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REFINING OF CRUDE OIL AND PETROCHEMICALS

CONTENT

Meaning of Refining
Oil Refining and Fractional Distillation
Products of Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil

Meaning of Refining

Refining is the process of preparation of useful products such as petrol, kerosene, diesel and lubricating oil from crude oil.

Crude oil and natural gas are extracted from the ground, on land or under the oceans through drilling, by sinking an oil well and are then transported by pipeline and/or ship to refineries where their components are processed into refined products. Crude oil and natural gas are of little use in their raw state; their value lies in what is created from them: fuels, lubricating oils, waxes, asphalt, petrochemicals and pipeline-quality natural gas. Crude oil is separated into its component fractions by fractional distillation carried out in the refineries.

Some organic compounds produced from petroleum are ethanol, ethane, propanol, benzene, and toluene. These small–molecule organic compounds are in turn used to make large-molecule organic compounds like plastics, synthetic rubber, detergent, insecticide, and synthetic fibres like Dacron and nylon which has made an impact in the manufacturing industry.

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