Petroleum refining and petrochemicals

Controlled mesoporosity is successfully introduced into zeolite Y crystals through a surfactant templating approach. The mesoporous zeolite shows superb hydrothermal stability in the resulting mesostructure, while retaining strong acidity. Fluid catalytic cracking catalysts made from the mesostructured Y zeolites demonstrate significant improvement in product selectivity as a result of reduced limitation in reactant and product diffusion.

Chemical interesterification is an important technological option for the production of fats targeting commercial applications. Fat blends, formulated by binary blends of palm stearin and palm olein in different ratios, were subjected to chemical interesterification. The following determinations, before and after the interesterification reactions, were done: fatty acid composition, softening point, melting point, solid fat content and consistency. For the analytical responses a multiple regression statistical model was applied. This study has shown that blending and chemical interesterifications are an effective way to modify the physical and chemical properties of palm stearin, palm olein and their blends. The mixture and chemical interesterification allowed obtaining fats with various degrees of plasticity, increasing the possibilities for the commercial use of palm stearin and palm olein.

This paper investigated the effects of microwaves (MW) on Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT), the shape and morphology of wax crystals, and the content of elements in crude oil. After WAT was determined using cross-polarized microscopy (CPM), the intra-molecular bonds and the structure of the molecules were determined by subjecting crude oil and its wax content to Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis. Cracking and simultaneous evaporation of crude-oil combinations due to irradiation with MW caused peaks with different intensities in the oils' spectrums to appear. In addition, with irradiation, peaks reappeared that had been hidden in the range of virgin oil samples, and which were more closely related to aromatic compounds. The two processes of cracking and evaporation together resulted in a lighter oil sample with a lower WAT, which is evident in the samples' FTIR spectrum. Analysis of the images from the wax crystals under a polarization light microscope with image processing revealed a close connection between the shape and size of the wax particles and peak intensity of the FTIR spectrum and the crude-oil composition. Oil samples exposed to MW radiation had more rounded crystals and more similar proportions than virgin-oil samples. Radiation of MW waves caused asphaltene cracking to produce saturated, aromatic, and resin compounds. Since asphaltene is the heaviest oil-producing compound, this conversion lightened the oil and reduced the WAT. MW radiation also increased the amount of aromatic compounds derived from the resin in oil. The presence of asphaltene as one of the heavy-oil compounds and its interaction with wax molecules was investigated. It was observed that with respect to the naphthenic/polar of the wax sample, the decrease in the amount of asphaltene in the oil sample after irradiation reduced the interactions between the wax molecules and asphaltenes, and subsequently reduced the WAT. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that the MW wax samples were composed of rounded and compacted particles, making it difficult to detect single grains. The size of the grains in the SEM images of MW samples was smaller than in the virgin sample. MW affected the dispersion and the mean size and shape of the wax particles under both the polarized light microscope and SEM; they also affected the bond/molecular structure as determined by FTIR and the amount of resin, asphaltene, saturation, and aromatics of the oil constituents, and decreased the average carbon number of the oil samples, which lowered the WAT.

This article explores how time interacts forcefully with the experience of living within toxic spaces. Through ethnographic research and interviews with residents of a contaminated town in Louisiana, the article unpacks the uncertain temporalities of industrial pollution and potential means of resistance. Putting Mbembe's (2003) postcolonial treatise on necropolitics in conversation with Nixon's (2011) work on slow violence, the article examines the racialized, uneven, and attritional experience of petrochemical pollution in a former plantation landscape. By exploring the necropolitics of place, the article reveals how unjust exposure to toxic chemicals creates contemporary “death-worlds” that are experienced in temporally uncertain and constricting ways. The oppressive nature of uncertain temporality makes the material assemblages of petrochemical infrastructure daily environmental concerns. Yet by focusing on the lived experience of communities inhabiting this toxic geography, the article notes how witnessing gradual changes to the local environment has become a barometer for perceiving chronic pollution. The idea of “slow observation” is posited as a useful counterpoint to slow violence and the permanent wounding of toxic pollution. Slow observation is an important aspect of living with sustained environmental brutality and offers a potential means of political resistance and doing undone environmental justice.

Y-zeolites are the main component of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst for conversion of crude petroleum to products of high demand including transportation fuel. We investigated effects of vanadium which is present as one of the impurities in FCC feedstock on the framework and micropore structure of ultra-stable (US) Y-zeolite. The zeolite samples were prepared and characterized using standard techniques including: (1) X-ray diffraction, (2) N 2 adsorption employing non local density functional theory method, NLDFT, (3) Transmittance and Pyridine FTIR, (4) Transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), and (5) 27 Al and 29 Si MAS-NMR. Results revealed that in the presence of steam, vanadium caused excessive evolution of non inter-crystalline mesopores and structural damage. The evolved mesopore size averaged about 25.0 nm at 0.5 wt.% vanadium loading, far larger than mesopore size in zeolitic materials with improved hydrothermal stability and performance for FCC catalyst. A mechanism of mesopore formation based on accelerated dealumination has been proposed and discussed. Vanadium immobilization experiments conducted to mitigate vanadium migration into the framework clearly showed vanadium is mobile at reaction conditions. From the results, interaction of vanadium with the passivator limits and decreases mobility and activity of vanadium into inner cavities of the zeolite capable of causing huge structure breakdown and acid sites destruction. This study therefore deepens insight into the causes of alteration in activity and selectivity of vanadium contaminated catalyst and hints on a possible mechanism of passivation in vanadium passivated FCC catalyst.

