Modern technologies for deepening oil refining. Oil refining. Methods and technology of oil refining Modern technologies of oil refining

World oil refining is a global, strategically important industry. One of the most knowledge-intensive and high-tech industries and, accordingly, one of the most capital-intensive. An industry with a rich history and long-term plans.

A number of factors contribute to the development of modern oil refining today. First, the growth of the economy by region of the world. Developing countries are consuming more and more fuel. Every year their energy needs are growing exponentially. Therefore, most of the new large refineries are being built in the Asia-Pacific region, South America and the Middle East. To date, the most powerful refinery in the world is the plant of the private Indian company Reliance Industries (RIL) in Jamnagar (western Gujarat). It was put into operation in 1999 and today it processes almost 72 million tons of oil per year! The three largest enterprises in the world also include Ulsan Refinery in South Korea and Paraguana Refinery Complex in Venezuela (about 55 million tons of oil per year). For comparison, the largest domestic enterprise, the Omsk Oil Refinery, owned by Gazprom Neft, processes about 22 million tons of oil per year.

At the same time, it should be noted that the main trend in the development of refineries is not just an increase in volumes, but an increase in the depth of processing. After all, the more expensive light oil products can be obtained from the same volume of oil, the more profitable the production will be. To increase the depth of processing, the share of secondary processes is increasing all over the world. The efficiency of a modern refinery reflects the so-called Nelson Index, a measure of the level of secondary conversion capacity at a refinery in relation to the primary distillation capacity. The Nelson Complexity Index assigns a factor to each facility in the plant based on its complexity and cost compared to downstream equipment, which is assigned a complexity factor of 1.0. For example, a catalytic cracker has a factor of 4.0, which means it is 4 times more complex than a crude oil distillation plant at the same capacity. The Nelson index for the refinery in Jamnagar is 15. For the same Omsk refinery, it is now 8.5. But the adopted program for the modernization of domestic plants until 2020 involves the commissioning of new capacities of secondary processes, which will “pull up” this figure. So the calculated Nelson index of the TANECO plant in Tatarstan after the completion of construction should be 15 units!

The second most important factor in the development of world oil refining is the constant tightening of environmental requirements. The requirements for the content of sulfur and aromatic hydrocarbons in fuels are becoming more and more stringent. The fight for the environment, which began in the United States and Western Europe, is gradually moving to the markets of developing countries. Even 10 years ago it was difficult to imagine the introduction of environmental class 5 requirements in our country, but for more than a year now we have been living with these standards.

Compliance with stringent environmental regulations is not an easy task. It is also complicated by the fact that the quality of oil, on average, is only deteriorating. The reserves of easily accessible high-quality oils are coming to an end. The share of heavy, bituminous and shale raw materials, containing less and less gasoline and diesel fractions, is increasing.

Scientists and engineers around the world are working to solve these problems. The result of their developments is complex expensive installations and the most modern multi-component catalysts that allow squeezing the maximum of environmentally friendly fuels even from the lowest quality oil. However, all this leads to significant costs for refineries, directly affecting the profitability of plants. The downward trend in their income is visible around the world.

All the trends described above are obvious for Russia as well. Being a part of the world economy and accepting the general rules of work, more and more funds are being invested in our country in the development of domestic oil refining, engineering, and science. This is complicated by the fact that practically not a single enterprise was built in the 90s and 2000s, much was lost for domestic science, and new qualified personnel for the industry were not trained. But the adopted state program “Energy Efficiency and Economic Development”, designed to radically improve the state of domestic oil refining until 2020, will make it possible to catch up. Its fruits can already be seen today at every gas station, where there is practically no fuel below the 5th ecological class.

Introduction

I. Primary oil refining

1. Secondary distillation of gasoline and diesel fractions

1.1 Secondary distillation of the gasoline fraction

1.2 Secondary distillation of the diesel fraction

II. Thermal processes of oil refining technology

2. Theoretical foundations for controlling the processes of delayed coking and coking in the coolant layer

2.1 Delayed coking processes

2.2 Coking in the heat carrier layer

III. Thermocatalytic and thermohydrocatalytic processes technology

oil refining

3. Hydrotreating of kerosene fractions

IV. Gas processing technologies

4. Processing of refinery gases - absorption gas fractionation units (AGFU) and gas fractionation units (GFU)

4.1 Gas fractionation plants (HFCs)

4.2 Absorption and gas fractionation units (AGFU)

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The oil industry today is a large national economic complex that lives and develops according to its own laws. What does oil mean today for the national economy of the country? These are: raw materials for petrochemicals in the production of synthetic rubber, alcohols, polyethylene, polypropylene, a wide range of various plastics and finished products from them, artificial fabrics; a source for the production of motor fuels (gasoline, kerosene, diesel and jet fuels), oils and lubricants, as well as boiler and furnace fuel (fuel oil), building materials (bitumen, tar, asphalt); raw material for obtaining a number of protein preparations used as additives in livestock feed to stimulate its growth.

