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87-631: Coryton Refinery was an oil refinery in Essex, England, on the estuary of the River Thames 28 miles (45 km) from central London, between Shell Haven Creek and Hole Haven Creek, which separates Canvey Island from the mainland. It was a part of the Port of London and was the last of the three major refineries on the Thames Estuary to remain in operation, following closure of Shell Haven and BP Kent. Output

174-402: A devolatilization process to separate usable oil from the waste asphaltene material. Certain cracked streams are particularly suitable to produce petrochemicals includes polypropylene, heavier polymers, and block polymers based on the molecular weight and the characteristics of the olefin specie that is cracked from the source feedstock. Oil refineries are large-scale plants, processing about

261-457: A back-up system during down-time for maintenance or breakdown of generation equipment. In this latter case, generation of biogas cannot normally be interrupted, and a gas flare is employed to maintain the internal pressure on the biological process. There are two types of gas flare used for controlling biogas, open or enclosed. Open flares burn at a lower temperature, less than 1000 °C and are generally cheaper than enclosed flares that burn at

348-632: A broad range of several applications. Once separated and purified of any contaminants and impurities, the fuel or lubricant can be sold without further processing. Smaller molecules such as isobutane and propylene or butylenes can be recombined to meet specific octane requirements by processes such as alkylation , or more commonly, dimerization . The octane grade of gasoline can also be improved by catalytic reforming , which involves removing hydrogen from hydrocarbons producing compounds with higher octane ratings such as aromatics . Intermediate products such as gasoils can even be reprocessed to break

435-748: A capacity of 940,000 bbl/d (149,000 m /d) but effective run rates have been dramatically lower due to the impact of 20 years of sanctions , and SK Energy 's Ulsan in South Korea with 840,000 bbl/d (134,000 m /d) are the second and third largest, respectively. Prior to World War II in the early 1940s, most petroleum refineries in the United States consisted simply of crude oil distillation units (often referred to as atmospheric crude oil distillation units). Some refineries also had vacuum distillation units as well as thermal cracking units such as visbreakers (viscosity breakers, units to lower

522-528: A cross-cracking plant'. In 1937, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 250,000 tonnes. In 1950, Coryton and the CLR were sold to the American Vacuum Oil Company , later Mobil . The CLR to Corringham was closed, but the branch from Thames Haven was upgraded to main-line standards. A new refinery came on stream in 1953. In 1954, the annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 850,000 tonnes. By 1964,

609-800: A few percent sulfur -containing molecules, elemental sulfur is also often produced as a petroleum product. Carbon , in the form of petroleum coke , and hydrogen may also be produced as petroleum products. The hydrogen produced is often used as an intermediate product for other oil refinery processes such as hydrocracking and hydrodesulfurization . Petroleum products are usually grouped into four categories: light distillates (LPG, gasoline, naphtha), middle distillates (kerosene, jet fuel, diesel), heavy distillates, and residuum (heavy fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax, asphalt). These require blending various feedstocks, mixing appropriate additives, providing short-term storage, and preparation for bulk loading to trucks, barges, product ships, and railcars. This classification

696-549: A fuel or for heating. Gas flares on biogas collection systems are used if the gas production rates are not sufficient to warrant use in any industrial process. However, on a plant where the gas production rate is sufficient for direct use in an industrial process that could be classified as part of the circular economy , and that may include the generation of electricity , the production of natural gas quality biogas for vehicle fuel or for heating in buildings, drying refuse-derived fuel or leachate treatment, gas flares are used as

783-428: A heavy, long-chained oil into a lighter short-chained one, by various forms of cracking such as fluid catalytic cracking , thermal cracking , and hydrocracking . The final step in gasoline production is the blending of fuels with different octane ratings, vapor pressures , and other properties to meet product specifications. Another method for reprocessing and upgrading these intermediate products (residual oils) uses

870-432: A higher combustion temperature and are usually supplied to conform to a specific residence time of 0.3s within the chimney to ensure complete destruction of the toxic elements contained within the biogas. Flare specification usually demands that enclosed flares must operate at >1000 °C and <1200 °C; this in order to ensure a 98% destruction efficient and avoid the formation of NOx . The natural gas that

