Origins and Uses of
Petroleum
The wonderful world of crude oil!
What is a hydrocarbon?
• The simplest type of
organic substance
• Made only of
hydrogen and
carbon.
• Examples of
hydrocarbons:
gasoline, kerosene,
natural gas, benzene,
wax, and plastics
such as polyethylene
www.chemistryland.com
What is Petroleum?
• Some of the common
fuels we use are
derived from
petroleum.
• The word petroleum
means “rock oil.”
• Petroleum is a
mixture of
hydrocarbons.
• www.soton.ac.uk
Petroleum forms from plankton…
These are diatoms, a type
of phytoplankton
These are examples of
zooplankton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tomopteriskils.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Diatoms_through_the_microscope.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Diatoms_through_the_mi
croscope.jpg
From Plankton to Petroleum …
• The bodies of tiny plankton organisms are made
up of primarily three types of atoms: carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen
• Petroleum forms when partially decayed
plankton gets “cooked” and “smushed” under
layers of mud, sand, and rock.
• The high temperatures and pressures causes
the chemical rearrangement of the atoms and
oxygen is released – forming the hydrocarbon
mixture of petroleum!
Here’s the way petroleum
forms…
http://www.earthguide.ucsd.edu/fuels/oil.html
www.globalization101.org
Crude oil from different places is
not exactly the same
Petroleum as it is collected from the
ground is called crude oil.
Crude oil can vary in …
– Viscosity – how resistant it is to flowing
– Color – can be yellow, red, green, brown,
black
– Other elements it contains (besides carbon,
hydrogen, and sulfur)
But crude oil typically has this
composition (in percentages):
metals, <1 salts,<1
oxygen, <1
nitrogen, <1
sulfur, 1-2
car bon
hydrogen, 14
hydr ogen
sul f ur
met al s
sal t s
oxygen
ni t r ogen
carbon, 84
Ancient uses of petroleum
•
•
•
•
To coat mummies
To pave streets
To waterproof reed boats
For heating and medicine!
http://www.plu.edu/~ryandp/RAX.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummies
Magic cures!
• Snake oil was a19thcentury American product
• It was a type of cure-all or
elixir often sold in
traveling medicine shows.
• Snake oil salesmen
would falsely claim that
the potions would cure
any ailments.
• But of course, it didn’t
taste very good!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Snake-oil.png
An early method to refine
petroleum – the “tea kettle” still
This is similar to the
type of set-up used
in tea kettle refining.
The only product
produced by tea
kettle refining that
was actually used
was kerosene.
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/moon1.html
(But we know what
Uncle Jesse was
really making!)
Uses of kerosene
Kerosene was used to
light lanterns.
It replaced whale oil as
the primary lantern
oil.
It was the first modern
use of petroleum.
Facts about “tea kettle: refining
• By 1860 there were 15 refineries in operation. Known
as "tea kettle" stills
• They consisted of a large iron drum and a long tube
which acted as a condenser.
• Capacity of these stills ranged from 1 to 100 barrels a
day. A coal fire heated the drum, and three fractions
were obtained during the distillation process.
• The first component to boil off was the highly volatile
naphtha. (There was not a use for naphtha so it was not
collected.) Next came the kerosene, or "lamp oil", and
lastly came the heavy oils and tar which were simply
left in the bottom of the drum.
• These early refineries produced about 75% kerosene,
which could be sold for high profits.
http://www.pafko.com/history/h_petro.html
Petroleum Saves the Whales!
Whaling experienced a sharp decline after
kerosene was used to light lanterns. This
helped most whale populations to recover.
http://www.atourhands.com/whaling.html
A harvested whale
Modern Uses of Petroleum…
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gasoline
Motor Oil
Waxes
Dyes
Plastics
Synthetic Fibers – for
example, polyester
•http://www.incpen.org/pages/data//Plastics.gif
Petroleum Use Today
• Approximately 90% of
the crude oil
recovered today is
converted to a fuel!
• 5% is used to
produce plastics.
• The remaining 5 % is
used to make dyes,
inks, household
detergents, and
medicines.
A Fossil Fuel?
Remember… Petroleum is called a fossil
fuel because it formed from the remains
of…
Previously living critters!
How is petroleum recovered from
underground?