Currently, the oil industry of the Russian Federation ranks 3rd in the world. The oil complex of Russia includes 148 thousand oil wells, 48.3 thousand km of main oil pipelines, 28 oil refineries with a total capacity of more than 300 million tons per year of oil, as well as a large number of other production facilities.

About 900,000 workers are employed at the enterprises of the oil industry and its service industries, including about 20,000 people in the field of science and scientific services.

Industrial organic chemistry has come a long and difficult path of development, during which its raw material base has changed dramatically. Starting with the processing of plant and animal raw materials, it then transformed into coal or coke chemistry (utilizing coal coking waste), in order to eventually turn into modern petrochemistry, which has long been not content with only oil refining waste. For the successful and independent functioning of its main industry - heavy, that is, large-scale, organic synthesis, the pyrolysis process was developed, around which modern olefin petrochemical complexes are based. Basically, they receive and then process lower olefins and diolefins. The raw material base of pyrolysis can vary from associated gases to naphtha, gas oil and even crude oil. Initially intended only for the production of ethylene, this process is now also a large-scale supplier of propylene, butadiene, benzene and other products.

Oil is our national wealth, the source of the country's power, the foundation of its economy.

oil and gas processing technology

I . Primary oil refining

1. Secondary distillation of gasoline and diesel fractions

Secondary distillation - separation of the fractions obtained during the primary distillation into narrower cuts, each of which is then used for its own purpose.

At refineries, the broad gasoline fraction, diesel fraction (when receiving raw materials from the paraffin adsorption recovery unit), oil fractions, etc. are subjected to secondary distillation. The process is carried out on separate installations or blocks that are part of the AT and AVT installations.

Oil distillation - the process of separating it into fractions according to boiling points (hence the term "fractionation") - is the basis of oil refining and the production of motor fuel, lubricating oils and various other valuable chemical products. The primary distillation of oil is the first stage in the study of its chemical composition.

The main fractions isolated during the primary distillation of oil:

1. Gasoline fraction- oil shoulder strap with a boiling point from n.c. (beginning of boiling, individual for each oil) up to 150-205 0 C (depending on the technological purpose of obtaining auto-, aviation-, or other special gasoline).

This fraction is a mixture of alkanes, naphthenes and aromatic hydrocarbons. All these hydrocarbons contain from 5 to 10 C atoms.

2. Kerosene fraction- oil cut with a boiling point from 150-180 0 C to 270-280 0 C. This fraction contains C10-C15 hydrocarbons.

It is used as a motor fuel (tractor kerosene, diesel fuel component), for household needs (lighting kerosene), etc.

3. Gas oil fraction- boiling point from 270-280 0 C to 320-350 0 C. This fraction contains C14-C20 hydrocarbons. Used as diesel fuel.

4. fuel oil- the residue after distillation of the above fractions with a boiling point above 320-350 0 С.

Fuel oil can be used as a boiler fuel, or subjected to further processing - either distillation at reduced pressure (in vacuum) with the selection of oil fractions or a wide fraction of vacuum gas oil (which in turn serves as a feedstock for catalytic cracking in order to obtain a high-octane component of gasoline), or cracking.

5. Tar- almost solid residue after distillation of oil fractions from fuel oil. So-called residual oils and bitumen are obtained from it, from which asphalt is obtained by oxidation, which is used in the construction of roads, etc. From tar and other residues of secondary origin, coke used in the metallurgical industry can be obtained by coking.

1 .1 Secondary distillation of gasoline fraction

Secondary distillation of gasoline distillate is either an independent process or is part of a combined plant that is part of the refinery. At modern plants, the installation of the secondary distillation of gasoline distillate is designed to obtain narrow fractions from it. These fractions are further used as feedstock for catalytic reforming - a process that produces individual aromatic hydrocarbons - benzene, toluene, xylenes, or gasoline with a higher octane number. In the production of aromatic hydrocarbons, the initial gasoline distillate is divided into fractions with boiling points: 62–85°C (benzene), 85–115 (120)°C (toluene) and 115 (120)–140°C (xylene).

Gasoline fraction is used to obtain various grades of motor fuel. It is a mixture of various hydrocarbons, including straight and branched alkanes. The combustion characteristics of unbranched alkanes are not ideally suited to internal combustion engines. Therefore, the gasoline fraction is often thermally reformed to convert unbranched molecules into branched ones. Before use, this fraction is usually mixed with branched alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatic compounds obtained from other fractions, either by catalytic cracking or reforming.

The quality of gasoline as a motor fuel is determined by its octane number. It indicates the percentage by volume of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane) in a mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane and heptane (straight chain alkane) that has the same detonation combustion characteristics as the test gasoline.