A 4-lump kinetic model including hydrogen consumption for hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil in a pilot scale reactor is proposed. The advantage of this work over the previous ones is consideration of hydrogen consumption, imposed by converting vacuum gas oil to light products, which is implemented in the kinetic model by a quadratic expression as similar as response surface modeling. This approach considers vacuum gas oil (VGO) and unconverted oil as one lump whilst others are distillate, naphtha and gas. The pilot reactor bed is divided into hydrotreating and hydrocracking sections which are loaded with different types of catalysts. The aim of this paper is modeling the hydrocracking section, but the effect of hydrotreating is considered on the boundary condition of the hydrocracking part. The hydrocracking bed is considered as a plug flow reactor and it is modeled by the cellular network approach. Initially, a kinetic network with twelve coefficients and six paths is considered. But following evaluation using measured data and order of magnitude analysis, the three route passes and one activation energy coefficient are omitted; thus the number of coefficients is reduced to five. This approach improves the average absolute deviation of prediction from 7.2% to 5.92%. Furthermore, the model can predict the hydrogen consumption for hydrocracking with average absolute deviation about 8.59% in comparison to those calculated from experimental data.

A tetrahedral Hg(II) diethyl dithiocarbamate (Et 2 Dt) complex containing triphenylphosphine (PPh 3) of the composition [HgCl(κ 2-Et 2 Dt) 2 (PPh 3)] (1) is prepared. Furthermore, complex (1) is used as a synthone to prepare a novel series of complexes of the following composition [Hg(Et 2 Dt)L(PPh 3)] {L = sac-charinate (2), thiosaccharinate (3), benzisothiazolinate (4), benzothiozole-2-thiolate (5), and benzooxazole-2-thiolate (6) anions}. The resulted complexes (1)-(6) are characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, powder X-ray diffraction, fourier transform Infrared, and NMR (1 H and 31 P) spectro-scopic techniques. The Et 2 Dt ligand is coordinated as bidentate chelate through the sulfur atoms, whereas the L ligands are bonded as monodentate ligands to afford a tetrahedral geometry around the Hg(II) ion. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm for two of as-prepared complexes (2) and (3) are measured first to get their Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area. Moreover, the mentioned two complexes are evaluated for their ability to store hydrogen gas at 77 K. However, the results of the hydrogen storage tests proved that the selected complexes are all capable of storing hydrogen, but in varying degrees, where complex (2) exhibited a storage capacity of 4.22 wt% under 88 bar. K E Y W O R D S bidentate chelate, complexes, diethyl dithiocarbamate, Hg(II), hydrogen storage

This paper investigates the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to produce ethylene at low temperatures (500 C) in metallic structured substrates. To check this point, the FeCrAlloy® monoliths with different channel sizes (289–2360 cpsi) were prepared. The monoliths were coated with a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst (by washcoating of alumina and the latter nickel impregnation) and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), Temperature-Programmed Reduction (TPR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The catalytic results showed that all monoliths coated with ~300 mg of catalyst presented similar ethane conversion (15%) at 450 C. However, the lowest selectivity to ethylene was found for the monolith with the lower channel size and the higher geometric surface area, where a heterogeneous catalyst layer with Ni enriched islands was generated. Therefore, it can be said that the selectivity to ethylene is linked to the distribution of Ni species on the support (alumina). Nevertheless, in all cases the selectivity was high (above 70%). On the other hand, the stability in reaction tests of one of the coated monoliths was done. This structured catalyst proved to be more stable under reaction conditions than the powder catalyst, with an initial slight drop in the first 8 h but after that, constant activity for the 152 h left.

In this study, a series of Ni/ZnO−Al 2 O 3 adsorbents were synthesized by a one-pot cation−anion double hydrolysis (CADH) method. The materials were characterized by N 2 sorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet−visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV−vis), Raman spectroscopy, and H 2 temperature programmed reduction (H 2-TPR). The reactive adsorp-tion desulfurization (RADS) performance of the adsorbents was evaluated in a fixed bed reactor using thiophene in n-octane as a model fuel. Results showed that the adsorbents exhibited better RADS performance than those prepared using the conventional kneading method. The thiophene conversion and sulfur capacity of adsorbents decreased with increasing the crystallization temperature. Among all tested adsorbents, the Ni/ZnO−Al 2 O 3 sample prepared at 28 °C presented the largest adsorption capacity and highest RADS reactivity. Textual characterization results indicated that the sample Ni/ZnO−Al 2 O 3 (28 °C) possessed relatively bigger pore size and larger pore volume than other samples, which may alleviate the pore shrinkage/blockage during the RADS process. A combination of XRD, UV−vis, and H 2-TPR characterization results demonstrate that a high crystallization temperature favors the growth of inactive ZnAl 2 O 4 crystals and induce the formation of more less-reducible Ni 2+ ion, causing the loss of active ZnO phase and Ni 0 atoms, which may be the reason for the lower RADS activity of the adsorbent synthesized at higher crystallization temperatures.

Background: Shift work is a well-recognized occupational health hazard in both industrialized and industrially developing countries. Prolonged working time, day/night shift rotation, circadian rhythm and sleep disorders, family and social problems are the most important features of shift working, which have serious complications.
Objectives: The present study evaluated the fatigue and psychological distress and their relationship among shift workers, in a petrochemical plant (Southern Pars gas field) in Southwest Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional field study, 400 shift workers from a plant were involved, with participation rate of 72.5% (290 persons). The multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI-20) and general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used to evaluate the level of fatigue and psychological distress, respectively.
Results: The results showed that the fatigue and psychological distress (particularly social dysfunction, anxiety and insomnia) are frequent among 12-hour shift workers (the total MFI and total GHQ scores were 42.68 ± 17.88 and 34.66 ± 18.56). A relatively strong positive correlation was found between fatigue and psychological distress (r = 0.62). The results of the stepwise regression model indicated that the psychological distress was significantly related only to general fatigue, mental fatigue and reduced motivation, whereas it was not to the physical fatigue and reduced activity.

