Since the drilling of the first petroleum well in Titusville, Pa, the United States has become increasing more dependent on the “liquid gold”. In order to quench the appetite for the gasoline and diesel demand of internal combustion engine use, a refinery had to be built.[1] The purpose of these refineries are to increase the yield of desired products, while removing harmful compounds that can affect the environment during the combustion process. In order to understand the importance of refineries, this entry will summarize the dependency of foreign crude imports, the compositions of a barrel of crude oil, and finally the methods used in a refinery process/ their purposes.

In 2013 the United States consumed roughly 6.89 billion barrels of refined crude oil products.[2] Of these 6.89 billion barrels of crude oil, the majority of the supply did not come from the foreign imports. This was shocking because traditionally the United States imported roughly 60% of its demand from foreign countries.1 As of 2012, the United States only relied on foreign sources for 40% of its total crude consumption.[3] The reason for this drastic change could be due to many reasons but, to me, the biggest catalyst for this change was the United States economic recession in 2008. The price per barrel of crude oil was steady trending upward, but in 2008 a barrel of crude drastically rose from $66.52 to $94.04.[4] This large increase of price may have been a driver that forced the United States to steer away from foreign imports and produce more domestic oil/ research alternative fuels such as natural gas.

The term “Barrel” in the petroleum field refers to a drum that contains 42 gallons of crude oil.[5] Within that crude oil there are multiple components that can be extracted after the refining process. A single barrel of crude can contain roughly 50% gasoline, 15% distillate fuel oil (diesel fuel and heating oil), 12% jet fuel, and trace amounts of other compounds.[5] Based on the demand of a specific type of fuel a refinery will be able to tailor its production to accommodate for the specific fuel need.

Up until the establishment of the first U.S oil refinery, built in 1861, petroleum products weren’t so easily separated into a desired fuel.[1] In order to grasp the importance of refining it is necessary to understand the five basic steps of the refining process and ultimately the impact certain steps have on the environment after the fuel is combusted. The five steps in the refining process are distillation, conversion processing, treatment, blending, and compound extraction from other refining options. Distillation is the process that separates fuels based off of their boiling point and compound sizes; Conversion processing is used to manipulate chemical structures to form different fuels from thermal cracking, catalytic cracking, and other methods; Treatment processing is used to remove any undesired compounds and chemicals from the fuels; Blending allows for the fuel to be improved for performance and temperature conditions with the introduction of additives; and compound extraction processing allows for the recovery of certain compounds and the treatment of various refinery fluids. Of the five processes, the treatment process of the crude has the most environmental impact. During this process, the fuels undergo procedures to remove wax, sulfur, disulfides, and coke.[1] The removal of these compounds allow for there to be a reduced production of harmful emissions such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide during the combustion process. For example, currently 60% of the diesel produced is of low sulfur content (15 ppm).[1]

1. Gary, J. H., & Handwerk, G. E. (2007). Petroleum refining: technology and economics. New York: M. Dekker.
2. How much oil is consumed by the United States?. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 14, 0025, from www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=33&t=6
3. How dependent is the United States on foreign oil?. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 14, 0025, from www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6
4. U.S crude oil first purchase price. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 14, 0025, from www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=f000000__3&f=a
5. What does one barrel of crude oil make?. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 14, 0025, from http://www.californiagasprices.com/crude_products.aspx