957-430: A hundred thousand to several hundred thousand barrels of crude oil a day. Because of the high capacity, many of the units operate continuously , as opposed to processing in batches , at steady state or nearly steady state for months to years. The high capacity also makes process optimization and advanced process control very desirable. Petroleum products are materials derived from crude oil ( petroleum ) as it

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1044-645: A large amount of steam and cooling water need to have an abundant source of water. Oil refineries, therefore, are often located nearby navigable rivers or on a seashore, nearby a port. Such location also gives access to transportation by river or by sea. The advantages of transporting crude oil by pipeline are evident, and oil companies often transport a large volume of fuel to distribution terminals by pipeline. A pipeline may not be practical for products with small output, and railcars, road tankers, and barges are used. Petrochemical plants and solvent manufacturing (fine fractionating) plants need spaces for further processing of

1131-658: A large volume of refinery products, or to mix chemical additives with a product at source rather than at blending terminals. The refining process releases a number of different chemicals into the atmosphere (see AP 42 Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors ) and a notable odor normally accompanies the presence of a refinery. Aside from air pollution impacts there are also wastewater concerns, risks of industrial accidents such as fire and explosion, and noise health effects due to industrial noise . Many governments worldwide have mandated restrictions on contaminants that refineries release, and most refineries have installed

1218-509: A maximum radiation level of 1.58 kW/m (500 Btu/hr.ft²) is recommended. Higher radiation levels are permissible but for reduced exposure times: Ground flares are designed to hide the flame from sight and to reduce thermal radiation and noise. They comprise a steel box or cylinder lined with refractory material. They are open at the top and have openings around the base to allow combustion air to enter. They may have an array of multiple flare tips to provide turndown capability and to spread

1305-462: A number of further chemical processes are integrated into it. For example, light hydrocarbons are steam-cracked in an ethylene plant, and the produced ethylene is polymerized to produce polyethene . To ensure both proper separation and environmental protection, a very low sulfur content is necessary in all but the heaviest products. The crude sulfur contaminant is transformed to hydrogen sulfide via catalytic hydrodesulfurization and removed from

1392-589: A possible surge in fuel prices, oil supplies were ordered from other refineries in the UK, such as the Stanlow Refinery via the UK oil pipeline network . Shipments from Coryton resumed on 26 January following agreements signed by the administrators. On 28 May 2012, it was announced that the refinery would close due to PricewaterhouseCoopers , the administrators, having failed to find a buyer. Igor Yusufov 's Energy Investment Fund

1479-539: A shoreline necklace of refineries, built in the early 20th century before this area was populated, and associated chemical plants are adjacent to urban areas in Richmond , Martinez , Pacheco , Concord , Pittsburg , Vallejo and Benicia , with occasional accidental events that require " shelter in place " orders to the adjacent populations. A number of refineries are located in Sherwood Park, Alberta , directly adjacent to

1566-635: A variety of startup, maintenance, testing, safety, and emergency purposes. In a practice known as production flaring , they may also be used to dispose of large amounts of unwanted associated petroleum gas , possibly throughout the life of an oil well. When industrial plant equipment items are overpressured, the pressure relief valve is an essential safety device that automatically releases gases and sometimes liquids. Those pressure relief valves are required by industrial design codes and standards as well as by law. The released gases and liquids are routed through large piping systems called flare headers to

1653-401: A vertical elevated flare. The released gases are burned as they exit the flare stacks. The size and brightness of the resulting flame depends upon the flammable material's flow rate in joules per hour (or btu per hour). Most industrial plant flares have a vapor–liquid separator (also known as a knockout drum) upstream of the flare to remove any large amounts of liquid that may accompany

1740-456: Is also playing a role in raising the global focus on methane. Additional noxious fumes emitted by flaring may include, aromatic hydrocarbons ( benzene , toluene , xylenes ) and benzo(a)pyrene , which are known to be carcinogenic. A 2013 study found that gas flares contributed over 40% of the black carbon deposited in the Arctic. Flaring can affect wildlife by attracting birds and insects to