Conclusions: The study findings highlight the importance of the mental aspect of fatigue in this working group. These results have possible implications for workers’ health and well-being and for the design of shift work systems, for industrial workers.

Different strategies for the generation of Ni (15 wt %)/Al2O3 catalytic coatings onto cordierite monoliths applied
to the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE) were investigated. Strategy 1 involved the deposition of an alumina layer
(nanoparticles or micro + nanoparticles) and the later incorporation of the active phase. Strategy 2 employed a suspension
containing a powder catalyst that was used to deposit the catalytic film. Morphological (SEM) and physicochemical (LRS and
XPS) characterizations were used to explain the catalytic performance of the structured systems. The NiO particles’ distribution
on the obtained catalytic coatings was analyzed via SEM-EDX performed in different monolith regions. The ultrasonic test was
used to evaluate the anchoring of these catalytic films to the substrates. It was concluded that the selection of both the strategy
and the particle size of the support is extremely important to obtain a homogeneously dispersed, accessible, and highly adhered
to the substrate catalyst.

The octane enhancement of light straight run naphtha is one of the significant solid acid catalyzed processes in the modern oil refineries due to limitations of benzene, aromatics, and olefin content in gasoline. This paper aims to examine the role of various catalysts that are being utilized for the isomerization of light naphtha with an ambition to give an insight into the reaction mechanism at the active catalyst sites, and the effect of various contaminants on catalyst activity. In addition, different technologies used for isomerization process are evaluated and compared by different process parameters.

A heavy crude oil sample from an oil field in southwest Iran was placed in a Fischer assay and heated by microwave for two-minute time steps until 14 min total heating time had elapsed. Unlike conventional heating technique (CHT), which caused light carbonic components to escape and raised C 20+ components in oil samples, the value of light carbonic components increased under microwave heating technique (MHT) up to 6 min. These materials cannot escape the oil sample in MHT because the cracked components approach a superheated state, and in this study a large portion of them remained at 6 min. Moreover, in contrast to the CHT results, the C 1-C 20 components increased to 13.5 wt% in the analysis of cracked gases during MHT. In MHT, light components increased with heating time, and C 7+ components fell. This is indicative of light components escaping after 6 min. Some components escaped as condensate. In CHT, the escape of only small amounts of condensates was observed at 12 and 14 min, while under MHT, this phenomenon started at 8 min and contained larger amounts. This phenomenon is due to secondary cracking in oil, which is created by an abrupt increase in the temperature of some components that have more capacity to absorb microwaves. The sulfur content of heavy oil in MHT tended to decrease over time, approaching 34 wt% at 14 min; in contrast, in CHT it remained constant. Sulfur was removed from the oil sample as H 2 S and SO 2 , predominantly in a gas state, but also as condensate, in increasing amounts over time. Sulfur removal from the heavy crude oil sample is highly important in the upgrading process because of its high coefficient of microwave absorption. H 2 S is produced from the start of MHT, but SO 2 is observed only after 6 min, and then only in the produced gas. Saturation, Aromatic, Resin and Asphaltene (SARA) components analysis showed changes in the resin and asphaltene components. The amount of asphaltene components began to decline starting early in the heating process, and approached its lowest amount at 4 min (3.21 wt%). Reduction of resin components in MHT began at 8 min and reached 55% at 14 min. Asphaltenes have a high capability to absorb microwaves due to having SNO (Sulfur, Nitrogen and Oxygen) components that create hot zones in heavy oil; these hot zones enhance cracking and upgrading. Scanning electron microscopy images of asphaltene particles showed that microwaves caused some changes in the structure of these particles. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis of these particles showed that SNO components under MHT declined over heating time. The results also suggest that after sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen have the highest potential to absorb microwaves.

This work presents the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in an upflow anoxic fixed-bed bioreactor (UAnFB) and a sequencing anoxic batch reactor (SAnBR). The performances of the UAnFB and the SAnBR in the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were investigated as a function of inlet concentration at a hydraulic retention time of 24 h. The UAnFB had higher robustness and adapted better towards the transition in TPH concentration. The average TPH removal rates for concentrations of 950, 1450, and 2500 mg L À1 were 99.9%, 99.6%, and 93.7%, respectively, for the UAnFB and 99.7%, 98.5%, and 87.7%, respectively, for the SAnBR. The highest rates of TPH biodegradation at a loading rate of 104 g m À3 h À1 in the UAnFB and the SAnBR were 97.5 and 91.3 g m À3 h À1 , respectively. The UAnFB was more efficient than the SAnBR in biodegrading aromatic hydrocarbons. Accordingly, the UAnFB is an efficient and viable technology for the treatment of hydrocarbon-laden streams.

In this paper, an optimisation approach is proposed to increase the profit of a commercial hydrocracking unit called Isomax. To represent the system, a full-lump kinetic model incorporating the flow rate of fresh vacuum gas oil (VGO), bed temperatures, recycle flow rate and the catalyst life is developed. This model is capable of predicting the yield of all products, and it improves with respect to the previous works by considering LPG and light gases, fresh VGO and recycle streams as separate lumps. After developing and validating the model, the profit function of the plant, including the value of the products, fresh feed and hydrogen, as well as energy expenses, is optimised by manipulating the bed temperatures, flow rate of fresh VGO and combined feed ratio (CFR) whilst all process limitations and operating constraints are taken into account. During two years of study and considering all mechanical and operational constraints, the results confirm that the decision variables, generated by the optimisation package, can increase the gross profit of the Isomax process to about 8.17%, which is equal to $5.6 million of net profit annually.

