Transportation and Refining

1. Transportation and Refining

2. Transportation • The issue: • How to transport oil and natural gas from the oil fields to the processing facilities? • Takes a complex network system: • 4 main methods of Transportation • Tank trucks • Rail cars • Marine Transportation • Pipelines

3. Transportation • Tank Trucks • Haul crude from the well to the receiving point (refinery, pipeline tank) • Early 1900’s with horse drawn tank trucks • Used less frequent in large oil fields as pipelines grew

4. Transportation • Continues today where small volumes of oil gathered from scattered wells. • Move only 3% of total crude volume • High cost per barrel • Nuisance of truck traffic • Noise • Road Maintenance • Emissions • Useful in new discovery areas without infrastructure or long term uncertainty • South Texas, North Dakota • Mostly used in distributing refined product from refineries to distribution outlets.

5. Transportation • Rail Cars • Initially stared in mid-1880’s • Safer than moving oil via water • Originally in wooden barrels • Wooden barrels were expensive, lots of handling , leaked, stolen • First Tank car - Densmore Brothers • Two wooden tubs (1700 gallon) on a flatcar • Phased out in early 1900’s by pipelines

6. Transportation • Rail Cars Today • Choice when supply and demand exceeds tank truck capabilities, but pipeline not feasible • Sometimes quicker to initiate service than new pipelines. • Rail system where pipelines do not exist. • Complete rail coverage in the United States • Less environmental concerns than pipelines & trucks

7. Transporation • Tank Train ™ • Developed by Genral American Transportation Company (GATX) in 1970’s • Interconnected cars that can be (un)/loaded by a single connection. • Much more efficient/quicker than individual car loading • Load at 3000 gals/min • Large flexible hose connects each car. • Petroleum loaded in all cars through single connection in the first car

8. Transportation • Marine Transportation • First ocean going tanker • 1886 Ship named Gluckauf • Used Ship’s hull as storage compartment • Sailed from NYC to Germany hauling refined oil • By 1900 (Spindletop) significant shipping began to East Coast and abroad

9. Transportation • Marine Transportation Today • Types of Marine Transportation • Barges • Tankers • Supertankers • Average-Sized Tankers • Icebreaking Tankers • Natural Gas Tankers • Tankers haul 2/3 of petroleum produced in the world

10. Transportation • Barges • Flat deck and flat bottom • Series of floating tanks with hatches and piping for loading/unloading. • Today – doubled hulled for safety • Depend on tugboats, towboats, water currents to move • Main use on inland waterways

11. Transportation • Supertankers • 2 million barrel oil capacity • Heat and supply gas for 85,000 people for 1 year • Economically move oil to larger refineries • Second most efficient next to pipelines • Not capable of passing through all waterways • 1,500’ long, move at 18 mph • Less in use today • Less demand for imported oil

12. Transportation • Average-Size Tankers • About ¼ the capacity and size of Supertanker • 500,000 barrel capacity • Very safe and reliable • Most double hulled. All by 2015 • Automatic collision avoidance system • 30 year life • More flexible and lower investment cost.

13. Transportation • Ice Breaking Tankers • Specialized double hulled tankers • Reaches edge of ice cover • Turns around • Reverses rotation of propellers • Breaks ice using the stern • Cut through ice 27 inch thick

14. Transportation • Natural Gas Tankers • Natural gas is liquefied before being transported • High pressure and very low temperatures (-259 F) • Gas shrinks to 1/600 of original volume • The LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) regasified when reaches destination. • LNG Tankers have pressurized, refrigerated and insulated tanks. • Keeps gas in liquid state

15. Transportation • Pipelines • History • First pipelines in PA in 1865 • Oil moved at 1/3 cost versus trucking • Oil boom in early 1900’s in Mid-Continent required oil to be moved to population centers in the east. • Mid 1940’s first large diameter cross country lines • During WWII – Safer that hauling oil on boats • Population shift to West required more lines

16. Transportation • Pipelines Today • More than 200,000 miles of petroleum pipeline • Generally 4” to 48” diameter • Gas up to 60” • Buried 3’ to 6’ • Operated remotely at a “Main Control Room”. • RTU’s (Remote Terminal Units) along the pipeline relay: • Flow • Pressure • Temperature • Open and close valves • Most cost effective method of Transporting petroleum!

17. Transportation • Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) • Oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez • 800 miles, 48” 2.1million barrel/day capacity • Construction 1974-1977 • Permitting started in 1969 • Numerous challenges including • Terrain • Temperature • Wildlife • Environment • Engineering landmark • 1988–Deliver 25% of US production • TAPS Video

18. Transportation • Keystone Pipeline System • Move Petroleum from Canada and Northern US to Gulf Coast. • 2,150 miles, 590,000 barrel/day capacity • Route 4 not approved • Protests about the pipeline's impact on Nebraska's environmentally sensitive region. • TransCanada submitted new route. • Waiting on Federal approval. • Remaining issues/concerns • Spill • Carbon emissions • Potential water pollution • Keystone Video

19. Refining • Oil and gas little value in raw state. • Value is what is in what is created: • Fuels • Lubricating oil • Waxes • Asphalt • Petrochemicals • Many impurities in crude oil: • Oxygen • Nitrogen • Sulfur • Salt • Water • Trace Metals (i.e. nickel) Make up of oil

20. Refining • A refinery removes any substance from the crude oil and breaks the oil down into various hydrocarbon components • Some components treated even further to give even more desirable components • What products come from a Barrel of Oil? • Refining Video

21. Refining • Fractional Distillation • Initial step in processing crude • Heat crude to high temperatures in a Fractional Tower • Hydrocarbons in crude boil (vaporize) at different temperatures. • One fraction boils off while others remain a liquid. • Resulting products called “distillates” • Further refinement and processing of the distillates required.

22. Refining • Cracking • Breaks down the heavy residues into lighter products (gasoline). • Chemical process that breaks long heavy molecules into lighter shorter ones. • 3 Types of Cracking • Thermal Cracking • Catalytic Cracking • Hydrocracking

23. Refining • Thermal Cracking • Oldest and simplest process • High heat used to break down heavy oils cracking • Leaves a heavy residue that is recycled back for further breakdown. • Catalytic Cracking • Uses a catalyst in a chemical reaction to make the conversion. Most effective cracking process • Catalyst – a substance that effects the speed of the reaction without changing itself. • Typically a powder • Residue (coke) is burned off the catalyst for resuse of the catalyst.

24. Refining • Hydrocracking • Hydrocracking performed by heating at very high pressure in the presence of hydrogen • Extra hydrogen molecules are added to the catalytic cracked hydrocarbons. • Major source of jet fuel and gasoline

25. Homework • Name the 4 ways crude oil can be transported to processing facilities. • What are the 4 disadvantages of hauling crude oil via truck transport? • Explain why initiating crude oil service via rail is sometimes quicker than via pipelines. • What is a Tank Train ™? • Name the 5 type of Marine Transportation vessels. • What is the main disadvantage of using Supertankers? • What is the most cost effective method of transporting crude oil? • What is causing the delay in the approval of the Keystone Pipeline? • What does a Refinery do? • Explain Fractional Distillation. • What are the 3 types of “Cracking”