1827-433: Is based on the way crude oil is distilled and separated into fractions. Over 6,000 items are made from petroleum waste by-products, including fertilizer , floor coverings , perfume , insecticide , petroleum jelly , soap , vitamin capsules . The image below is a schematic flow diagram of a typical oil refinery that depicts the various unit processes and the flow of intermediate product streams that occurs between

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1914-408: Is cooled by exchanging heat with the incoming crude oil. All of the fractions (i.e., the overhead naphtha, the sidecuts, and the bottom residue) are sent to intermediate storage tanks before being processed further. A party searching for a site to construct a refinery or a chemical plant needs to consider the following issues: Factors affecting site selection for oil refinery: Refineries that use

2001-417: Is not combusted by a flare is vented into the atmosphere as methane. Methane 's estimated global warming potential is 28-36 times greater than that of CO 2 over the course of a century, and 84-87 times greater over two decades. Natural gas flaring produces CO2 and many other compounds, depending on the chemical composition of the natural gas and on how well the natural gas burns in the flare. Therefore, to

2088-424: Is processed in oil refineries . The majority of petroleum is converted to petroleum products, which includes several classes of fuels. Oil refineries also produce various intermediate products such as hydrogen , light hydrocarbons, reformate and pyrolysis gasoline . These are not usually transported but instead are blended or processed further on-site. Chemical plants are thus often adjacent to oil refineries or

2175-413: Is removed from the distillation column by a pumparound system as shown in the diagram below. As shown in the flow diagram, the overhead distillate fraction from the distillation column is naphtha. The fractions removed from the side of the distillation column at various points between the column top and bottom are called sidecuts . Each of the sidecuts (i.e., the kerosene, light gas oil, and heavy gas oil)

2262-475: Is then processed further in the other refinery processing units. The CDU is often referred to as the atmospheric distillation unit because it operates at slightly above atmospheric pressure. Below is a schematic flow diagram of a typical crude oil distillation unit. The incoming crude oil is preheated by exchanging heat with some of the hot, distilled fractions and other streams. It is then desalted to remove inorganic salts (primarily sodium chloride). Following

2349-626: The Allies , during the Oil Campaign of World War II . Another close contender for the title of hosting the world's oldest oil refinery is Salzbergen in Lower Saxony , Germany. Salzbergen's refinery was opened in 1860. At one point, the refinery in Ras Tanura , Saudi Arabia owned by Saudi Aramco was claimed to be the largest oil refinery in the world. For most of the 20th century, the largest refinery

2436-605: The Edeleanu process . This increased the refining efficiency compared to pure fractional distillation and allowed a massive development of the refining plants. Successively, the process was implemented in France, Germany, U.S. and in a few decades became worldwide spread. In 1910 Edeleanu founded "Allgemeine Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie" in Germany, which, given the success of the name, changed to Edeleanu GmbH, in 1930. During Nazi's time,

2523-493: The hydrocarbons to be separated by distillation . Since the lighter liquid products are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher-value products. Oil can be used in a variety of ways because it contains hydrocarbons of varying molecular masses , forms and lengths such as paraffins , aromatics , naphthenes (or cycloalkanes ), alkenes , dienes , and alkynes . While

2610-416: The octane rating of their product gasoline, lower the sulfur content of their diesel fuel and home heating fuels to comply with environmental regulations and comply with environmental air pollution and water pollution requirements. In the 19th century, refineries in the U.S. processed crude oil primarily to recover the kerosene . There was no market for the more volatile fraction, including gasoline, which

2697-422: The petrochemical industry with increased risk of various cancers, such as mesothelioma . It also found reduced risks of other cancers, such as stomach and rectal . The systematic review did mention that several of the associations were not due to factors directly related to the petroleum industry, rather were related to lifestyle factors such as smoking . Evidence for adverse health effects for nearby residents

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2784-408: The vacuum distillation unit may also produce fractions that can be refined into end products such as spindle oil used in the textile industry, light machine oil, motor oil, and various waxes. The crude oil distillation unit (CDU) is the first processing unit in virtually all petroleum refineries. The CDU distills the incoming crude oil into various fractions of different boiling ranges, each of which