A bad motor fuel has an octane rating of zero, while a good fuel has an octane rating of 100. The octane rating of the gasoline fraction obtained from crude oil is usually less than 60. The combustion characteristics of gasoline are improved by adding an anti-knock additive, which is tetraethyl lead (IV) , Рb (С 2 Н 5) 4 . Tetraethyl lead is a colorless liquid obtained by heating chloroethane with an alloy of sodium and lead:

During the combustion of gasoline containing this additive, particles of lead and lead oxide (II) are formed. They slow down certain stages of combustion of gasoline fuel and thus prevent its detonation. Together with tetraethyl lead, 1,2-dibromoethane is added to gasoline. It reacts with lead and lead(II) to form lead(II) bromide. Since lead(II) bromide is a volatile compound, it is removed from the car engine in the exhaust gases. Gasoline distillate of a wide fractional composition, for example, from the initial boiling point to 180 ° C, is pumped through the heat exchangers and fed into the first coil of the furnace, and then into the distillation column. The head product of this column is the n fraction. k. - 85 °C, having passed the air-cooling apparatus and the refrigerator, it enters the receiver. Part of the condensate is pumped as irrigation to the top of the column, and the rest - to another column. The heat supply to the lower part of the column is carried out by circulating phlegm (fraction 85-180 ° C), pumped through the second coil of the furnace and fed to the bottom of the column. The remainder from the bottom of the column is sent by the pump to another column.

Leaving from the top of the column, the vapors of the head fraction (n. to. - 62 ° C) are condensed in the air cooler; the condensate cooled in the water cooler is collected in the receiver. From here, the condensate is pumped to the tank, and part of the fraction serves as irrigation for the column. The residual product - a fraction of 62-85 ° C - after leaving the column from the bottom is sent by a pump through a heat exchanger and refrigerators to the tank. As the upper product of the column, a fraction of 85-120 ° C is obtained, which, after passing through the apparatus, enters the receiver. Part of the condensate is returned to the top of the column as irrigation, and its balance amount is removed from the installation by a pump to the reservoir.

Oil is a mineral that is an oily liquid insoluble in water, which can be either almost colorless or dark brown. The properties and methods of oil refining depend on the percentage of predominantly hydrocarbons in its composition, which varies in different fields.

So, in the Sosninskoye deposit (Siberia), alkanes (paraffin group) occupy a share of 52 percent, cycloalkanes - about 36%, aromatic hydrocarbons - 12 percent. And, for example, in the Romashkinskoye deposit (Tatarstan), the share of alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons is higher - 55 and 18 percent, respectively, while cycloalkanes have a share of 25 percent. In addition to hydrocarbons, this raw material may include sulfur, nitrogen compounds, mineral impurities, etc.

Oil was first "refined" in 1745 in Russia

In its raw form, this natural resource is not used. To obtain technically valuable products (solvents, motor fuels, components for chemical industries), oil is processed using primary or secondary methods. Attempts to transform this raw material were made as early as the middle of the eighteenth century, when, in addition to candles and torches used by the population, “garne oil” was used in the lamps of a number of churches, which was a mixture of vegetable oil and refined oil.

Oil refining options

Refining is often not included directly in oil refining processes. It is rather a preliminary stage, which may consist of:

Chemical cleaning, when oil is treated with oleum and concentrated sulfuric acid. This removes aromatic and unsaturated hydrocarbons.

adsorption cleaning. Here, resins and acids can be removed from oil products by treatment with hot air or by passing oil through an adsorbent.

Catalytic purification - mild hydrogenation to remove nitrogen and sulfur compounds.

Physical and chemical cleaning. In this case, excess components are selectively isolated by means of solvents. For example, the polar solvent phenol is used to remove nitrogenous and sulfurous compounds, and non-polar solvents - butane and propane - release tars, aromatic hydrocarbons, etc.

No chemical changes...

Oil processing through primary processes does not involve chemical transformations of the feedstock. Here, the mineral is simply divided into its constituent components. The first oil distillation device was invented in 1823 in the Russian Empire. The Dubinin brothers guessed to put the boiler in a heated oven, from where a pipe went through a barrel of cold water into an empty container. In the furnace boiler, the oil was heated, passed through the “cooler” and precipitated.

Modern methods of preparation of raw materials

Today, at oil refineries, oil refining technology begins with additional purification, during which the product is dehydrated on ELOU devices (electric desalination plants), freed from mechanical impurities and light-type carbohydrates (C1 - C4). Then the raw material can be sent to atmospheric distillation or vacuum distillation. In the first case, the factory equipment, according to the principle of operation, resembles that which was used back in 1823.

Only the oil refining unit itself looks different. At the enterprise there are furnaces resembling windowless houses in size, made of the best refractory bricks. Inside them are many kilometers of pipes, in which oil moves at high speed (2 meters per second) and is heated up to 300-325 C by a flame from a large nozzle (at higher temperatures, hydrocarbons simply decompose). Today, the pipe for condensation and cooling of vapors is replaced by distillation columns (they can be up to 40 meters in height), where the vapors are separated and condensed, and entire towns from different reservoirs are built to receive the resulting products.

What is material balance?

Oil refining in Russia gives different material balances during the atmospheric distillation of raw materials from one or another field. This means that different proportions can be obtained at the output for different fractions - gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, associated gas.

