Ms. N.
DEEPA PRIYA
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineeringg
Kongu Engineering College
Perundurai, TN, India
Petroleum is an oily, flammable liquid that
occurs naturally in deposits, usually beneath the
surface of the earth; it is also called crude oil
It consists principally of a mixture of
hydrocarbons, with traces of various nitrogenous
and sulphurous compounds
Source of petrochemicals and is used to make
gasoline, lubricating oils, plastics, and many
other products
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 2
Petroleum has been known throughout historical time
It was used in mortar, for coating walls and boat hulls, and as a
fire weapon in defensive warfare
Native Americans used it in magic and medicine and in making
paints
Pioneers bought it from the Native Americans for medicinal use
and called it Seneca oil and Genesee oil
In Europe it was scooped from streams or holes in the ground,
and in the early 19th cent. small quantities were made from shale
In 1815 several streets in Prague were lighted with petroleum
lamps.
Petroleum Refining Engineering, 3
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
The modern petroleum industry began in 1859, when the American oil pioneer E. L. Drake
drilled a producing well on Oil Creek in Pennsylvania at a place that later became
Titusville
Many wells were drilled in the region
Kerosene was the chief finished product, and kerosene lamps soon replaced whale oil
lamps and candles in general use
Little use other than as lamp fuel was made of petroleum until the development of the
gasoline engine and its application to automobiles, trucks, tractors, and airplanes
Today the world is heavily dependent on petroleum for motive power, lubrication, fuel,
dyes, drugs, and many synthetics
The widespread use of petroleum has created serious environmental problems
The great quantities that are burned as fuels generate most of the air pollution in
industrialized countries, and oil spilled from tankers and offshore wells has polluted
oceans and coastlines.
Petroleum Refining Engineering, 4
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
During the past 600 million years incompletely
decayed plant and animal remains have become
buried under thick layers of rock
It is believed that petroleum consists of the remains
of these organisms but it is the small microscopic
plankton organism remains that are largely
responsible for the relatively high organic carbon
content of fine-grained sediments like the
Chattanooga shale which are the principle source
rocks for petroleum.
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 5
Among the leading producers of petroleum are
Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States
(chiefly Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, and
California), China, Iran, Canada, the United
Arab Emirates, Mexico, Brazil, Kuwait, Iraq,
Nigeria, Venezuela, and Norway
The largest proven reserves are in the Middle
East
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 6
Petroleum occurs in earths crust, in all possible states and
varies in color from light brown to dark brown or black,
exhibiting luminescence in some cases
It is a mixture of homogeneous series namely paraffins,
napthenes and aromatics
Main elements are C (84-86%) and H2(11-14%) and
other elements oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur rarely constitute
about 8%, including different metals in traces
Petroleum is more homogeneous than coal and occurs
mostly in sedimentary rocks
Petroleum Refining Engineering, 7
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
Mendeleef and Berthelot :
Explanation was based upon the inorganic reactions,
mainly on the activity of acetylene series
Some carbides produce hydrocarbons when reacted
with water, such as
CaC2 + 2H2O C2H2 + Ca(OH)2
Al4C3 + 12H2O 3CH4 + 4Al(OH)3
Assuming the availability of such carbides in earth’s
crust, they arrived at this axiom (the deposits of such
magnitude could never be balanced with these ideas)
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 8
V.D.Sokolov :
Depicts that the hydrocarbon vapors were already in cosmic
clouds
Favorable conditions leading to precipitation of these clouds,
rained hydrocarbons, which were either adsorbed or entrapped in
earth’s crest
Hoyle :
Cited the presence of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of venus
These hydrocarbons must be distinguished from the earthly
deposits, as purely derived from inorganic materials
Petroleum Refining Engineering, 9
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
Different and conflicting theories appeared in large number to explain the formation of
petroleum deposits
The inorganic basis of petroleum formation had to be given up in favor of organic theory due to
the following observations and facts as enumerated by J.D.Haun
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College,
Perundurai, TN 10
Engler :
Large animals, which dwelt on the globe in the pre-historic days were the
main fat contributors
After the natural extinction of these mammoths, the body fat was slowly
converted to hydrocarbons
But the laboratory experiments revealed that the conversion of fat by
hydrolysis yielded only acids and not hydrocarbon gases
Futher, no oil well was ever sighted with any fossil fuel remains of such
animals
Thus the long flourished hopes of this natural fat theory had to be given
up
Petroleum Refining Engineering, 11
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
Thoughts concerning the origin and formation of petroleum
