Hydrocracking is a refinery process that breaks down crude oil into usable components. The process involves mixing feedstock with a catalyst and hydrogen, distilling the resulting product, and separating materials with different boiling points. Refineries use a variety of techniques to extract as much as possible from each barrel to produce a range of products for commercial sale. Hydrocracking and hydrotreating require careful chemistry and can be learned through educational institutions or on-the-job training.
Hydrocracking is a refinery process that converts raw material into more usable components. It can be used to recover more value from crude oil and to meet the demand for specific products. Refiners use a variety of calculations to determine the ratio of products they should make based on demand, market conditions, and the raw materials they work with. Conversion processes such as hydrocracking are an important part of adjusting refinery production operations to meet changing needs.
This process includes two stages. In the first, the feedstock is mixed with a catalyst to break down the long, heavy chemical chains in crude oil. The cracked material is allowed to cool and then moves on to a unit where hydrogen attaches to it to create new chemical compounds. This process requires catalysts and hydrogen, in concentrations that depend on the basic composition of the raw material. Before conversion, technicians test the oil to determine how it should be treated to extract as many usable components as possible.
The resulting product can be distilled under conditions of high temperature and pressure. Inside the distillation column, materials with different boiling points separate into unique phases. This allows technicians to recover gasoline, jet fuel and other useful components after the hydrocracking process is complete. These materials should be free of sulfur and other impurities due to their previous processing and can be blended to make specific fuel blends that meet basic labeling standards.
Reactors can operate continuously or in batches, depending on how a facility is structured and the type of equipment used. Efficiency levels can depend on the basic raw material and how it is handled. The costs of collecting, shipping and processing the oil are considerable. For this reason, refineries use a variety of techniques to extract as much as possible from each barrel so they can produce a range of products for commercial sale. Prices don’t always follow capacity and market conditions and can be several months behind.
Refineries perform hydrocracking and a related process called hydrotreating around the world to process crude oil. These treatment methods require careful chemistry. Oil and gas industry engineers can test oils to develop profiles, determine which catalysts are appropriate, and establish settings for the hydrocracking reactor. Educational institutions offer training to those interested in careers in this field, and in some cases, it may be possible to learn on the job.
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