The rapid and complete baseline separation of both volatile (C 5 to C 16 alkanes in gasoline or terpenes in plant extracts) and non-volatile (>C 20 alkanes) organic compounds was achieved by combining (1) low-density fluid chromatography (LDFC) using carbon dioxide at elevated temperature (>90 • C) and low pressure (1500 psi) designed to increase the retention of the most volatile compounds and (2) high-vacuum technology (<10 −4 Torr) in order to preserve the maximum efficiency of short analytical columns (3.0 mm × 150 mm packed with 1.8 m fully porous HSS-SB-C 18 particles) when used in LDFC. The volatile compounds are eluted first under isobaric conditions (1500 psi) in less than a minute followed by a linear gradient of the column back pressure (from 1500 to 3500 psi in 5 min) for the elution of the non-volatile compounds up to C 40. The experimental results demonstrate that LDFC performed with short 3.0 mm i.d. columns packed with sub-2 m particles and placed under adiabatic conditions enables the analysts to deliver a single, fast, and high-resolution separation of both volatile and non-volatile compounds.

In the next two decades, the U.S. refining industry will face significant changes resulting from a rapidly evolving domestic petroleum energy landscape. The rapid influx of domestically sourced tight light oil and relative demand shifts for gasoline and diesel will impose challenges on the ability of the U.S. refining industry to satisfy both demand and quality requirements. This study uses results from Linear Programming (LP) modeling data to examine the potential impacts of these changes on refinery, process unit, and product-specific efficiencies, focusing on current baseline efficiency values across 43 existing large U.S. refineries that are operating today. These results suggest that refinery and product-specific efficiency values are sensitive to crude quality, seasonal and regional factors, and refinery configuration and complexity, which are determined by final fuel specification requirements. Additional processing of domestically sourced tight light oil could marginally increase refinery efficiency, but these benefits could be offset by crude rebalancing. The dynamic relationship between efficiency and key parameters such as crude API gravity, sulfur content, heavy products, residual upgrading, and complexity are key to understanding possible future changes in refinery efficiency. Relative to gasoline, the efficiency of diesel production is highly variable, and is influenced by the number and severity of units required to produce diesel. To respond to future demand requirements, refiners will need to reduce the gasoline/diesel (G/D) production ratio, which will likely result in greater volumes of diesel being produced through less efficient pathways resulting in reduced efficiency, particularly on the marginal barrel of diesel. This decline in diesel efficiency could be offset by blending of Gas to Liquids (GTL) diesel, which could allow refiners to uplift intermediate fuel streams into more efficient diesel production pathways, thereby allowing for the efficient production of incremental barrels of diesel without added capital investment for the refiner. Given the current wide range of refinery carbon intensity values of baseline transportation fuels in LCA models, this study has shown that the determination of refinery, unit, and product efficiency values requires careful consideration in the context of specific transportation fuel GHG policy objectives.

Water (W) and oil (O) normally mix during production and while passing through valves and pumps to form a persistent water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion, which is a serious restriction in oil production and transporting and refining processes. The objective of this work is to treat emulsions of two crude oil samples labeled KD1 and DGH2 using commercial polymers and surfactants which are also known as demulsifiers. Hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) in the demulsifier structure has demonstrated a great effect on breaking W/O emulsion. Emulsion breakers with low HLB value showed better reduction in the dynamic IFT, high diffusivity at the W/O interface, and accelerated coalescence of water droplets. Concomitantly, high emulsion temperatures were found to reduce the interfacial film viscosity and accelerate water droplets coalescence. A maximum water separation efficiency (WSE) of 97% was achieved in the case of KD1 and 88% for DGH2, and using a (1:1) polymer blend demulsifier further increased WSE to 99% after 100 min.

Temperature sensitivity of waxy crude oils makes it difficult to study their flow behaviour in the presence of water especially near their wax appearance temperature (WAT). In this study a method was proposed and implemented to mitigate such difficulties which was applied in predicting mixture temperatures (T m) of a typical Malaysian waxy crude oil and water flow in a horizontal pipe. To this end, two analytical models were derived firstly from calorimetry equation which based on developed two correlations for defining crude oil heat capacity actualized from the existed specific heat capacities of crude oils. The models were then applied for a set of experiments to reach the defined three predetermined T m (26 °C, 28 °C and 30 °C). The comparison between the predicted mixture temperatures (T m,1 and T m,2) from the two models and the experimental results displayed acceptable absolute average errors (0.80%, 0.62%, 0.53% for model 1; 0.74%, 0.54%, 0.52% for model 2). Moreover, the average errors for both models are in the range of standard error limits (±0.75%) according to ASTM E230. Conclusively, the proposed model showed the ease of obtaining mixture temperatures close to WAT as predetermined with accuracy of ± 0.5 °C approximately for over 84% of the examined cases. The method is seen as a practical reference point to further study the flow behaviour of waxy crudes in oil–water two-phase flow system near sensitive temperatures.