1. A well is drilled on land or
under the ocean to
reach an oil deposit
2. If the oil deposit has
sufficient pressure, it
will flow to the surface
without having to pump
it out of the ground
3. If the oil is not under high
pressure, it must be
pumped to the surface
Sufficient pressure!
http://www.inkart.com/pages/industry/Oil_Well.htm
An offshore oil rig
www.offshore-technology.com
spot.colorado.edu
http://www.oil-rig-jobs.com/
www.offshore-technology.com
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/energyant_trips/trip_offshore.html
Large scale marine or offshore drilling
involves lots of equipment (and uses lots of
energy!)
www.richard-seaman.com
Two examples of oil derricks
Derricks are structures that hold
pumps (or drills) used to harvest oil
and gas from beneath the ground.
http://www.freepower.co.uk/site-3.htm
Modern oil refining is done in many
steps.
• In the process of fractional distillation, crude oil
is “taken apart” and separated into its main
components or fractions.
• Each fraction is a complex mixture of chemical
compounds that have a similar boiling point.
• Fractional distillation is carried out in large
towers where crude oil is heated to 350 degrees
C (or 662 degrees F)
• Oil refineries are large, industrial complexes –
as seen in the next slide.
The Shell oil refinery at Martinez, California. The tapering
vertical elements are smokestacks to create draft for
heating units. Most of the complex vertical units are
fractionating towers. Others are flares.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ShellMartinez-refi.jpg
Fractional distillation – Inside a
Fractioning Tower …
•
•
•
•
•
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Crude_Oil_Distillation.png
Crude oil is separated into
fractions by fractional distillation.
Vapors from the hot crude oil
rise up the tower, cool, and are
removed as they condense
back to liquids.
The liquid fractions with the
highest boiling points are
removed from the lower
sections of the tower.
Fractions with the lowest boiling
points are removed from the
upper part of the tower.
All of the fractions are routed to
other refining units for further
processing.
The Complete Refining Process …
• The complete refining process uses heat,
pressure, chemicals, and catalysts to
rearrange the structures of different
hydrocarbons.
• Additional gasoline is produced by
catalytic cracking to break hydrocarbons
into smaller molecules.
Schematic flow diagram of a typical oil refinery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_refinery
Lighter Hydrocarbons (The Gases) – are
collected from the top of the tower
Methane
Butane
Propane
The green spheres represent carbon atoms and the
silver one represent hydrogen atoms. The “sticks”
between them are really chemical bonds formed by
electrons moving back and forth between the atoms.
http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/library/hydrocarbons/
Liquid Hydrocarbons… are collected from
the middle of the tower.
 Gasoline molecules
have from seven to 11
carbons in each chain.
 Octane, shown here, is
one type of gasoline
molecule.
 Other types are
heptane (7 carbons),
nonane (9 carbons),
and decane (10
carbons) per chain
Solid Hydrocarbons
• Contain 20 carbons
• Used as asphalt, tar, and plastics.
How much energy is in a gallon of
gasoline?
• When you burn gasoline under ideal
conditions, with plenty of oxygen, you get
carbon dioxide (from the carbon atoms in
gasoline), water (from the hydrogen atoms)
and lots of heat.
• If you took a 1,500-watt space heater and left
it on full blast for a full 24-hour day, that's
about how much heat is in a gallon of gas.
• If it were possible for human beings to digest
gasoline, a gallon would contain about
31,000 food calories -- the energy in a gallon
of gasoline is equivalent to the energy in
about 110 McDonalds hamburgers! (A gallon
of 1% milk contains about 1760 calories!)
• Above information from Howstuffworks.com
The energy in 1
gallon of gasoline is
equivalent to …
110 McDonalds
hamburgers!
Our current major sources of
energy
Natural Gas,
22%
Petroleum,
38%
Coal, 26%
The remainder of our energy is supplied by nuclear
power, hydroelectricity, and alternative sources such as
wind, geothermal, hydrogen, and solar.
Should the USA drill in ANWR?
www.ens-
newswire.com
• This is the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
• The debate of whether to drill for petroleum in
ANWR is ongoing.
• http://www.anwr.org/
Link to video clip “Gallon of Gas”
• http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/seri
es/man-made/3621/Overview#tabOverview