2871-399: The viscosity of the oil). All of the many other refining processes discussed below were developed during the war or within a few years after the war. They became commercially available within 5 to 10 years after the war ended and the worldwide petroleum industry experienced very rapid growth. The driving force for that growth in technology and in the number and size of refineries worldwide was

2958-617: The 12th century. In the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), a workshop called the "Fierce Oil Workshop", was established in the city of Kaifeng to produce refined oil for the Song military as a weapon. The troops would then fill iron cans with refined oil and throw them toward the enemy troops, causing a fire – effectively the world's first " fire bomb ". The workshop was one of the world's earliest oil refining factories where thousands of people worked to produce Chinese oil-powered weaponry. Prior to

3045-844: The 1800s, primarily producing kerosene for oil lamps. In the early twentieth century, the introduction of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles created a market for gasoline that was the impetus for fairly rapid growth of the petroleum industry. The early finds of petroleum like those in Ontario and Pennsylvania were soon outstripped by large oil "booms" in Oklahoma , Texas and California . Samuel Kier established America's first oil refinery in Pittsburgh on Seventh Avenue near Grant Street, in 1853. Polish pharmacist and inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz established an oil refinery in Jasło , then part of

3132-570: The Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Poland ) in 1854. The first large refinery opened at Ploiești , Romania, in 1856–1857. It was in Ploiesti that, 51 years later, in 1908, Lazăr Edeleanu , a Romanian chemist of Jewish origin who got his PhD in 1887 by discovering amphetamine , invented, patented and tested on industrial scale the first modern method of liquid extraction for refining crude oil,

3219-519: The City of Edmonton , which has a population of over 1,000,000 residents. NIOSH criteria for occupational exposure to refined petroleum solvents have been available since 1977. Modern petroleum refining involves a complicated system of interrelated chemical reactions that produce a wide variety of petroleum-based products. Many of these reactions require precise temperature and pressure parameters.   The equipment and monitoring required to ensure

3306-852: The Global Taxonomy Initiative describes a situation where "a taxonomist working in a tropical forest noticed that a gas flare at an oil refinery was attracting and killing hundreds of these [hawk or sphinx] moths. Over the course of the months and years that the refinery was running a vast number of moths must have been killed, suggesting that plants could not be pollinated over a large area of forest". Flares release several different chemicals including: benzene , particulates , nitrogen oxides , heavy metals , black carbon , and carbon monoxide . Several of these pollutants correlate with preterm birth and reduced newborn birth weight . According to one study from 2020, pregnant women living near flaring natural gas and oil wells have reportedly experienced

3393-474: The Shell facilities were demolished and the land was proposed for future expansion. Following the merger in 1999 of Mobil with Exxon , the remaining interest in the refinery was sold to BP Amoco in 2000. In 2007, the plant was sold by BP to Petroplus for £714.6m (around $ 1.4 billion). On 24 January 2012, it was announced that Petroplus had filed for bankruptcy, putting the refinery's future into doubt. To alleviate

3480-463: The Thames. After use, the water was treated and discharged into Hole Haven Creek. A moat around the site collects run-off, this was taken to the water treatment plant and was oxygenated prior to discharge into the Thames. Product output: The principal product from the refinery were fuels (90.5%), comprising: About 5.0% of the fuel was used on site for the refinery processes. Non-fuels comprised 4.0% of

3567-578: The U.S. from 1976 until 2014 when the small Dakota Prairie Refinery in North Dakota began operation. More than half the refineries that existed in 1981 are now closed due to low utilization rates and accelerating mergers. As a result of these closures total US refinery capacity fell between 1981 and 1995, though the operating capacity stayed fairly constant in that time period at around 15,000,000 barrels per day (2,400,000 m /d). Increases in facility size and improvements in efficiencies have offset much of

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3654-562: The ammunition firm Kynochs built an explosives factory at the site. This opened in 1897, with an estate for employees called Kynochtown. Products included cordite , guncotton , gunpowder , and cartridges. Kynochs also built the Corringham Light Railway (CLR), with a passenger branch from the works to Corringham and a goods branch to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway at Thames Haven. The Kynoch works closed in 1919. In 1921,

