FUE317B
PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY ( LIQUID FOSSIL FUEL
AND GAS)
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
Overview
• Oil
• Formation
• World Suppliers
• Demand Drivers
• Sources
• Drilling Rigs
• Pumping
• Refineries
• Oil Composition and uses
• Natural Gas
• Different forms of Natural Gas
• Problems Posed by Fossil Fuels
• Dangers of Oil Spills
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
2
Petroleum formation and natural gas
• A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities
of dead organisms, mostly zooplankton and algae, are
buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to
both prolonged heat and pressure.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
3
Petroleum formation and natural gas
• Three conditions must be present for oil reservoirs to form:
• a source rock rich in hydrocarbon material buried deeply enough
for subterranean heat to cook it into oil,
• a porous and permeable reservoir rock where it can accumulate,
• a caprock (seal) or other mechanism to prevent the oil from
escaping to the surface.
• Within these reservoirs, fluids will typically organize
themselves like a three-layer cake with a layer of water
below the oil layer and a layer of gas above it, although the
different layers vary in size between reservoirs.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
4
Petroleum formation and natural gas
•
A hydrocarbon trap consists of a reservoir rock (yellow) where oil (red) can accumulate,
and a caprock (green) that prevents it from egressing.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
5
Petroleum formation and natural gas
• Because most hydrocarbons are less dense than rock or
water, they often migrate upward through adjacent rock
layers until either reaching the surface or becoming trapped
within porous rocks (known as reservoirs) by impermeable
rocks above.
• However, the process is influenced by underground water
flows, causing oil to migrate hundreds of kilometres
horizontally or even short distances downward before
becoming trapped in a reservoir.
• When hydrocarbons are concentrated in a trap, an oil field
forms, from which the liquid can be extracted by drilling and
pumping.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
6
Petroleum formation and natural gas
• The reactions that produce oil and natural gas are often
modeled as first order breakdown reactions, where
hydrocarbons are broken down to oil and natural gas by
a set of parallel reactions, and oil eventually breaks
down to natural gas by another set of reactions.
• The latter set is regularly used in petrochemical plants
and oil refineries.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
7
Oil
• Oil is derived from Petroleum, also known as crude oil,
or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black
liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons and is found in
geological formations.
• It can be separated into fractions including natural gas,
gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils,
paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for
a wide variety of derivative products.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
8
Oil
• Petroleum - classified into three types based on variation of
chemical nature of crude oil found in the earth.
• i) Paraffinic-base type crude oil: contains saturated hydrocarbons
from CH4 to C35H72 and little amount of naphthalenes and
aromatics.
• ii) Asphaltic-base type crude oil: contains mainly cycloparaffins or
naphthalenes with smaller amount of paraffins and aromatic
hydrocarbons.
• iii) Mixed-base type crude oil : contains both paraffinic and
asphaltic hydrocarbons and are generally in the form of semi-solid
waxes.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
9
Oil
• The top 5 OIL-producing nations are Saudi Arabia, USSR, USA,
Iran, China.
• 58% of the crude oil used for fuel and products in the US is
imported from other nations.
• Uses
• Cooling, computers, fertilizer, feedstocks, heating, adhesives,
paint, plastics, clothing, building materials, medicine, trucks,
cars, tractors, fencing, tools, rope, diesel, gasoline, solvents,
lubricants, laboratory materials, colognes, detergents, and
much, much more … (you are probably wearing oil-related
products right now!)
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
10
Oil demand
• The world population has been steadily increasing, more
people means greater energy demand.
• Several countries are achieving higher levels of development
today, more building and transportation means greater
demand for energy.
• Oil is an extremely versatile fuel, it can be transformed into
many other products.
• Oil-derived fuels (such a gasoline) burn easily, burn HOT, and
the current transportation industry is designed to use it nearly
exclusively.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
11
Oil sources
Drilling “Rigs” are constructed both on land and in the ocean to dig
into oil reservoirs and search for new oil deposits.
Working these rigs can be very hazardous, safety is a major concern
since any petroleum found is under pressure and highly flammable.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
12
Oil sources
Land-based rigs
• Smaller and more numerous than
offshore.
• Smaller crews are needed to operate
(usually 5–8 workers).