Scientist Year View
Thomas - Graham 1843 Natural naphtha must be a product of action upon vegetable matter of high
temperature
Chaptal 1845 When plants became entirely decomposed into vegetable moulds these
contained certain oils which escaped decomposition
J.W.Draper 1846 Suggested the action of natural heat of earth on coal
Popoff 1875 Showed that methane could be produced by the decomposition of coal
Hoppe – Seyler 1886 Showed that bacteria could produce methane, as is ever evident in
swampy area
Treibs 1934 Discovered some of the plant pigments and biological matter in crudes;
microscopic organisms found in crudes actually prompted API to launch a
Petroleum Refining Engineering, big project API 43 to investigate thoroughly
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 12
Mikhailovosky, N.Potering and N.C.Anderson
Seems to near the goal
Accordingly, the source of petroleum was not a definite species of flora
as initiated by Engler, but the organic matter of sea oozes consisting of
remains of plants and animal organisms
The initial decomposition of the vegetable and animal matter was a
result of activity of micro-organisms; later the organic matter
underwent changes due to pressure and temperature of the crest of the
earth
Arghagelsky
Prophesied that petroleum took birth in argillaceous rocks enriched
with organic matter and later migrated and got stored in arenaceous
Petroleumrocks
Refining Engineering, 13
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
P.Trusk and G.Petrov
Characterized the composition and content of organic matter in rocks of
different ages
Temperature – Pressure distillation by
tectonic stress
Biochemical Process
Chemical or radioactivity action
However biochemical theory has been received with some favor, as it is
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
concerned with low temperature and pressure, and bacteria of versatility
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 14
Formation is via a combination of physical
and biological processes rather than
individually
Petroleum formation from organic mass may
be expounded by two distinct processes
namely,
Physical
Biological
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 15
It conjures all the parameters in an ideal
reaction and depends upon the factors like:
1. Heat
2. Pressure
3. Heat and Pressure
4. Catalysts
5. Radio activity
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 16
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 17
The nature of recent hydrocarbons found, does however
support the biogenic origin; the main reason being the
presence of odd carbon number, these matters are often
referred as kerogens or mother substances for shale
Kerogen is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that
make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks
It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the high
molecular weight of its component compounds. The soluble
portion is known as bitumen
When heated to the right temperatures in the Earth's crust,
some types of kerogen release crude oil or natural gas,
collectively known as hydrocarbons
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 18
Type Name Hydrogen : Oxygen :
Carbon Ratio Carbon ratio
I Sapropelic > 1.25 < 0.15
II Planktonic < 1.25 0.03 to 0.18
II Sulfurous Similar to Type II but high in sulfur
III Humic <1 0.03 to 0.3
IV Residue <0.5 --
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 19
Kenneth Kobe:
Petroleum results from a series of biochemical and chemical
reactions which start with organic remains of dead micro-
organisms
Bacteria are involved in first transformation of the constituents
of decaying microorganisms to hydrocarbons
Crude oil found in younger sedimentary deposits do in fact contain
appreciable amounts of oxygen and nitrogen
This shows organic material as the source
Crude can be divided in to three types depending upon the time of
deposit
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 20
Brooks and Frost
Concluded that the organic matter can be decomposed easily
under the action of natural catalyst as well as bacteria
The evidence of bacteria in sedimentary rocks is positive and the
organics are initially decomposed to acids and gases
I.M.Gubkin
Demonstrated that the formation of petroleum and gas from
organics, scattered in argillaceous rocks was a local process and
started with accumulation of organic matter in sea oozes, it may
be fat or carbohydrate
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 21
The overall explanation may be summed up in two
steps:
1. The action of bacteria in contributing the lighter
fractions
2. Continous cracking action of earth at depths of 1-2
Km to yield heavier hydrocarbons
Age of the oil is indicated by CPI (Carbon Preference
Index)
Hydrocarbons of recent origin show 4 to 5
Ancient bitumen show about 1
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 22
Petroleum is of biological origin, because of the
oil association with sediments containing a
relatively large amount of organic matter, the
presence of optically active compounds and
complex substances
The formation is at low temperature, usually less
that 200C or even 100C
Thermophilic bacteria plays the major role in
conversion of this organic mass into liquid
hydrocarbons
Petroleum Refining Engineering,
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN 23
Reference :
“Modern Petroleum Refining Processes”,
Bhaskara Rao. B. K, Fourth Edition.
Petroleum Refining Engineering, 24
Ms.N.Deepa Priya , Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, TN