3741-407: The annual throughput of Coryton refinery was 2.4 million tonnes, with a planned extension of a further 0.9 million tonnes. Coryton village was demolished and absorbed into the refinery site in the 1970s. In 1977, work started on an extension to the refinery including a hydrogen fluoride alkylation unit to produce more gasoline. In 1978, about 1.5 million tonnes of oil and refined products were stored in

3828-541: The company was bought by the Deutsche Erdöl-AG and Edeleanu, being of Jewish origin, moved back to Romania. After the war, the trademark was used by the successor company EDELEANU Gesellschaft mbH Alzenau (RWE) for many petroleum products, while the company was lately integrated as EDL in the Pörner Group . The Ploiești refineries, after being taken over by Nazi Germany , were bombed in the 1943 Operation Tidal Wave by

3915-555: The construction of new refineries may have also contributed to rising fuel prices in the United States. Additionally, many refineries (more than 100 since the 1980s) have closed due to obsolescence and/or merger activity within the industry itself. Environmental and safety concerns mean that oil refineries are sometimes located some distance away from major urban areas. Nevertheless, there are many instances where refinery operations are close to populated areas and pose health risks. In California's Contra Costa County and Solano County ,

4002-667: The crude oil and depending on the demands of the market, refineries can produce different shares of petroleum products. The largest share of oil products is used as "energy carriers", i.e. various grades of fuel oil and gasoline . These fuels include or can be blended to give gasoline, jet fuel , diesel fuel , heating oil , and heavier fuel oils. Heavier (less volatile ) fractions can also be used to produce asphalt , tar , paraffin wax , lubricating and other heavy oils. Refineries also produce other chemicals , some of which are used in chemical processes to produce plastics and other useful materials. Since petroleum often contains

4089-487: The desalter, the crude oil is further heated by exchanging heat with some of the hot, distilled fractions and other streams. It is then heated in a fuel-fired furnace (fired heater) to a temperature of about 398 °C and routed into the bottom of the distillation unit. The cooling and condensing of the distillation tower overhead is provided partially by exchanging heat with the incoming crude oil and partially by either an air-cooled or water-cooled condenser. Additional heat

4176-443: The equipment needed to comply with the requirements of the pertinent environmental protection regulatory agencies. In the United States, there is strong pressure to prevent the development of new refineries, and no major refinery has been built in the country since Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana facility in 1976. However, many existing refineries have been expanded during that time. Environmental restrictions and pressure to prevent

4263-596: The extent that gas flares convert methane to CO 2 before it is released into the atmosphere, they reduce the amount of global warming that would otherwise occur. Flaring emissions contributed to 270 Mt ( megatonnes ) of CO 2 in 2017 and reducing flaring emissions is thought to be an important component in curbing global warming. An increasing number of governments and industries have pledged to eliminate or reduce flaring. The Global Methane Pledge signed at COP26 , in which 111 nations committed to reducing methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030,

4350-580: The flame across the cross-section of the flare. They are generally used onshore in environmentally sensitive areas and have been used offshore on floating production storage and offloading installations (FPSOs). When crude oil is extracted and produced from oil wells , raw natural gas associated with the oil is brought to the surface as well. Especially in areas of the world lacking pipelines and other gas transportation infrastructure, vast amounts of such associated gas are commonly flared as waste or unusable gas. The flaring of associated gas may occur at

4437-572: The flame. Approximately 7,500 migrating songbirds were attracted to and killed by the flare at the liquefied natural gas terminal in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on September 13, 2013. Similar incidents have occurred at flares on offshore oil and gas installations. Moths are known to be attracted to lights. A brochure published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity describing

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4524-412: The growing demand for automotive gasoline and aircraft fuel. In the United States, for various complex economic and political reasons, the construction of new refineries came to a virtual stop in about the 1980s. However, many of the existing refineries in the United States have revamped many of their units and/or constructed add-on units in order to: increase their crude oil processing capacity, increase

4611-514: The highly automated and technically advanced nature of modern petroleum refineries, nearly all processes are contained within engineering controls and represent a substantially decreased risk of exposure to workers compared to earlier times. However, certain situations or work tasks may subvert these safety mechanisms, and expose workers to a number of chemical (see table above) or physical (described below) hazards. Examples of these scenarios include: A 2021 systematic review associated working in