For example, for West Siberian oil, the gas yield and losses are one percent each, gasoline fractions (released at temperatures from about 62 to 180 C) occupy a share of about 19%, kerosene - about 9.5%, diesel fraction - 19% , fuel oil - almost 50 percent (is released at temperatures from 240 to 350 degrees). The resulting materials are almost always subjected to additional processing, since they do not meet the operational requirements for the same machine motors.

Production with less waste

Vacuum oil refining is based on the principle of boiling substances at a lower temperature with a decrease in pressure. For example, some hydrocarbons in oil only boil at 450°C (atmospheric pressure), but they can be made to boil at 325°C if the pressure is lowered. Vacuum processing of raw materials is carried out in rotary vacuum evaporators, which increase the speed of distillation and make it possible to obtain ceresin, paraffins, fuel, oils from fuel oil, and use the heavy residue (tar) further for the production of bitumen. Vacuum distillation, compared to atmospheric processing, produces less waste.

Recycling allows you to get high-quality gasoline

The secondary oil refining process was invented in order to get more motor fuel from the same feedstock by influencing the molecules of petroleum hydrocarbons, which acquire formulas more suitable for oxidation. Recycling includes various types of so-called "cracking", including hydrocracking, thermal and catalytic options. This process was also originally invented in Russia, in 1891, by engineer V. Shukhov. It is the breakdown of hydrocarbons into forms with fewer carbon atoms per molecule.

Oil and gas processing at 600 degrees Celsius

The principle of operation of cracking plants is approximately the same as that of atmospheric pressure vacuum plants. But here, the processing of raw materials, which is most often represented by fuel oil, is carried out at temperatures close to 600 C. Under such influence, the hydrocarbons that make up the fuel oil mass break down into smaller ones, which make up the same kerosene or gasoline. Thermal cracking is based on high temperature treatment and produces gasoline with a large amount of impurities, catalytic cracking is also based on heat treatment, but with the addition of catalysts (for example, special clay dust), which allows you to get more good quality gasoline.

Hydrocracking: main types

Oil production and refining today may include various types of hydrocracking, which is a combination of hydrotreating processes, splitting large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller ones, and saturation of unsaturated hydrocarbons with hydrogen. Hydrocracking can be light (pressure 5 MPa, temperature about 400 C, one reactor is used, mainly diesel fuel and material for catalytic cracking are obtained) and hard (pressure 10 MPa, temperature about 400 C, there are several reactors, diesel, gasoline and kerosene are obtained). fractions). Catalytic hydrocracking makes it possible to produce a range of oils with high viscosity coefficients and a low content of aromatic and sulphurous hydrocarbons.

Secondary oil refining, in addition, can use the following technological processes:

Visbreaking. In this case, at temperatures up to 500 C and pressures ranging from half to three MPa, secondary asphaltenes, hydrocarbon gases, gasoline are obtained from raw materials due to the splitting of paraffins and naphthenes.

Coking of heavy oil residues is a deep processing of oil, when raw materials are processed at temperatures close to 500 C under a pressure of 0.65 MPa to obtain gas oil components and petroleum coke. The process steps end in a "coke cake" preceded (in reverse order) by compaction, polycondensation, aromatization, cyclization, dehydrogenation and cracking. In addition, the product must also be dried and calcined.

Reforming. This method of processing petroleum products was invented in Russia in 1911 by engineer N. Zelinsky. Today, catalytic reforming is used to produce high-quality aromatic hydrocarbons and gasolines from naphtha and gasoline fractions, as well as hydrogen-containing gas for subsequent processing in hydrocracking.

Isomerization. The processing of oil and gas in this case involves the production of an isomer from a chemical compound due to changes in the carbon skeleton of the substance. So, high-octane components are isolated from low-octane oil components to produce commercial gasoline.

Alkylation. This process is based on the incorporation of alkyl substituents into the organic molecule. Thus, components for high-octane gasolines are obtained from hydrocarbon gases of an unsaturated nature.

Striving for European standards

The technology of oil and gas processing at refineries is constantly being improved. Thus, domestic enterprises noted an increase in the efficiency of processing raw materials in terms of the following parameters: the depth of processing, an increase in the selection of light oil products, a decrease in irretrievable losses, etc. The plans of plants for the 10-20s of the twenty-first century include a further increase in the depth of processing (up to 88 percent) , improving the quality of manufactured products to European standards, reducing the technogenic impact on the environment.