The Claus process is used extensively in the industry to recover elementary sulfur from hydrogen sulfide present in gases from refineries and natural gases. It involves thermal oxidation of hydrogen sulfide and its reaction with sulfur dioxide to form sulfur and water vapor. In this study, we used a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool to build a three-dimensional finite-element model that describes the detailed flow fields and chemical reactions for two different industrial cases. The first case consisted of three Claus industrial reactors in series (R1A, R1B and R1C) and the second case consists of two Claus industrial reactors in series (R2A and R2B), each having one inlet and one outlet with different operating temperatures and feed concentrations. The flow behavior and the outlet compositions of the partially packed Claus reactors at temperature range of 458–570 K, with varying SO2and H2S feed concentrations are presented and discussed. We present two sets of empirical kinetic rate equations, both of which give good agreement with the available industrial data.

The thermal decomposition of four alkanethiols was investigated in this paper. The test was processed in a pressure reactor at 200 -400 -C. GC/ MS and GC/SCD were used to detect the products of thermal decomposition. The result indicates that the alkane groups of alkanethiols have great influence on the thermal stability of alkanethiols. N-butylthiol, isobutylthiol and n-hexylthiol begin to pyrolyse at about 250 -C and more than 75% decomposes at 400 -C after being maintained for 4 h. However, tert-octylthiol can be broken down at lower temperature below 200 -C and almost 75% decomposes at 250 -C after 4 h. The main product of thermal decomposition is H 2 S and a free radical reaction is used to explain the decomposition mechanism. D

When rachitic chicks are given 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, in amounts as low as 50 ng/bird, the appearance of the duodenal mucosa is altered within 2 h of the administration of the hormone. The changes are most readily apparent on scanning electron microscopy and include: a more plump appearance of villi with loss of furrows and pits on their surfaces, elongation of villi and a smoother, more uniform microvillus surface. These changes occur within 2 h of the administration of the hormone and persist for as long as 24 h. The morphological change precedes the increase in calcium absorption induced by 1,2Sdihydroxyvitamin D, in the intestine. These observations suggest that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, may play an important part in maintenance of the structure of the duodenal mucosa.

We collect a total of 330 crude oil samples. We presented a fast analytical tool for rapid identification of crude oil type. Compared with NIR, IR method can distinguish highly similar mixed crude oils given in the study. We study parameters of the moving window correlation coefficient method in the paper. g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t 0.93 0.94 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.99 1.00 690 740 790 840 890 940 990 Correlation coefficient Wavenumber/cm -1 a b

Two gasoline samples were collected from Saudi Arabia petrol station and subjected for studying their quality as liquid fuel. Gasoline samples were characterized and compared by studying their physicochemical properties such as average molecular weight, relative density, percent carbon, percent hydrogen, total oxygen content, and octane number. In addition, it was performed to study the group analysis and detailed hydrocarbon composition of automotive gasoline samples via gas chromatographic (GC) fingerprints as a practical method for quality detection.

This study compares the technological experience of two important chemical industries of the region (Brazil and Venezuela). First, a brief description of the evolution of both industrial complexes is presented, showing the influence of key socio-institutional factors in this process. Second, a general comparison is made in order to observe the differences in the entrepreneurial culture of both industries, a fact that is reflected in particular trajectories of technological learning. Finally, a comparative taxonomy allows the classification of firms in terms of their learning levels, confirming the relationship between production integration level and the development of innovative capacities of the firms. This methodological approach gives a reasonable idea of the competitiveness of each industrial complex.

This paper covers the research carried out by the authors on the conversion of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into a thermosetting polyester resin. Glycolysis and hydrolysisglycolysis were chemical recycling techniques used in the depolymerisation of PET wastes to reprocess able monomers and oligomers. The experiment was performed on PET sourced from soft drink bottles. The flakes were glycolysed using Diethylene glycol and Polyethylene terephthalate of various w/w ratios at various temperatures and reaction times, with potassium acetate (1% w/w of the total raw materials) as catalyst. For hydrolysis-glycolysis method, Diethylene glycol/ water/ polyethylene terephthalate w/w ratio at various operating temperatures and residence times were used. The w/w ratios were carefully chosen to know the trend of the yield increment at specific operating conditions. Also, water was used as hydrolysis medium in the case of hydrolysis-glycolysis to avert equipment corrosion and pollution, and is very cheap. The products obtained were purified using methanol and sun dried. From physical and chemical properties analyzed (density, refractive index, viscosity, melting point, freezing point, boiling point, acidity number, hydroxyl number and molecular weight) and a Fourier transform infrared test conducted, it was found that the glycolysed products consisted mainly of the monomers “Bis (hydroxyethylene) terephthalate (BHET)”, and oligomers because of the excess Diethylene glycol used that resulted in two hydroxyl end-groups, that is, mixtures of oligoesters diols were formed. It can be used to re-synthesis ethylene terephthalate or co-polymers. Recycling of PET does not only serve as a partial solution to the solid-waste problem, but serve as a source of raw material to some industries and also contribute to the conservation of raw petrochemical products and energy which is of high importance due to high cost of energy in the World of today.

In this paper, the optimum design, operation and control philosophy were studied to minimize the process losses in a condensate fractionation plant. Pinch analysis was done for optimum energy usage in the plant. Energy losses once dentified can be reduced with little investment. Remarkable savings can be obtained through an energy saving program. Important savings can also be made with operational improvements in the process and better maintenance of production equipment such as distillation column,
heaters, heat exchangers etc. Saving energy and proper maintenance of equipments in the process will also reduce the amount of gas emissions and fuel gas consumption and increase plant’s lifetime. Aspen- HYSYS and Aspen Energy Analyzer was used as a process simulator and energy analyzer accordingly. Study on energy savings, operating conditions and its environmental impact in a local fractionation plant is presented.

