Proudly Serving Arkansas

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Arkansas Refinery Software

Build software to explore, mine, refine the worlds most valuable resources.

Crude oil refineries employ some of the United States top scientists, engineers, and safety professionals to ensure that products are produced efficiently and safely.  US refineries process about 17 million barrels of crude oil a day.  Refinery configurations vary, but US refineries are undeniably some of the worlds most sophisticated.

Arkansas Customers

Some information I know about Arkansas is I believe the state was admitted or ratified to the United States around or about 'June 15, 1836'.  Arkansas is located around latitude '34.799999' and longitude of '-92.199997' and has a population of roughly '3,011,524 million'.  If I remember correctly the capital is 'Little Rock' and the largest city is 'Little Rock'. 

From what I know of the industry I will break down the Refinery Processes for a quick overview of how crude is processed for things like Heavy Oil, Diesel, Kerosene, Naphta and Gasoline.  Refineries often utilize software development to communicate with PLC devices for data aquisition which I do have hands on experience in as a developer.

Distilling

Much like a simple still, in a distilling column, liquid is heated to a vapor and lifted upward to be distilled again into separate substances.  This is the beginning of the refining process.  Distilling exploits the characteristic of the chemicals in crude oil to boil at different temperatures, a phenomenon that engineers chart along distillation curves.  Unlike a still, a distilling column contains a set of trays that allow heated vapors to rise and collect at different levels, separating out the various liquids derived from crude oil.  The top of the column is cooler than the bottom, so as liquids vaporize and rise, they condense again, collecting onto their respective trays.  Butane and other light products rise to the top of the column, while straight-run gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, diesel, and heavy gas oil gather on the trays, leaving straight run residue at the base of the column.  Liquids are considered heavy or light based on their specific gravity, which is determined based on its weight and density compared to that of water.

If at any point you decide to reach to me just know the area codes I am familiar with for Arkansas are '479, 501, 870'.  For Refinery assistance you will find my rates very reasonable for Arkansas.  Now just keep in mind my time zone is 'Eastern Standard Time (EST)' and I know the time zones in Arkansas are 'Central Standard Time (CST)' in case you wish to call me.  Anyway let me continue.

Cracking

Because there is more demand for some distilled products like gasoline, refiners have an incentive to convert heavy liquids into lighter liquids.  The term cracking comes from the process of breaking up long hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, more useful molecules.  The cracking process converts heavy straight run liquids into gasoline.  There are multiple versions of the cracking process, and refiners use the process extensively.  Cracking is a highly controlled process, so cracking units exist separate from distillation columns.  The most common type of cracking is cat cracking, named for the use of catalysts, substances added to a chemical reaction to speed up the process.

Reforming

The process of reforming was developed to raise both the quality and volume of gasoline produced by refiners.  Using a catalyst again, after a series of reforming processes, substances are converted into aromatics and isomers, which have much higher octane numbers than the paraffins and napthenes produced by other refinery processes.  Most simply, reforming rearranges the naphtha hydrocarbons to create gasoline molecules.  The reforming process produces reformate, which is needed to increase the octane for todays cleaner burning fuels.  Interestingly, hydrogen is also produced by the catalytic reforming process - this hydrogen is then used in other refining processes such as hydrotreating.

You know, I don't make it out to Arkansas much but I would like to see the 'Mockingbird' state bird.  I am a little familiar with the Arkansas 'Apple blossom' state flower as well.  However, I do not know much about Arkansas's state tree the 'Pine'.  Fishing is fun to me perhaps I would like reeling in the Arkansas 'No Official Fish' state fish.  Anyway, sorry I went off topic.  Let me continue.

Treating

Crude oil naturally contains contaminants such as sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals, which are undesirable in motor fuels.  The treating process, primarily hydrotreating, removes these chemicals by binding them with hydrogen, absorbing them in separate columns, or adding acids to remove them.  The recovered molecules are then sold to other industries.  Refineries that process sour crudes produce more sulfur than refineries that process sweet crudes.  Following the treatment, blending, and cooling processes, the liquids finally look like the fuels and products you are familiar with: gasoline, lubricants, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel fuel, heating oil, and petrochemical feedstocks that are needed to create the plastics and other products you use every day.

Blending

The last major step of the refining process is blending various streams into finished petroleum products.  The various grades of motor fuels are blends of different streams or fractions such as reformate, alkylate, catalytically cracked gasoline, etc.  Refineries blend compounds obtained either from their internal refining process operations as noted above, or externally, to make gasoline that meets specifications for acceptable motor vehicle performance.  A typical refinery may produce as many as 8 to 15 different streams of hydrocarbons that they then must mix into motor fuels.  Refiners might also mix in additives like octane enhancers, metal deactivators, anti-oxidants, anti-knock agents, rust inhibitors, or detergents into their hydrocarbon streams.  Blending can take place at the refinery along the pipelines and tanks that house processed fuel or even at off-site locations or on ships or terminals once the fuel has left the refinery gate.