The development of the oil refining industry in Russia in recent years has a clear tendency to improve the state of the industry. With the growth of refining volumes, the quality of produced motor fuels is gradually increasing. A number of Russian refineries are building new complexes for deep oil refining, some of which have already been put into operation. However, a lot still needs to be done to move forward, in particular, to adopt legislation that tightens the quality of petroleum products, to change the tax policy of the state in the field of oil refining. In addition, in order to accelerate the transformation of the industry and stimulate conditions for the development and implementation of competitive domestic technologies and equipment, the design market should be reorganized, primarily through the creation of a Russian state scientific and engineering center for oil refining and petrochemistry. Today, the global oil refining industry is in an exceptionally favorable situation, with the price of light oil products rising twice as fast as the price of crude oil. The increase in the profitability of the industry leads to the fact that oil-producing countries began to actively build and commission new processing facilities in order to export not raw materials, but oil products and petrochemicals. This applies to countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Venezuela, etc. Suffice it to say that only in Qatar it is planned to commission processing capacities for 31 million tons per year. The global trend, most pronounced in industrialized countries importing oil products, has become the tightening of environmental legislation aimed at reducing harmful emissions from fuel combustion, as well as the constant growth of requirements for the quality of oil products. If we talk about the most important product of the industry - motor fuel, then the trends of recent years show that, for example, in the EU countries, the demand for distillate diesel fuels and high-quality gasolines is growing most rapidly. Gasoline consumption in the US and Asia-Pacific countries is also increasing. Demand for jet fuel will grow to a lesser extent, while market demand for boiler fuel will gradually decline. This global trend must be taken into account when modernizing the Russian oil refining industry. The oil refining industry in Russia lags far behind in its development from the industrialized countries of the world. The main problems of the industry are the low depth of oil refining, the low quality of produced oil products, the backward production structure, the high degree of depreciation of fixed assets, and the high level of energy consumption. Russian refineries are characterized by a low level of conversion of crude oil into more valuable refined products. On average, in the Russian Federation, the output of the main motor fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel) is inferior to the indicators of oil refining in the industrialized countries of the world, and the share of fuel oil production is the highest. Due to the low depth of refining, Russian refineries are loaded at 70-75%, while for global oil refining today, due to the huge demand and high prices for petroleum products, loading close to 100% is typical. In 2005, the four largest Western oil companies processed more oil than they themselves produced, while the four Russian companies processed much less oil than their production volumes. That is, if companies in the West seek to earn as much as possible from oil refining and therefore buy oil on the side, then Russian companies are forced to mainly focus on the export of crude oil, since the quality of their oil products is such that it is difficult to sell it abroad. A significant proportion of oil products produced at Russian enterprises is made up of obsolete brands of fuels, the quality of which does not meet the modern world level. The share of fuel oil in the production of Russian refineries is still high (56.6 million tons were produced in 2005, i.e. almost the same as motor gasoline). The quality of motor fuels produced in Russia reflects the technical condition of the country's vehicle fleet. In particular, the presence in the fleet of cars and trucks of outdated models that consume low-grade fuel (gasoline brand A-76) makes it necessary to maintain its production at Russian refineries. The low quality of produced oil products is due to the backward structure of oil refining at most Russian refineries, in which not only the share of destructive deepening processes is low, but also secondary processes aimed at improving the quality of produced oil products. The export of Russian oil refining is mainly made up of relatively cheap petroleum products, including straight-run gasoline, vacuum gas oil, diesel fuel of low quality in comparison with European requirements for sulfur content, as well as fuel oil, base oils. The share of commercial petroleum products with high added value is extremely small. A significant problem of the Russian oil refining industry is the high degree of depreciation of fixed assets, which is up to 80%, as well as the use of outdated energy-intensive and economically imperfect technologies. As a result, Russian oil refining is characterized by a high level of energy consumption, which negatively affects the economic efficiency of the industry. The specific consumption of energy resources at operating Russian plants is 2-3 times higher than foreign counterparts. The capacities of oil refineries are located on the territory of Russia unevenly and irrationally. Most Russian refineries are located inland, far from offshore export transshipment bases, which significantly reduces the efficiency of oil product exports. The consequence of serious problems with the location of the industry is the growth in the number of mini-refineries with a primary processing capacity of 10 to 500 thousand tons per year. At present, they produce about 2% of all petroleum products produced in the country. As a rule, such mini-refineries carry out unskilled processing of crude oil, and their existence significantly complicates the environmental situation in the regions. Recently, there has been a tendency to improve the state of the oil refining industry in Russia. Signs of improvement are a significant increase in investments by Russian oil companies in oil refining, an increase in oil refining volumes, a gradual improvement in the quality of motor fuels produced by phasing out the production of leaded motor gasolines, an increase in the share of production of high-octane gasolines and environmentally friendly diesel fuels. The total installed capacity of Russian refineries, including mini-refineries, is 275.3 million tons, but only about 75% of the capacity is used - the rest are idle due to obsolescence and physical deterioration of equipment. Bashkortostan has the largest total oil refining capacity; they are owned by OAO Bashneftekhim and OAO Salavatnefteorgsintez. Fig.39. Oil refining (without mini-refineries) in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in 2007, million tons Kirishinefteorgsintez (17.3 million tons) and the plant of the Angarsk petrochemical corporation in Angarsk (16.4 million tons). Among oil companies, the first place in terms of installed refining capacities at the beginning of 2007. occupied by Rosneft Oil Company JSC - 61.4 million tons per year. She was the leader in oil refining in 2007. OAO NK LUKOIL (40.6 million tons) and OAO