Hydrocracking is an important upgrading process in the petroleum refinery, and it is generally used to process feedstocks ranging from vacuum gas oil (VGO) to vacuum residue. In this work, hydrocracking of VGO using a dual functional amorphous catalyst was carried out at a pilot scale unit under the following reaction conditions: liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) from 1 to 1.5 hr −1 and reaction temperatures of 360-440 • C at the constant pressure and hydrogen to oil, 156 bar and 1780 Nm 3 /m 3 , respectively. The effluent of the reactor was characterized to dry gas, naphtha, kerosene, diesel and unconverted VGO or residue. The pilot tests demonstrated that performing experiments beyond the temperature, recommended by catalyst vendor, lead the process to unstable hydrocracking. To describe the yield of hydrocracking products a five-lump discrete lumping approach with ten reactions was proposed. At first, the kinetic model contained twenty kinetic constants which were estimated by using the conventional objective function. The estimated parameters showed that the tendency of the catalyst to convert VGO to gas and naphtha was negligible whilst rate constants for hydrocracking of VGO to middle distillates were considerably high which was compatible with the nature of amorphous hydrocracking catalysts. After evaluating the magnitude of reaction rates and eliminating the ignorable constants, the network was reduced to six reactions in which only nine parameters were needed. The predictions indicated that the latter network could fit the yield of products more acceptable as if the average absolute deviation between experimental and calculated yields was descended from 16.25% to 12.6%. Then, to have a better prediction, a weighted objective function was used in which weight factors were calculated by a proposed weighted least square expression. The results confirmed that this approach could reduce average absolute deviation of model to 10.75%, and it created a fairly even distribution of deviation between hydrocracking products.

Gasoline blending is of pertinent importance in refinery operations owing to the fact that gasoline gives about 60 -
70 % of the refinery profit. The blending process is essential to obtain gasoline in the demanded quantities and ensure property
specifications are met. Two model equations, multivariable nonlinear and multivariable exponential are proposed in this study
which are useful in predicting three significant properties of a motor gasoline: research octane number, reid vapour pressure and
specific gravity. Gasoline blend data obtained from four different streams: straight run gasoline, straight run naphtha, reformate
and fluidized catalytically cracked gasoline have been subjected to multivariate regression analysis with the aid of a statistical
software to ascertain the fitness of the proposed equations in predicting the research octane number, reid vapor pressure and the
specific gravity of the resulting premium motor spirit. The results of the regression analysis showed that the nonlinear
multivariable models proposed gave a good fit as evidenced by the value of the coefficient of determination R2 = 0.988 & 0.994
for the research octane number, 0.853 & 0.883 for the reid vapor pressure and 0.988 for specific gravity. In conclusion, the
proposed model equations were fit to the data, found to be adequate, and therefore could be used for prediction of the blend gasoline properties.

There is new trend in the value of oil and gas in the world, with the value of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) soaring higher. It is due to its uses as a potential fuel in the several parts of the world, its demand in the petrochemical industries for plastics and automotive composites productions, and other uses. These results in steadily increases in price. There is also increase in volume of feed gas, which demands efficient LPG processing and recovery technology. This paper mainly focuses on comparative economic investigation options for Liquefied Petroleum Gas plant, which processes feed from natural gas wells and dehydrating units to produce Liquefied Petroleum Gas along with natural gasoline having a higher value as separate product. Recovery of LPG is possible but raises both the initial cost of plant and operational cost considerably. The value of LPG recovered should be high enough to widen the operating margins between the processing costs and the market price for which the recovered liquids can be sold. Therefore, the most economic means of extracting this product must be used. This was done using two alternatives; the Conventional Fractionation process and Single column overhead recycle process (SCORE). Both alternatives were simulated with Hysys and are analyzed based on product recovery level, energy required and fixed capital cost. There are two feeds to the plant, one from the natural gas wells and the other from dehydrating units of natural gas processing plants with a total flow rate of 6.99 MMSCFD. Analysis of result from modeling shows that Single column overhead recycle process has a total product recovery of 97.2 % while Conventional fractionation process has a total recovery of 88.5 %, the require energy margin between the alternatives is about 38.9 % in favor of conventional process and the fixed capital cost is in the favor of Single column process. Sensitive to choosing the most economic option of LPG recovery between the conventional process and SCORE process is the recovery level of LPG from each of the options, total energy required and the cost of the equipment. From the analysis, it shows that, it is more economical to use the Single column overhead recycle process, as compared to conventional fractional process.

This paper reviews Ghana’s recent experience with downstream petroleum products pricing and deregulation and looks at its implications for the nation’s energy security needs. The Government of Ghana in June 2015 put in place a deregulation policy that had the expectation of allowing marketers and importers of petroleum products to sell directly to consumers by setting their own prices. The policy has the primary objective bring an end to government subsidies on the product which arises in from exchange rate losses and consumer subsidies. The study welcomes government’s decision to revert to the competitive market forces using automatic price formulation as this removes implicit subsidization and its distortionary effects on the economy. With the advent of full deregulation, the burden of managing forex risks will shift from the government to the BDCs and TOR, and any such losses will become their prerogative. Petroleum subsidies, if any, should be redesigned and better targeted at the poor in the form of direct cash transfers as well as entrepreneurial skills training to improve their social and living conditions. Subsidies create distortionary effects and further exacerbate fiscal pressures as government has to borrow or tap into its reserves to offset price differentials.

