From Crude Barrel to Finished Products
The main blocks of a refinery, the streams that link them and why one unit affects all the others.
11 min
Activities: 0 of 2
A network, not a line
A refinery is often drawn as a simple line: crude goes in, products come out. In reality it is a network. Each process unit takes streams from others and sends streams on. The main blocks are:
- Crude and vacuum distillation — split crude into fractions by boiling range.
- Conversion units — crack heavy fractions into lighter ones.
- Upgrading and treating units — raise octane, remove sulphur and improve quality.
- Blending — mix component streams into finished products.
- Utilities — hydrogen, steam, electricity, fuel gas, cooling water and nitrogen.
- Offsites — tank farms, blending systems, loading facilities, flare and wastewater treatment.
Typical links between units
The catalytic reformer makes hydrogen. Hydrotreaters and the hydrocracker consume it. If the reformer slows down, hydrotreaters may have to slow down too.
The planner's view
Refinery planners use a linear programming (LP) model of the whole network. It chooses crude purchases, unit rates and blend recipes that give the best margin within unit capacities and product specifications. Operators and engineers feed it with real unit limits. When a unit has a problem, the plan changes across the site.
Put the main processing steps in order
- 1Blending into finished products
- 2Conversion of vacuum gas oil
- 3Atmospheric distillation
- 4Treating to remove sulphur
- 5Desalting
- 6Vacuum distillation of the atmospheric residue
The catalytic reformer trips. Which other unit is most directly affected?