4698-542: The hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules in crude oil are separated in a refinery into components that can be used as fuels , lubricants , and feedstocks in petrochemical processes that manufacture such products as plastics , detergents , solvents , elastomers , and fibers such as nylon and polyesters . Petroleum fossil fuels are burned in internal combustion engines to provide power for ships , automobiles , aircraft engines , lawn mowers , dirt bikes , and other machines. Different boiling points allow

4785-480: The inlet crude oil feedstock and the final end products. The diagram depicts only one of the literally hundreds of different oil refinery configurations. The diagram also does not include any of the usual refinery facilities providing utilities such as steam, cooling water, and electric power as well as storage tanks for crude oil feedstock and for intermediate products and end products. There are many process configurations other than that depicted above. For example,

4872-609: The late Northern Wei dynasty , the Chinese geographer, writer and politician Li Daoyuan introduced the process of refining oil into various lubricants in his famous work Commentary on the Water Classic . Crude oil was often distilled by Persian chemists , with clear descriptions given in handbooks such as those of Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi ( c.  865–925 ). The streets of Baghdad were paved with tar , derived from petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in

4959-411: The less profitable refineries. Raw or unprocessed crude oil is not generally useful in industrial applications, although "light, sweet" (low viscosity, low sulfur ) crude oil has been used directly as a burner fuel to produce steam for the propulsion of seagoing vessels. The lighter elements, however, form explosive vapors in the fuel tanks and are therefore hazardous, especially in warships . Instead,

5046-415: The lost physical capacity of the industry. In 1982 (the earliest data provided), the United States operated 301 refineries with a combined capacity of 17.9 million barrels (2,850,000 m ) of crude oil each calendar day. In 2010, there were 149 operable U.S. refineries with a combined capacity of 17.6 million barrels (2,800,000 m ) per calendar day. By 2014 the number of refinery had reduced to 140 but

5133-562: The mid-1990s until 2020. In 2011, that was equivalent to about 25 percent of the annual natural gas consumption in the United States or about 30 per cent of the annual gas consumption in the European Union . At market, this quantity of gas—at a nominal value of $ 5.62 per 1000 cubic feet—would be worth US$ 29.8 billion. Additionally, the waste is a significant source of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other greenhouse gas emissions . An important source of anthropogenic methane comes from

5220-436: The molecules in crude oil include different atoms such as sulfur and nitrogen, the hydrocarbons are the most common form of molecules, which are molecules of varying lengths and complexity made of hydrogen and carbon atoms , and a small number of oxygen atoms. The differences in the structure of these molecules account for their varying physical and chemical properties , and it is this variety that makes crude oil useful in

5307-753: The need of using refined products of crude oil such as naphtha. The crude oil feedstock has typically been processed by an oil production plant . [1] There is usually an oil depot at or near an oil refinery for the storage of incoming crude oil feedstock as well as bulk liquid products. In 2020, the total capacity of global refineries for crude oil was about 101.2 million barrels per day. Oil refineries are typically large, sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units, such as distillation columns. In many ways, oil refineries use many different technologies and can be thought of as types of chemical plants . Since December 2008,

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5394-482: The nineteenth century, petroleum was known and utilized in various fashions in Babylon , Egypt , China , Philippines , Rome and Azerbaijan . However, the modern history of the petroleum industry is said to have begun in 1846 when Abraham Gessner of Nova Scotia , Canada devised a process to produce kerosene from coal. Shortly thereafter, in 1854, Ignacy Łukasiewicz began producing kerosene from hand-dug oil wells near

5481-468: The partners delayed the project to consider options, as the existing plant was in a poorer condition than expected. Coryton Power Station was commissioned on part of the site in 2002, and continues to operate. Their main operating units were: The thermal reformer unit and the Thermofor catalytic cracking unit (TCC) produced different grades of petrol and diesel. Along the south side of the refinery area,

5568-460: The product stream via amine gas treating . Using the Claus process , hydrogen sulfide is afterward transformed to elementary sulfur to be sold to the chemical industry. The rather large heat energy freed by this process is directly used in the other parts of the refinery. Often an electrical power plant is combined into the whole refinery process to take up the excess heat. According to the composition of