Bashneftekhim (32.2 million tons) have lesser capacities. In 2007 domestic refineries received 229.5 million tons, or about 48% of the produced oil; this is almost 8 million tons more than in 2006. Of these, 227.7 million tons, or about 99.2% of the supplied raw materials, were processed. Almost all of it is processed at 27 major refineries. Irretrievable oil losses at Russian refineries amounted to less than 1%. Figure 40. Structure of primary oil refining by Russian companies in 2007, % (excluding mini-refineries) Depth of oil refining at Russian enterprises in 2007 accounted for only 71.3%, including 70.9% at refineries (in 2006, 71.7 and 71.2%, respectively). At foreign factories, the value of this indicator is 85-90% and higher. The highest refining depth was achieved at the plant of OAO LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez (84.1%), at the Omsk Refinery of OAO Gazprom Neft (83.3%), and at the Novoufimsk Refinery of OAO Bashneftekhim (82.1%). The complexity factor of oil refining is low, as a result of which the possibility of producing high-quality motor fuel is limited in the country, while the share of fuel oil in the gross volume of produced petroleum products is still very high - more than 33% (in developed countries it averages 12%, in the USA - about 7 %). Nevertheless, the share of production of high-octane gasolines (A-92 and higher) in the total production of motor gasolines in the Russian Federation is constantly growing; in 2007 it amounted to 74.5%. Fig.41. Production of petroleum products in the Russian Federation in 2007, mln t Fig.42. Structure of production of basic petroleum products in Russia in 2007, % At a number of Russian refineries in recent years, construction of new deep oil refining complexes (CGR) has been actively underway. A vacuum gas oil hydrocracking complex was launched at the Perm Oil Refinery (OJSC LUKOIL), a gas oil refinery was launched at Slavneft's Yaroslavl Oil Refinery, and a vacuum gas oil hydrotreating complex was launched at the Ryazan Oil Refinery owned by TNK-BP. The catalytic cracking complex was launched at the Nizhnekamsk Refinery of TAIF. The commissioning of these CGPNs made it possible to significantly increase the depth of oil refining and thereby reduce the amount of fuel oil produced by the refinery, and significantly increase the output of light oil products. At the same time, oil products of European quality began to be produced at the reconstructed refineries, and the environmental situation in the areas where the enterprises were located was improved. Due to the commissioning of new CGPNs, the production of motor fuels increased by more than 1.6 million tons per year for gasoline, and by more than 2.5 million tons per year for diesel fuel. Unfortunately, in the process of modernization of oil refining in Russia, domestic developments are practically not used. Most of the technologies and equipment required for the commissioning of new LPG at domestic refineries are purchased from leading Western manufacturers. Perhaps the only exception to the general rule was the project for the construction of a catalytic cracking complex in Nizhnekamsk, developed by the Russian VNIINP and VNIPIneft. It is known that oil produced in Tatarstan is heavy, high-sulphurous, and adding it to the Urals export mixture negatively affects the price of Russian oil on the world market. In order to reduce the export of oil with a high sulfur content, Tatarstan is forced to build new facilities on its territory to process its raw materials on the spot. The planned construction by Tatneft of a new processing complex in Nizhnekamsk, in addition to the goal of reducing oil sales abroad, also aims to obtain additional volumes of motor fuel of European quality, which could be exported in the future instead of oil. Figure 43. Dynamics of production of high- and low-octane gasolines in the Russian Federation in 2000-2007, million tons Russia is expected to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the near future, which should have a significant impact on domestic oil refining. The positive impact can be attributed to the need to tighten environmental laws and increase the requirements for the quality of petroleum products. The introduction of European standards (Euro-4, Euro-5) will create prerequisites for the production of high-quality motor fuels and oils in Russia. Another positive aspect could be the improvement of conditions for access to foreign markets. At the same time, in order to stimulate domestic oil refining to produce high-quality oil products, it is necessary to establish preferential excise rates for oil products of Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards. The pluses include the need to amend the Russian legislation in the field of certification. The disadvantages of Russia's accession to the WTO include the opening of the domestic market for goods and services, which will lead to a significant increase in competition from foreign oil and engineering companies and equipment manufacturers. It should be noted that already today 50-70% of the catalysts used in oil refining, and more than 200 types of fuel and oil additives necessary for military and civilian equipment, are supplied by foreign companies. The world's leading licensors and engineering companies with significant financial potential have actively moved into the Russian market. This led to the cessation of the introduction in Russia of new domestic technological processes for oil refining, the displacement of Russian design organizations from the domestic market of engineering services, a sharp increase in the number of imported equipment during the modernization of oil refineries. To resist the complete capture of the Russian market by Western firms, first of all, it is necessary to strengthen state regulation in order to protect the domestic market with import and compensatory tariffs. An important measure could be the process of consolidation of Russian design organizations. Today, in the Russian oil refining market, along with traditional design organizations with significant experience and technical capabilities, there are small companies that are not able to issue high-quality project documentation. As a result, the quality of industrial installations is reduced, economic indicators and the level of production safety are deteriorating. To improve the situation on the engineering market, it is advisable to tighten the requirements for licensing engineering activities in Russia. Thus, the analysis of trends in the development of domestic oil refining in recent years allows us to conclude that there are positive changes in the industry. The process of active modernization of the fixed assets of the refinery, the construction of new complexes for deep oil refining at a number of refineries began. However, in general, a number of problems remain in the industry, the solution of which, in our opinion, could be facilitated by the following measures: - adoption of legislation that tightens the requirements for the quality of produced petroleum products; - introduction of tax incentives for the modernization of the industry; - strengthening the positions of leading domestic design organizations through the reorganization of the design market; - creation of a large domestic engineering company for oil refining and petrochemistry; - creating conditions for the development and implementation of competitive domestic technologies, equipment, catalysts and additives.

