An oil Refinery is a factory that converts Crude Oil into gasoline and a bunch of other compounds currently necessary for our modern life. A typical large refinery runs 365 days per year, employs thousands of workers, and can occupy 4000 acres of land. Modern refineries turn more than half a barrel of crude oil into gasoline and 70 years ago it was one-forth. In order to transform crude into gasoline, you have to separate it into various chemical compounds, Then they turn these compounds into Hydro Carbons and finally they add chemicals to the hydro carbons to create a vast array of products.
Separation: The crude oil gets pumped through furnaces causing it to vaporize and rise through distillation towers. The different compounds that make up crude oil are split up when they become the vapor. Since they have different boiling points and densities, the lightest compounds rise to the top and the medium weight vapors like kerosene and diesel hang around in the middle, and the heaviest compounds like residuum are at the bottom. The different compounds are already separated and sorted, so a vast array of pipes and valves collect the different compounds in the distillation towers and send them to the treatment refinery.
Conversion: The separated chemical compounds from the distillation units are transformed into intermediate components. This turns low value compounds into quality gasoline. The process uses a 1000 degree F furnace and catalysts to convert heavy elements into gasoline. The intense heat and catalysts are needed to speed up an help the chemical reaction because they break down the Hydro Carbon chains (catalytic cracking). In addition, the catalyst allows intermediate compounds to form, creating a reaction with a lower Activation energy needed.
Treatment: This is the final step before the oil gets sent off in tankers and ships. Chemists add chemicals to make the oil high performance or make sure it meets government and customer standards.
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