5655-441: The production comprising Lubricants, Bitumen and Wax. About 40% of the production from Coryton was exported abroad by ship. The majority (60%) was distributed around the UK by pipeline, road tanker, rail or coastal shipping. A major fire occurred on 31 October 2007. Despite the scale of the blast, which was reported to cause buildings to shake 14 miles (23 km) away, there were no physical injuries and only partial disruption to

5742-410: The propane de-asphalting unit, solvent refining furfural unit, MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) dewaxing unit and continuous percolation unit (TCP) constituted consecutive stages in the production of lubricating oils and waxes. The Coryton refinery site covered an area of 370 acres (150 ha). The main processing units were to the western end of the site, with the tank farm occupying the north and eastern part of

5829-455: The proper progression of these processes is complex, and has evolved through the advancement of the scientific field of petroleum engineering . The wide array of high pressure and/or high temperature reactions, along with the necessary chemical additives or extracted contaminants, produces an astonishing number of potential health hazards to the oil refinery worker.  Through the advancement of technical chemical and petroleum engineering,

5916-461: The refinery tank farm, and about 800 people worked on the site. The alkylation unit was commissioned in late 1981 and included a water spray system to dissolve any releases of hydrogen fluoride. Coryton was operated by BP from 1996, when Mobil's fuels operations in Europe were placed into a joint venture with BP. In 1996, BP purchased land to the west of the refinery from the neighbouring Shell refinery;

6003-462: The refinery. Oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel , asphalt base , fuel oils , heating oil , kerosene , liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum naphtha . Petrochemical feedstock like ethylene and propylene can also be produced directly by cracking crude oil without

6090-615: The region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku , Azerbaijan. These fields were described by the Arab geographer Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Arab and Persian chemists also distilled crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain , distillation became available in Western Europe by

6177-483: The relieved gases. Steam is very often injected into the flame to reduce the formation of black smoke. When too much steam is added, a condition known as "oversteaming" can occur resulting in reduced combustion efficiency and higher emissions. To keep the flare system functional, a small amount of gas is continuously burned, like a pilot light , so that the system is always ready for its primary purpose as an overpressure safety system. The adjacent flow diagram depicts

6264-421: The site and CLR were taken over by coal merchants Cory Brothers Ltd of Cardiff to build an oil storage depot, with Kynochtown renamed Coryton. Sources differ as to whether Corys, who sold a well-known brand of petrol, Corys' Motor Spirit , also built a refinery at the site. Cracknell states that Cory Bros 'turned to the manufacture and distribution of oil products' for which they 'constructed oil storage tanks and

6351-440: The site. Crude oil was received from tankers of up to 250,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT). There were five jetties on the Thames, the most easterly extended into the deep water channel. In 2005, BP acquired a fleet of three new 32 m tugs for towing, mooring, fire-fighting and pollution control at the plant. They were named 'Corringham', 'Stanford', and 'Castle Point' after nearby locations. The maximum refining capacity

6438-604: The time, reports of the health impacts of working in an oil refinery can be found as early as the 1800s. For instance, an explosion in a Chicago refinery killed 20 workers in 1890. Since then, numerous fires, explosions, and other significant events have from time to time drawn the public's attention to the health of oil refinery workers. Such events continue in the 21st century, with explosions reported in refineries in Wisconsin and Germany in 2018. However, there are many less visible hazards that endanger oil refinery workers. Given

6525-461: The top of a vertical flare stack, or it may occur in a ground-level flare in an earthen pit. Preferably, associated gas is reinjected into the reservoir, which saves it for future use while maintaining higher well pressure and crude oil producibility. Advances in satellite monitoring, along with voluntary reporting, have revealed that about 150 × 10 cubic meters (5.3 × 10 cubic feet) of associated gas have been flared globally each year since at least

6612-458: The total capacity increased to 18.02 million barrels (2,865,000 m ) per calendar day. Indeed, in order to reduce operating costs and depreciation, refining is operated in fewer sites but of bigger capacity. In 2009 through 2010, as revenue streams in the oil business dried up and profitability of oil refineries fell due to lower demand for product and high reserves of supply preceding the economic recession , oil companies began to close or sell