• Fairly easily moved from place to place.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
13
Oil sources
Offshore rigs
• Much larger and more expensive to
build.
• Larger crews are needed to operate
(usually 25-40 workers).
• Extremely hard to move from place to
place.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
14
Oil sources
“Pump jacks”
• Move the crude up from the well into
pipelines and storage tanks.
• Other stations pump the oil to larger
tanks or waiting barges.
• Crude is taken to refinery for production
into fuel.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
15
Oil composition and uses
• Petroleum includes not only crude oil, but all liquid, gaseous and
solid hydrocarbons. Under surface pressure and temperature
conditions, lighter hydrocarbons methane, ethane, propane and
butane exist as gases, while pentane and heavier hydrocarbons
are in the form of liquids or solids.
• However, in an underground oil reservoir the proportions of gas,
liquid, and solid depend on subsurface conditions and on the
phase diagram of the petroleum mixture.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
16
Oil composition and uses
• An oil well produces predominantly crude oil, with some natural gas dissolved in it.
• Because the pressure is lower at the surface than underground, some of the gas will
come out of solution and be recovered (or burned) as associated gas or solution gas.
• A gas well produces predominantly natural gas.
• However, because the underground temperature is higher than at the surface, the
gas may contain heavier hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane, and heptane in the
gaseous state.
• At surface conditions these will condense out of the gas to form "natural-gas
condensate", often shortened to condensate.
• Condensate resembles gasoline in appearance and is similar in composition to some
volatile light crude oils.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
17
Oil composition and uses
Four different types of hydrocarbon molecules appear in crude oil. The relative
percentage of each varies from oil to oil, determining the properties of each oil
Composition by weight
Hydrocarbon Average Range
Alkanes (paraffins) 30% 15 – 60 %
Naphthenes 49% 30 – 60%
Aromatics 15% 3 – 30%
Asphaltics 6% remainder
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
18
Oil composition and uses
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
19
Oil composition and uses
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
20
Natural gas
• Fossil Fuel, formed similarly oil, found in petroleum.
• Removed from Earth by drilling, the pressure is usually sufficient to allow it flow to the
surface.
• Colorless, odorless gas with a simple chemical structure (CH4)
• 24% of the world’s energy is derived by burning natural gas.
• Both Natural Gas and Oil are often found along smaller faults deep within the Earth.
• Used in homes, businesses, industry, vehicles and power plants.
• Consumption is expected to rise by 50% by 2025.
• Since it is colorless and odorless, a scent is added to it for safety purposes – called a
“mercaptan” – giving it a sulfur-based, rotten-egg type smell that cannot be removed.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
21
Natural gas
Forms of natural gas
• Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) - alternative fuel for gas and diesel engines,
is stored in tanks similar to acetylene.
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) - used in large-scale industry. Cooled to -260F,
it is now being used as a fuel for trucking and ocean-going vessels.
• CNG and LNG only accounts for 4% of natural gas consumption
worldwide.
• Hydrogen Enriched Natural Gas (HENG)
• A blend of natural gas and hydrogen, usually 12% H and 80% NG.
• Can reduce emissions of Nitrogen Oxides by 30-50% without affecting
the performance of regular natural gas engines.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
22
Fossil fuel Limitations
• Coal, Oil and Natural Gas products are extremely widespread,
and in higher demand each passing day.
• Supplies will eventually be depleted.
• Use of these products are filling landfills, polluting land, rivers,
lakes, oceans, and air.
• Oil spills are common, on average, 12 spills over 1000 gallons
each occur every day.
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
23
Fossil fuel Limitations
Drilling
• Disrupts Earth’s natural strata
• Threat of producing sinkholes
• Possibility of water contamination
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
24
Fossil fuel Limitations
Oil spills
• Destroy environment
• Kills Wildlife
• Expensive to clean-up
• Environment is damaged, usually coastline
wildlife losses are high.
• Most of the oil is never recovered (usually
only 10-20%) can be salvaged.
• Oil sinks to seafloor, killing important
decomposers, natural balance is interrupted.
• Oil is eventually decomposed by marine
organisms, however, it could enter the food
chain of ocean wildlife, possible human
contamination threat.
• Agricultural land may be damaged
irreversibly
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
25
Fossil fuel Limitations
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
26
THANK YOU
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
