Lecture 4

Question 1

Worldwide, how much oil seeps into marine systems?

Answer 1

~180 M gallons

Question 2

What occurs during primary oil recovery?

Answer 2

The natural subsurface pressure will force out 20-30% of oil from the reservoir.

Question 3

What occurs during secondary oil recovery?

Answer 3

Water is flooded into the reservoir from an injection well to recreate the pressure. This method leads to recovery of 40-50% of the total oil in the reservoir.

Question 4

What occurs during tertiary oil recovery?

Answer 4

A variety of technologies including:
1) microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) which decreases the tension between oil-water surface, allowing them to flow more freely.
2) Thermal (steam injection)
3) Chemical (surfactants and solvents)
4) Miscible (CO2 injection)

Question 5

How is petroleum refined?

Answer 5

The crude oil is heated in a furnace until vaporized. This vapor is sprayed into the distillation column where gases rise and liquids fall into different layers based on the boiling points of the chemicals, which are in turn reflective of their size. The liquids are then removed by sidedraws and are termed “cuts”

Question 6

List the carbon content in each of the seven crude oil cuts.

Answer 6

CRUDE OIL CUT NUMBER OF CARBONS
Natural Gas (petroleum gas) 1-4
Gasoline (vehicles) 5-10
Kerosene (paraffin for lighting) 11-13
Light gas (diesel/jet fuel) 14-18
Heavy gas oil 19-25
Lubricating oil (waxes, polishes) 26-40
Residuum (bitumen for roads) > 40

Question 7

Gasoline is the cut in highest demand, how is this met?

Answer 7

Coking: uses high temperatures, pressure and catalysts to split the longer molecules into shorter ones.

Question 8

What are the feed stocks that polymerize to make thermoplastics that account for 80% of all man-made polymers?

Answer 8

Ethylene and propylene