PETROLEUM
REFINING
OVERVIEW

Petroleum refining will remain important for decades to come. The Topsoe Academy Course, Petroleum Refining Overview, provides an introduction to all aspects of refining. It starts with petroleum properties, products properties, and midstream activities (transportation and storage). Then, the following a detailed flow diagram, it describes the major process units:

• Separation (desalting, atmospheric and vacuum distillation)
• Treating (hydrotreating and sweetening)
• Octane improvement (catalytic reforming, isomerization, alkylation, and catalytic polymerization)
• VGO conversion (FCC and hydrocracking)
• Residue upgrading (delayed coking, fluid coking, visbreaking, resid FCC, resid hydrocracking)
• Lubricants (extraction and hydroprocessing routes)
• Sulfur recovery
• Offsites
• Blending
• Interactions with petrochemical plants
• Safety
• Overview of and economics