Oil refining is a rather complicated process, which requires involvement. Many products are obtained from the extracted natural raw materials - various types of fuel, bitumen, kerosene, solvents, lubricants, petroleum oils and others. Oil refining begins with the transportation of hydrocarbons to the plant. The production process takes place in several stages, each of which is very important from a technological point of view.

Recycling process

The process of oil refining begins with its specialized preparation. This is due to the presence of numerous impurities in natural raw materials. An oil deposit contains sand, salts, water, soil, and gaseous particles. Water is used to extract a large number of products and save energy deposits. This has its advantages, but significantly reduces the quality of the resulting material.

The presence of impurities in the composition of petroleum products makes it impossible to transport them to the plant. They provoke the formation of plaque on heat exchangers and other containers, which significantly reduces their service life.

Therefore, the extracted materials are subjected to complex cleaning - mechanical and fine. At this stage of the production process, the resulting raw material is separated into oil and. This happens with the help of special oil separators.

To purify the raw material, it is mainly settled in hermetic tanks. To activate the separation process, the material is subjected to cold or high temperature. Electric desalination plants are used to remove salts contained in raw materials.

How does the process of separating oil and water take place?

After primary purification, a sparingly soluble emulsion is obtained. It is a mixture in which particles of one liquid are evenly distributed in the second. On this basis, 2 types of emulsions are distinguished:

• hydrophilic. It is a mixture where oil particles are in water;
• hydrophobic. The emulsion mainly consists of oil, where there are particles of water.

The process of breaking the emulsion can occur mechanically, electrically or chemically. The first method involves settling the liquid. This happens under certain conditions - heating to a temperature of 120-160 degrees, increasing the pressure to 8-15 atmospheres. The stratification of the mixture usually occurs within 2-3 hours.

In order for the process of separation of the emulsion to be successful, it is necessary to prevent the evaporation of water. Also, the extraction of pure oil is carried out using powerful centrifuges. The emulsion is divided into fractions when reaching 3.5-50 thousand revolutions per minute.

The use of a chemical method involves the use of special surfactants called demulsifiers. They help to dissolve the adsorption film, as a result of which the oil is cleaned of water particles. The chemical method is often used in conjunction with the electrical method. The last cleaning method involves exposing the emulsion to an electric current. It provokes the association of water particles. As a result, it is more easily removed from the mixture, resulting in the highest quality oil.

Primary processing

Extraction and processing of oil takes place in several stages. A feature of the production of various products from natural raw materials is that even after high-quality purification, the resulting product cannot be used for its intended purpose.

The starting material is characterized by the content of various hydrocarbons, which differ significantly in molecular weight and boiling point. It contains substances of naphthenic, aromatic, paraffinic nature. Also, the feedstock contains sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen compounds of the organic type, which must also be removed.

All existing methods of oil refining are aimed at dividing it into groups. During the production process, a wide range of products with different characteristics is obtained.

Primary processing of natural raw materials is carried out on the basis of different boiling points of its constituent parts. For the implementation of this process, specialized installations are involved, which make it possible to obtain various oil products - from fuel oil to tar.

If natural raw materials are processed in this way, it will not be possible to obtain a material ready for further use. Primary distillation is aimed only at determining the physical and chemical properties of oil. After it is carried out, it is possible to determine the need for further processing. They also set the type of equipment that needs to be involved to perform the necessary processes.

Primary oil refining

Oil distillation methods

There are the following methods of oil refining (distillation):

• single evaporation;
• repeated evaporation;
• distillation with gradual evaporation.

The flash method involves the processing of oil under the influence of a high temperature with a given value. As a result, vapors are formed that enter a special apparatus. It is called an evaporator. In this cylindrical device, the vapors are separated from the liquid fraction.

With repeated evaporation, the raw material is subjected to processing, in which the temperature is increased several times according to a given algorithm. The last distillation method is more complex. Processing of oil with gradual evaporation implies a smooth change in the main operating parameters.

