1. Mineral Oil/Petroleum - has been found & known for centuries (4000 B.C.) from rivers, bitumen lakes, natural seeps from land and tar pools. Usually reffered to as PITCH or SLIME or ROCK OIL deriving its name from the Latin Words - PETRA for ROCK and OLEUM for OIL. It was first used for heating & cooking fires and as lubricating axles for driven carts and many ohters eves as medicine;
2. It was in the middle of the nineteen century that the world found out what valuable products it could yield by distillation on the report of Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale;
3. Probably, the first people to drill were the Chinese many centuries before the birth of Christ. Since report of its value, the growth of the mining and refining of oil, with the era of industrial revolution in Europe and America, made it a never ending search for deposits and newer use of petroleum products;
4. The precise composition and properties of the various components vary according to the source of the Crude Oil;
5. Found in quantity in Pennseyvania, USA in 1848, and about 12 years later in June 1859, a certain colonel Drake drilled the first well and brought to a depth of about 70 feet in August of the same year. This was the forerunner of other wells all over the world some having a depth of over 20,000 feet.
6. In 1850 or 2 years after the discovery, a Glasgow Chemist, James Young discovered that he can distill this mineral for lamps even better and brighter than those previously used oils like whale.
7. The first cargo oil in barrels from the USA to Great Britain arrived in 1861 on board the Brig Elizabeth Watts.
8. In 1878, the first ship to use the hull or skin as a container for oil was the Zoroaster;
9. The first tankership of 2,307 tons, the Gluckauf was launched in 1886. This was the start of the world oil industry that we have today;
10. Initially, the major producing areas were only in the USA;
11. By 1900, the West and East Indies; Burma, Russia and Romania have developed their oil fields, followed later by Venezuela and Mexico;
12. Persia in 1911 started the group of Middle East oil fields;
OTV = Odour Threshold Value = the smallest concentration of gas or vapour, expressed a persons starts to smell or detect the gas/vapour.
13. In 1960 with the price and still growing demand of oil, drilling od seabed and continental shelves resulted to the oil fields in Nothr Sea and the Coast of the United States;
14. Many other countries of the World are now producing oil like Indonesia and Brunei; and
15. Perhaps and hopefully soon in the near future, the Philippines will also start producing oil, specially in the areas of Palawan in Southern Philippines, Surigao Province in Mindanao, the Bicol Region and other parts of the Country.
A. CRUDE OIL/PETROLEUM = Minerals extracted form underground formations composed of a complex mixture of thousands of carbon & hydrogen having different weight of molecules & structures together with small amount of sulphur, oxygen, and nitrogen & some organo-metallic compounds of metals like vanadium, iron, nickels, sodium and salt water emulsified with the oil.
B. CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Basically, it is an unrefined hydro-carbon oil which is almost in the same state when loaded as when it comes out from the ground;
2. Specially, it contains;
85% weight of carbon
13% weight of hydrogen, and
2% weight of sulphur, nitrogen and some organo-metallic compounds of vanadium,iron, nickels, sodium & salt water emulsified with the oil;
3. Its constituens are not identical. The precise composition vary according to the source of the oil;
a. Crude oil from Venezuela like the Bacharquero or Tijuana are so heavy that they are practically solid at ambient temperature and must be heated before they can be loaded or discharge. They have a very high property of Bitumen;
b. Crude oil from Algeria contains very little of the heavier constituents. They are light that they can be used in Diesel Engines evne without refining.
c. As a liquid, they also include natural gases founs in Petroleum bearing formations like Methanes;
d. In its natural state, it is generally Brownish to green to black liquid.
LEL/LFR (Lower Explosive Limit/Lower Flammable Range)= There is insufficient hydrocarbon gas mixed enough air to support combustion. (Too lean to burn)
UEL/UFR (Upper Explosive Limit/Upper Flammable Range)= There is enough air to support or propogate combustion or fire. (It is too rich to burn)
4. It has a specific gravity of:
0.78 - 1.00 - Crude
0.63 - 0.90 - Clean Oils (distilled lighter fraction of crude).
5. It could be made to yield several types of products by Fractional Distillation or Cracking process carried out by applying heat. As the temperature increases, different fractions will escape from the oil itself.
C. THREE STAGES IN FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION
1. Primary Stage:
By flash evaporation of the pre-heated crude oil under about 50 lb(f) 1n2 or 3.5 kg(f)/cm pressure will result in the removal of the lightest fractions; Methane and Ethane both in dry form;
=further flash distillation comes - Propane and Butane also in gas form followed by a product known as Stabilized Light Gasoline whisc has an approximate boiling range of from 30 to 80 C (86-176 F)
2. Secondary Stage
The Topped Crude form the first stage is agin heated in a "Pipe Still Furnace" and discharged into the main fractionating column provided with a number of trays at an increased atmospheric pressure separated according to their boiling ranges:
a. Heavy Gasoline = 80 to 140 C (176-284 F)
b. Naptha = 140 to 180 C (284-365 F)
c. Kerosene = 180 to 250 C (365-482 F)
d. Gas Oil = 250 to 340 C (482-644 F)
The atmospheric residues which remain, represent about 50% by volume of the Crude Oil charged. This is now used directly as a major component of Heavy Oil known as Bunker Oil.
3. Third Stage:
Processed under vacuum to produce a Heavy Gas Oil known as Bitumen a black to dark brown solid or semi-solid organic materials which gradually liquefied when heated.
Some of these could be used for Petrochemical Feed-Stock which are previously made only from raw materials by fermentation like:
"Ethyl alcohol, Ethyl Ether, Ethyl Chloride, Ethyl Acetate, Acetone, Normal Propyl Alcohol, Isoprophyl Alcohol, Ethylene Oxide and Ethylene Dechloride".
Ethyl Alcohol produced formerly from Molasses and Acetone from Maize.
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