Transportation sector is an example of economic activity that fundamentally depends on the supply chains of oil, natural gas and biofuels for its operation, as well as being a major consumer of primary energy in the country. Therefore, any improvement that could be achieved in the vehicle fuels production and end use processes, favorably affects both the use of energy resources and industry performance, as well as the environmental impact and the national economy. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop a methodology based on a suitable tool to evaluate the different routes of fuel production and end use, so that the main sources of energy degradation and the environmental impact can be determined and quantified. A valuable tool that serves that purpose is the extended exergy analysis, which provides an opportunity to quantify the total and non-renewable exergy requirements and overall efficiencies, and thereby pursue and prioritize the use of the most environmentally friendly sources of energy. Exergoeconomy, which attempts to rationally distribute the exergy cost among the several products of a single plant, uses the amount of exergy of each product as the basis for the distribution of exergy expended in the respective process. Thus, this work presents a comparative analysis of the production routes and end use of vehicles fuels derived from petroleum and natural gas (including hydrogen produced from methane steam reforming), ethanol, biodiesel, besides of the analysis of generation and distribution of electricity in the Brazilian electricity mix. Moreover, the renewable and non-renewable unit exergy costs and CO2 emissions are proposed as indicators, able to assess the renewable and non-renewable specific exergy consumption, the environmental impact and the thermodynamic performance of transportation sector. This procedure allows to hierarchize the exergy conversion processes in the production and end use of transportation fuels, in order to determine the best options for the transportation sector.

http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/3/3150/tde-23122014-154428/publico/Dissertacao_DanielFlorezOrrego.pdf

The data resulting from monitoring allow to indicate which countries present best conditions for investment in the technological world scenario and, thus, subsidize actions aimed at the development of business. The objective of this work was to verify if the technological investment by patents of the petrochemical industry is linked to the competitiveness of a country. Questel Orbit was used to search and analyze data contained in patent publications. Different indicators were used to carry out the analysis: GDP PPC; number of patents with priority claims in a country; and the GCI. There was a strong link between the number of patent deposits with GDP PPC and the level of investment in R&D. However, although a country is highlighted in relation to the mentioned indicators, this correlation is not applicable to all countries. There is a strong presence of China, USA and Japan in the context of patent publication.

Diversion of distillate streams towards diesel production and/or Fuel Oil (FO) production is one of the major activities at refineries to obtain maximum value. The distillate qualities and quantities, hydrogen price and consumption, product demand and prices and refinery configuration constrains are the key factors for decisions.
The need to produce higher quality products from poorer quality crudes has led to an increased use of hydroprocessing. These distillate streams e.g., Heavy Kerosene (HK), Gas Oils (GO) and Light Cycle Oils (LCO) etc. are also being utilized as cutters to evacuate vacuum residues (VR) and downgraded as low value product FO which is the major constrain in the absence of resid-upgradation facilities. The heavy distillate streams from FCC units need routing through hydrotreater so as to upgrade to diesel specifications, which consume substantial hydrogen and add exorbitant cost. By addition of the new hydrogen consumer streams, need for hydrogen exceeds and it continues to increase due to addition of more cracker units at refineries [4]. In such scenario, optimization of existing hydrogen utilization is the key to the overall profitability of refineries.
In view of that efforts have been made to develop a simple reliable optimization tool for routing of intermediate distillate streams for maximizing benefits and meeting all constrains of hydrotreating capacity, hydrogen, VR utilization, product specifications and prices. The excel based calculator is generic for hydrogen management and it also fit into various refinery configurations where different resid-evacuation options are practiced.

CSR is not the sole responsibility of the government; corporate both private and public play a
legitimate role in uplifting the downtrodden of the society. Corporate Social Responsibility has
been gaining an astounding resurgence at the global level recently. The present paper highlights
some important CSR initiatives undertaken by top Indian Oil Companies especially Indian Oil
Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation,
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, GAIL India Ltd and helps to analyze their contribution
to the social development of the country.

Glyoxal is provided generally as a four-hundredth solution. it's oftentimes used for condensation and cross-linking reactions owing to the reactivity of its organic compound teams towards polyfunctional compounds with group or amino teams, e.g. with organic compound and its derivatives, or with starch, cellulose, cotton, casein, or animal product. It acts as a biologically active compound, inhibits corrosion, and aids in solidifying rubber and in animal skin tanning. it's associate intermediate within the preparation of dyes, prescription drugs, polymers and textile auxiliaries. industrial glyoxal is ready by either the gas section reaction of ethanediol within the presence of a silver or copper catalyst or by the liquid section reaction of ethanal with acid. The potential of manufacturing glyoxal from the ethanediol is encouraging and may be any explored particularly within the country with the high ethanediol productivity Keywords-Oxidation of ethylene glycol, Condensation and cross linking reactions.

This seminar focuses on the core building blocks of the petroleum refining process systems, equipment and economics.  This program will emphasize the refining process unit operation fundamentals, safe utilization of these fundamentals by operations, engineering, maintenance and support personnel.

Resumo Ao longo das últimas décadas, foram diversos os desafios enfrentados no segmento de refino de petróleo no Brasil. Tendo o downstream como um dos pontos críticos para a política energética no país, tornou-se fundamental o fomento da competitividade do setor e a atração dos investimentos necessários para garantir segurança e eficiência no abastecimento de combustíveis. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo tratar dos principais fatores que contribuíram para a atual organização do segmento de refino no Brasil. Neste sentido, são apontados os principais desafios enfrentados pelo setor, os respectivos impactos na cadeia produtiva, bem como as iniciativas recentes da Petrobras e do Governo Federal em busca de um novo posicionamento frente aos desafios existentes. Palavras-chave Abstract Keywords Over the last decades, several challenges have been faced in the oil refining segment in Brazil. Considering that the downstream is a key issue in the context of Brazil's energy policy, it has become necessary to foster the competitiveness of the sector and attract the investments needed to ensure security and efficiency in fuel supply. This paper aims at addressing the main factors that contributed to the current organization of the oil refining segment in Brazil. In this sense, we have addressed herein the main challenges faced by the sector, the relevant impacts in the production chain, as well as the recent initiatives of Petrobras and the Federal Government towards a new positioning in view of the current challenges.