6699-601: The town of Krosno , Poland . Romania was registered as the first country in world oil production statistics, according to the Academy Of World Records . In North America, the first oil well was drilled in 1858 by James Miller Williams in Oil Springs, Ontario , Canada. In the United States, the petroleum industry began in 1859 when Edwin Drake found oil near Titusville , Pennsylvania . The industry grew slowly in

6786-510: The treatment and storage of organic waste material including waste water , animal waste and landfill. Gas flares are used in any process that results in the generation and collection of biogas . As a result, gas flares are a standard component of an installation for controlling the production of biogas. They are installed on landfill sites , waste water treatment plant and anaerobic digestion plant that use agriculturally or domestically produced organic waste to produce methane for use as

6873-415: The typical components of an overall industrial flare stack system: The schematic shows a pipe flare tip. The flare tip can have several configurations: The height of a flare stack, or the reach of a flare boom, is determined by the thermal radiation that is permissible or tolerable for equipment or personnel to be exposed to. For continuous exposure of personnel wearing appropriate industrial clothing

6960-420: The vast majority of these processes are automated and enclosed, thus greatly reducing the potential health impact to workers.   However, depending on the specific process in which a worker is engaged, as well as the particular method employed by the refinery in which he/she works, significant health hazards remain. Although occupational injuries in the United States were not routinely tracked and reported at

7047-588: The world's largest oil refinery has been the Jamnagar Refinery owned by Reliance Industries , located in Gujarat , India, with a processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels (197,000 m ) per day. Oil refineries are an essential part of the petroleum industry's downstream sector. The Chinese were among the first civilizations to refine oil. As early as the first century, the Chinese were refining crude oil for use as an energy source. Between 512 and 518, in

7134-404: Was 11 million tonnes per year or 208,000 bbl/day. In 2000, the principal sources of crude oil for refining at Coryton were: North Sea (60%); Middle East (20%); Africa/Mediterranean (10%); and Russia (10%). There were about 220 storage tanks on the site, the largest were the floating-roof crude oil storage tanks each with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes. Cooling water for the refinery was taken from

7221-507: Was also weak, with the evidence primarily centering around neighborhoods in developed countries . Gas flare In industrial plants, flare stacks are primarily used for burning off flammable gas released by safety valves during unplanned overpressuring of plant equipment. During plant or partial plant startups and shutdowns, they are also often used for the planned combustion of gases over relatively short periods. At oil and gas extraction sites, gas flares are similarly used for

7308-503: Was considered waste and was often dumped directly into the nearest river. The invention of the automobile shifted the demand to gasoline and diesel, which remain the primary refined products today. Today, national and state legislation require refineries to meet stringent air and water cleanliness standards. In fact, oil companies in the U.S. perceive obtaining a permit to build a modern refinery to be so difficult and costly that no new refineries were built (though many have been expanded) in

7395-607: Was delivered by road, sea and rail, and it was linked to Stanlow Refinery in North West England by the UK Oil Pipeline (UKOP) . There is a 753 MW gas-fired power station , opened in 2002 and run by Coryton Energy Co Ltd, part of Intergen. In January 2012, Petroplus filed for bankruptcy. Coryton Refinery ceased production in June 2012. The site is being turned into an industrial hub to be called Thames Enterprise Park. In 1895,

7482-810: Was the Abadan Refinery in Iran . This refinery suffered extensive damage during the Iran–Iraq War . Since 25 December 2008, the world's largest refinery complex is the Jamnagar Refinery Complex, consisting of two refineries side by side operated by Reliance Industries Limited in Jamnagar, India with a combined production capacity of 1,240,000 barrels per day (197,000 m /d). PDVSA 's Paraguaná Refinery Complex in Paraguaná Peninsula , Venezuela , with

7569-443: Was the only potential bidder ready to keep the refinery operating. On 28 February 2013, the gas supply to the site was shut off. Around twelve hours later the flare went out, bringing to an end over 60 years of operations at the refinery. In 2012 the refinery was planned to be turned into a diesel import terminal by Vopak , Shell and Greenergy , with an initial capacity of 500,000 cubic metres (18,000,000 cu ft). In 2014

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