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INTRODUCTION TO PETROLEUM REFINERY
OPERATIONS
INTRODUCTION
A petroleum refinery is a manufacturing operation where crude petroleum, the
raw material, is converted into usable finished products. In other words, it is the
manufacturing phase of the oil industry. This chapter presents a general
introduction to overall refinery operations as a forerunner to the detailed
information on specific processes and products which follows, and the
technologies that are applied to pressure relief operations. Other chapters cover
the major operations and processes used in refining, and discuss the critical
properties and end uses of the products. However, it should be emphasized that
a refinery is only one of the major phases of the petroleum industry; others being
exploration, production, transportation, and marketing, and a variety of feedstock
chemicals that supply the raw materials for various product lines. Research and
engineering might also be listed, but they are, in reality, a necessary and integral
part of each of the phases.
REFINERY OPERATIONS
The function of the refinery is to convert crude oil into the finished products
required by the market in the most efficient, and hence most profitable manner.
2 Pressure Safety Design Practices
The methods employed necessarily vary widely from one refinery to another,
depending on the crude processed, the nature and location of the market, the type
of equipment available, and many other factors. However, for simplification, it
may be considered that all refining processes fall into one of four basic
categories.
The first category is fractionation or distillation. This method of physically
separating a mixture pounds was the earliest process used in petroleum
refining, and today is still one of the most important. However, since it is not
generally possible to separate plex petroleum mixtures into individual
compounds, such mixtures are segregated into fractions or "cu