| When we drill for oil, it comes out in a thick sticky | | | | that we can extract from the distillation column. |
| form called crude oil. Crude oil has its uses, but | | | | From the bottom, the hottest part of the |
| we use oil for so many different things that we | | | | distillation column, we get the thick residual |
| need to refine it to get it into the usable forms | | | | products that come from heating crude oil to the |
| that we need. We make plastics, gasoline and | | | | maximum distillation temperature. This is where |
| even carpet fibers out of oil and the process of | | | | we get asphalt, tar, and other thick sticky solid oil |
| refining it can be quite complex. | | | | products. |
| Crude oil is made of many different types of | | | | Just above the residual products, we can get |
| hydrocarbons. Each type of hydrocarbon can be | | | | heavy oil. We mainly use heavy oil to make other |
| used to produce different products. The problem | | | | products. It is in a liquid form, but very thick. |
| is that they are all mixed up into a thick sticky | | | | Heavy oil is also known as fuel oil because of the |
| substance. To use it, we have to separate the | | | | fuels that we make from it. |
| hydrocarbons into different substances. Oil | | | | Up a little higher in the distillation chamber we can |
| refineries use the basic principal of heating to | | | | get lubricating oils. These thick, but liquid, oils are |
| separate crude oil into the different states that it | | | | used to make motor oil, grease and other thick |
| needs to be in for us to use it effectively. | | | | lubricants used in heavy machinery and our |
| This boiling process is called distillation. Basically, | | | | vehicles. Lubricating oils are retrieved at about |
| when you boil oil to one certain temperature, you | | | | two hundred and fifty degrees Celsius. |
| get gasoline. Heat it up more and you get | | | | Going up the chamber, the products get thinner |
| lubricating oil and so on. Crude oil is heated by a | | | | and thinner until we eventually get only gasses at |
| boiler and the products are pumped into a | | | | the top. We get diesel, kerosene and gasoline |
| distillation column. The bottom of the column, | | | | from the distillation process. The thinnest form is |
| which is basically a metal cylindrical container, is | | | | petroleum gas. We collect petroleum gas at the |
| heated to six hundred degrees Celsius. As the | | | | lowest temperature of around twenty degrees |
| products fill the column, they become cooler and | | | | Celsius from the top of the chamber. Oil |
| cooler as they reach the top. The top of the | | | | companies like Triple Diamond Energy work hard |
| column is kept at about twenty degrees Celsius. | | | | every day of the year to bring us all of these |
| Pipes collect the different products at different | | | | products from the distilleries to accommodate our |
| temperatures all the way up the container. | | | | modern lives. |
| There are many different types of gas and oil | | | | |