La raffinerie de Skikda est l'une des plus importantes industries pour Economie nationale car elle couvre la région centre du pays avec ces différents produits finis ou semi finis, elle repose essentiellement sur la distillation atmosphérique l'unité de platforming et l'unité de Gas-plant. Cette unité a pour rôle la valorisation de propane et de
butane.L’installation est située dans la zone industrielle de Skikda d’environ 120 km à partir de l’aéroport le plus proche (Annaba/Constantine) en Algérie. La raffinerie est en opération depuis 1979.
Sonatrach s’est engagé à rénover et améliorer leur raffinerie existante à Skikda en Algérie, sous “le Projet de Réhabilitation et Adaptation de Raffinerie de Skikda”. 
Dans le cadre de “Projet de Réhabilitation et Adaptation” de la Raffinerie de Skikda, certaines unités ont été modernisées et quelques nouvelles unités ont été ajoutées.

An offshore gas field located about 56 km from the coast of East Africa with the water depth of 1153 m. The permeability distribution varies across different layers with an overall permeability of 680 mD, and porosity distribution for the reservoir varies 0.21-023. The reservoir thickness also varies up to 50 m thick. This work identifies parameters that will contribute to the impact of water coning by observing the effect of water coning/cresting in horizontal gas wells and predicting the performance of these wells using Petrel simulator. Results have shown that, locating horizontal well in East-west will have early water breakthrough and not recommended due to the impact of edge aquifer and less recovery compared to north-south and original wells orientation (northwest-southeast). Varying height of perforation of the well and standoff between 30 m and 40 m will delay water coning and high recovery with more extended plateau length period. The gas recovery was observed to be low, due to the distribution of permeability layer for the horizontal wells and low productivity index (performance of the well). Rate-dependent skin and mechanical skin evolution in time show that increasing non-Darcy /turbulence factor reduces the performance of the well and decreases gas recovery, the high drawdown tendency is observed before water breakthrough time. Horizontal gas wells have a constant horizontal length of 300 m. Increasing tubing head pressure from 40 bar to 100 bar result to decrease plateau length period of the gas production, low water production rate, and low gas recovery. Varying the kv/kh ratio from 0.1, 0.6 to 1 shows early water breakthrough by 6 months earlier from the base case with 0.1 hence will not delay water coning and the gas recovery is reduced by 5%. There is a stronger of the aquifer from the west side, which is predictable to cause water coning than on the east side. This aquifer impacts the gas recovery reduction by 19 %, with water coning radial extension of 1.7 km and peak water production rate for 16 years. The aquifer influx rate is seen to be increased by 69% when the aquifer volume is double. Therefore, from the results, producing at a high rate that has high recovery before the impact of aquifer or water has occurred to the wells, known as outrunning of the aquifer. To avoid water coning, using advance completion technique such as inflow control devices (ICD), installing a down hole gauge. Also, it is essential not to perforate if well is near to gas water contact, the horizontal wells should be located at maximum distance from gas water contact to maximize gas recovery. Not only that but also use of fully open choke allows much water production rate increase, which leads to water coning.

To sustain and maintain the happy labour force is the challenge of the day which could effectively be dealt through one of the weapons, welfare measures. Unless people are well taken care of by the organization they may not be satisfied to stay in the organization. The study intends to find out the welfare measures at Mangalore Refinery And Petrochemicals Limited, (MRPL) Mangaluru and tries to understand employee satisfaction towards it. Welfare facilities provided by MRPL are exemplary to other organizations in general and manufacturing industries in particular. In this respect MRPL has played a very important role in extending the welfare measures and keeping the employees satisfied.

Crude oil 'micelle' can be dispersed into fuels, oil and resin/asphalthene components using some hydrocarbon solvents. This can be adapted towards influencing/enhancing its product slates during the processing of crude oils. This research was carried out to investigate the effect of polar solvents (ethanol and acetone) in the enhancement of the light-ends in the True Boiling Point (TBP) distillation of Venezuela heavy crude oil. The oil was procured from Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Nigeria Ltd, Kaduna, Nigeria. Different concentrations of ethanol with crude oil blends were prepared using 2.5 wt.%, 5 wt.%, 7.5 wt.%, and 10 wt.%. Their spectrophotometric analysis was carried out to determine their micelle diameter. The graphs of the micelle diameter of the blends against the various concentrations of the ethanol were plotted from which the minimum and maximum obtained, were 26.322×10-9 m and 28.312×10-9 m corresponding to 2.5 wt.% and 5 wt.% ethanol concentrations respectively. The same procedure was also repeated for acetone and the values for the minimum and maximum were 24.31×10-9 m and 31.798×10-9 m respectively. These concentrations were blended with 400 g of the oil and their TBP distillations were carried out. From the data generated, 2.5 % and 5 % ethanol were respectively found to enhance the light ends recovery by 6.133 % and 9.008 % for fractions between IBP-360 o C for ethanol and 9.500 % and 11.693 % for 5 % and 2.5 % acetone concentration. The authors are of the opinion that this work can be adapted to enhance light ends recovery in the atmospheric/vacuum distillation units (ADU/VDU) of the Crude Oil Refineries.