Dr Bharath G

Assistant professor

Department of Environmental Studies

University of Delhi
 Petroleum
• Fossil fuel
• Petroleum also known as crude oil Elemental composition of Crude oil

Crude Oil
Oil is a thick, yellow to black, flammable liquid
hydrocarbon mixture found in earth crust. Formed
from the remains of ancient small aquatic organisms
 Composition of crude oil
• Petroleum is a mixture of a very large number of different hydrocarbons

• The most found molecules are

• Alkanes (paraffins)
• Cycloalkanes (Naphthenes)
• Aromatic hydrocarbons

• Each petroleum variety has a unique mix of molecules, which define its physical
and chemical properties, like color and viscosity.
 Oil production

• 1TWh=5,88,441 barrel of oil; 1 barrel = 158.98 liters

Oil consumption
 Oil - Proved reserves
Country Barrels
World 1.74 trillion
Venezuela 303.81 billion
Saudi Arabia 297.67 billion
Canada 170.77 billion
Iran 155.60 billion
Iraq 145.02 billion
Africa 125.70 billion
Russia 107.21 billion
Kuwait 101.50 billion
United Arab Emirates 97.80 billion
United States 68.89 billion
India 4.48 billion
• On-shore Oil Production In India

• Brahmaputra valley of north-east India.

• Barmer area of Rajasthan.
• Gujarat coast in western India.
• Cauvery on-shore basin in Tamil Nadu.
• Andhra Pradesh has both on-shore and offshore oil reserves.
• Off-shore Oil Production In India

• Western Coast
• Mumbai High, Bassein, and Aliabet are three main areas in Mumbai where oil is
produced.
• Mumbai High: 1974; Bassein,
• Sagar Samrat: south of Mumbai High.
• Aliabet, a small island off the coast of Khambhat in the Gulf of Khambhat.

• Eastern Coast
• The Godawari, Krishna, and Cauvery rivers basins and delta regions have a lot of
potential for oil and gas production.
• The Rawa field, located in the Krishna- Godavari off-shore basin, is significant.
• The Cauvery on-shore basin's Narimanam and Kovilappal oil fields are also
significant.
 Crude oil classification
• Three main categories
• By geographic location
• By sulfur content
• By API gravity

• By Geography
• Brent Crude is a mixture that comes from 15 different oil fields between Scotland and Norway in the
North Sea. These fields supply oil to most of Europe.

• West Texas Intermediate is a lighter oil that is produced mostly in the U.S. state of Texas. It is “sweet”
and “light”—considered very high quality. These fields supply oil to North America.

• Dubai crude, also known as Fateh or Dubai-Oman crude, is a light, sour oil that is produced in Dubai, part
of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai and Oman crudes are used as a reference point for pricing Persian Gulf
oils that are mostly exported to Asia.

• The OPEC Reference Basket is another important oil source. OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries. OPEC’s 12 member countries: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya,
Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
• By Sulfur Content

• Sulfur is considered an “impurity” in petroleum. Sulfur in crude oil can corrode metal
in the refining process and contribute to air pollution.

• Petroleum with more than 0.5% sulfur is called “sour,” while petroleum with less than
0.5% sulfur is “sweet.”

• Sweet oil is usually much more valuable than sour because it does not require as much
refining and is less harmful to the environment.
• By API Gravity
• The American Petroleum Institute (API) has developed this method

• API gravity is a measures the density of petroleum liquid compared to water.

• Light oils are preferred because they have a higher hydrocarbons.

• Heavier oils have greater concentrations of metals and sulfur and require more
refining.

Light crude oil: API gravity higher than 31.1 °API (< 870 kg/m³)
Medium crude oil: API gravity from 31.1 °API to 22.3 °API (870 to 920 kg/m³)
Heavy crude oil: API gravity from 22.3 °API to 10 °API (920 to 1000 kg/m³)
Extra-heavy crude oil: API gravity below 10 °API (>1000 kg/m³)
 Crude oil pricing
• High sulfur and heavy crude - Low cost- Extensive refining
• Low sulfur and light crude - High cost- Simpler refining

• High API gravity- High cost

• Low API gravity- Low cost

• Supply and demand

Petroleum imports India
 Properties of petroleum
• API Gravity
• The API gravity is an arbitrary scale developed by the American Petroleum
Institute (API) to measure of the density of petroleum liquids relative to the
density of water at 15.56 °C. The scale is calibrated such that most
petroleum liquids will have API gravities between 10 and 70 °API.
• Viscosity
• It is a physical property of a fluid that describes its tendency/resistance to
flow. A high-viscosity fluid has a low tendency to flow, whereas low-
viscosity fluids flow easily.

• Pour Point
• Pour point represents the lowest temperature at which oil can flow under
gravity. The pour point of crude oils relates to their paraffin content: the
higher the paraffin content, the higher the pour point.
• Pour points range from 32 °C to below -57 °C

• Ultimate analysis
• Crude oil contaminants
• In addition to hydrocarbons, crude oil contains heteroatom (S, N, metals) species that
need to be removed if their concentrations are higher.
• Other impurities in crude oil include salt and water.
• The acidity of crude oil is also important particularly for concerns of corrosion in
pipes or other process units.

• Sulfur content is the second most important property of crude oils next to API gravity.
Sulfur content is expressed as weight percent of sulfur in oil and typically varies in the
range from 0.1 to 5.0%wt.

• Nitrogen content of crude oils deactivates the acidic sites on catalysts used in
conversion processes. Some nitrogen compounds are also corrosive. Crude oils with
nitrogen contents greater than 0.25%wt need treatment in refineries for nitrogen
removal.