Distillation equipment

Industrial oil refining is carried out using several devices.

Tube furnaces. In turn, they are also divided into several types. These are atmospheric, vacuum, atmospheric-vacuum furnaces. With the help of equipment of the first type, shallow processing of petroleum products is carried out, which makes it possible to obtain fuel oil, gasoline, kerosene and diesel fractions. In vacuum furnaces, as a result of more efficient operation, the raw materials are divided into:

• tar;
• oil particles;
• gas oil particles.

The resulting products are fully suitable for the production of coke, bitumen, lubricants.

distillation columns. The process of processing crude oil using this equipment involves heating it in a coil to a temperature of 320 degrees. After that, the mixture enters the intermediate levels of the distillation column. On average, it has 30-60 chutes, each spaced at a certain interval and equipped with a liquid bath. Due to this, the vapors flow down in the form of droplets, as condensation forms.

There is also processing using heat exchangers.

Recycling

After determining the properties of the oil, depending on the need for a particular final product, the type of secondary distillation is selected. Basically, it consists in a thermal-catalytic effect on the feedstock. Deep processing of oil can occur using several methods.

Fuel. The use of this method of secondary distillation makes it possible to obtain a number of high-quality products - motor gasoline, diesel, jet, and boiler fuels. Recycling does not require a lot of equipment. As a result of applying this method, a finished product is obtained from the heavy fractions of raw materials and sediment. The fuel distillation method includes:

• cracking;
• reforming;
• hydrotreating;
• hydrocracking.

Fuel oil. As a result of this distillation method, not only various fuels are obtained, but also asphalt, lubricating oils. This is done using the extraction method, deasphalting.

Petrochemical. As a result of applying this method with the involvement of high-tech equipment, a large number of products are obtained. This is not only fuel, oils, but also plastics, rubber, fertilizers, acetone, alcohol and much more.

How objects around us are obtained from oil and gas - accessible and understandable

This method is considered the most common. With its help, the processing of sour or sour oil is carried out. Hydrotreating can significantly improve the quality of the resulting fuels. Various additives are removed from them - sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen compounds. The material is processed on special catalysts in a hydrogen environment. At the same time, the temperature in the equipment reaches 300-400 degrees, and the pressure - 2-4 MPa.

As a result of distillation, organic compounds contained in raw materials decompose when interacting with hydrogen circulating inside the apparatus. As a result, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are formed, which are removed from the catalyst. Hydrotreating makes it possible to recycle 95-99% of raw materials.

catalytic cracking

Distillation is carried out using zeolite-containing catalysts at a temperature of 550 degrees. Cracking is considered to be a very efficient method of processing prepared raw materials. With its help, high-octane motor gasoline can be obtained from fuel oil fractions. The yield of pure product in this case is 40-60%. Liquid gas is also obtained (10-15% of the original volume).

catalytic reforming

Reforming is carried out using an aluminum-platinum catalyst at a temperature of 500 degrees and a pressure of 1-4 MPa. At the same time, a hydrogen environment is present inside the equipment. This method is used to convert naphthenic and paraffinic hydrocarbons to aromatics. This allows you to significantly increase the octane number of products. When using catalytic reforming, the yield of pure material is 73-90% of the feedstock.

Hydrocracking

Allows you to get liquid fuel when exposed to high pressure (280 atmospheres) and temperature (450 degrees). Also, this process occurs with the use of strong catalysts - molybdenum oxides.

If hydrocracking is combined with other methods of processing natural raw materials, the yield of pure products in the form of gasoline and jet fuel is 75-80%. When using high-quality catalysts, their regeneration may not be carried out for 2-3 years.

Extraction and deasphalting

Extraction involves the separation of the prepared raw materials into the desired fractions using solvents. Subsequently, deparaffinization is carried out. It allows you to significantly reduce the pour point of the oil. Also, to obtain high quality products, it is subjected to hydrotreatment. As a result of the extraction, distilled diesel fuel can be obtained. Also, using this technique, aromatic hydrocarbons are extracted from the prepared raw materials.

Deasphalting is necessary in order to obtain resinous-asphaltene compounds from the end products of the distillation of petroleum feedstock. The resulting substances are actively used for the production of bitumen, as catalysts for other processing methods.

Other processing methods

Processing of natural raw materials after primary distillation can be carried out in other ways.

Alkylation. After processing the prepared materials, high-quality components for gasoline are obtained. The method is based on the chemical interaction of olefinic and paraffinic hydrocarbons, resulting in a high-boiling paraffinic hydrocarbon.

Isomerization. The use of this method makes it possible to obtain a substance with a higher octane number from low-octane paraffinic hydrocarbons.

Polymerization. Allows the conversion of butylenes and propylene into oligomeric compounds. As a result, materials are obtained for the production of gasoline and for various petrochemical processes.

Coking. It is used for the production of petroleum coke from heavy fractions obtained after the distillation of oil.

The oil refining industry is a promising and developing one. The production process is constantly being improved through the introduction of new equipment and techniques.

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