2SinVaporSpace
Olefin_6550
Sulfur_2622
Water_O&G
WSIM D-3948
Electrical Conductivity_D2624
Sulfur_(Tracor)_4045

[sammyg2]

BTW when we buy crude oil (we are independent so we don't pull it out of the ground) it comes with an assay report, basically listing all of it's physical characteristics.

We do take samples and test to verify that what we got was what we bought but most of the testing for crude is done long before we ever see it.

[ckissick]

This discussion is another reminder of the near-miracle it is that we have readily available fuel from coast to coast for a measly 3 bucks a gallon. Think of the effort and technology that's required from drilling to refining to delivery. It's capitalism at its finest.