• Most common metals found in crude oil are included in organometallic compounds
like nickel, vanadium, iron and copper, ranging in concentration from a few ppm up to
1000 ppm by weight, depending on the source of crude oil.
• Carbon Residue
• Carbon residue is determined as the weight of solid residue remaining after heating
crude oil to coking temperatures (700-800°C). The higher the carbon residue, higher is
the coking (fouling) propensity of crude oil.

• Basic Sediment and Water

• To measure the amount of suspended inorganic solid particles and water (BS&W) in
crude oils. These contaminants are mixed with the oil during production, and high
concentration of BS&W causes operational problems in a refinery.

• Salt Content
• Desalting (removing the salt) is necessary when NaCl exceeds 10 lbs/1000 bbl. Such
high salt contents lead to corrosion in distillation towers and other equipment.
Petroleum refinery process
 Desalting
• Salt causes serious damage to the heater tubes due to corrosion caused by the
presence of Cl.

• Salt in crude oil also causes reduction in heat transfer rates in heat exchangers
and furnaces.

• The three stages of desalting are:

1.Adding dilution water to crude
2.Mixing dilution water with crude by a mixer
3.Dehydration of crude in a settling tank to separate crude and sediment and
water
 Refining
• Distillation separates hydrocarbon compounds into distillate fractions based on their
boiling points.

• In a distillation column, light components are removed from the top of the column, and the
heavier part of the mixture appears in the bottom.

• Crude oil is a mixture of thousands of hydrocarbons, some very light compounds such as
ethane and propane only appear in the top product, while extremely heavy and non-
volatile compounds such as asphalts only appear in the bottom.

• By two distillation types

• Atmospheric distillation unit
• Vacuum distillation unit
• Atmospheric distillation unit
• Atmospheric distillation typically performed in large, vertical, steel cylindrical
columns with diameters ranging from about 65 cm to 11m and heights ranging from
about 6m to 60 m.
• Pressure
• Pressure drop in condenser 0.3 to 0.5 kg/cm2
• Trays pressure drop 0.08 to 0.1 kg/cm2/tray
• Temperature
• Range in between 193 °C to 365 °C
• Trays 40 to 50

• Vacuum distillation unit

• T he vacuum distillation columns have 10 to 40mm Hg absolute pressure
• 15m diameters and 50 m height normally
Petroleum products
Petroleum fractions and Boiling points
Main constituents of crude oil
Reforming
 Blending
• Product blending plays a key role in preparing the refinery products to satisfy
the product specifications and environmental regulations.

• The objective of product blending is to assign all available blend components

to satisfy the product demand and specifications to minimize cost and
maximize overall profit.

• Almost all refinery products are blended for the optimal use of all the
intermediate product streams for the most efficient and profitable conversion
of petroleum to marketable products.
• Blending
• Blending to meet simultaneously 10 to 15 different quality specifications, such
as vapour pressure; initial, intermediate, and final boiling points; sulfur
content; colour; stability; aromatics content; olefin content; octane
measurements for several different portions of the blend; and other local
governmental or market restrictions.

• Motor gasoline blending components: Naphthas (alkylate, reformate, benzene,

toluene, xylene) used for blending or compounding into finished motor
gasoline.
Applications of petroleum products
 Petroleum products- Secondary applications
Petroleum by Applications
product
Alkenes /olefins Manufactured into plastics

Lubricants Machine oils, motor oils, and greases

Wax Packaging of frozen foods

Bulk tar Color

Asphalt Constructing and maintaining roads

Paraffin wax Lubrication, electrical insulation, and candles

Aromatic Precursors in chemical production

petrochemicals
CO2 emissions
 Environmental impacts of Oil & Gas
• Burring of fuels
• CO2 emissions
• 9kg of CO2 from automobile /gallon gasoline
• Global warming
• Acid deposition
• Photochemical smog
• Particulate matter

• Production and transportation

• Oil spills-Damage ecosystem
 Oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment due to human activity.

Types of oil spill

(1) LAND OIL SPILL
Can occur due to illegal dumping , road accident , insufficient
bounding , pipeline leaks etc.
Prevent water absorption by soil , affect agriculture through
choking of plant life.

Can leach into groundwater or enter rivers and streams as run-

off.

EXAMPLE --

= OIL SPILL IN AMAZON RAIN FOREST

Oil company Texaco dumped billions of gallons of oil waste in forest which adversely
affecting the life of tribes.
(2) OCEAN OIL SPILL
Can occur due to accidents, system failure, human error or
natural disaster (cyclone etc).
Sometimes it can be due to international tensions.
For instance, GULF WAR OIL SPILL.
Destroy marine ecosystem , death of corals, fishes and other
marine life as oil make a thin layer over water .

Oil destroys insulating ability of fur bearing mammals such

as SEA OTTERS and the water repellency of birds feathers
which lead them to death.

If it is closer to shore, it effect human life too.

Million gallons of PETROLEUM gets wasted.

EXAMPLE –

= DEEP WATER HORIZON OIL SPILL

= EXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL
 RECENT EVENTS OF OIL SPILL
[1] COLMBO INDIAN OCEAN OIL SPILL (2021)
= Also affecting coastal region of India.

[2] RUSSIAN ARCTIC OIL SPILL(2020)

MITIGATION MEASURES

Dispersants

In-situ burning

Skimmers

booms

CLEANIG OF OIL SPILL IS A LARGE ECONOMIC BURDEN AS IT’S COST IS TOO HIGH.
• Booms are temporary floating barriers used
to contain marine spills, protect the
environment, and assist in recovery.
• References
• https://www.e-education.psu.edu/fsc432/content/desalting-and-distillation

• https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/Home/ViewSubject?catid=14

• https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2019/11246hafiz/ndx_ha
fiz.pdf.html

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1367912019303438

• https://www.e-education.psu.edu/fsc432/content/desalting-and-distillation