Oil product adjustment technology

For oil blending technology, specialized blending software packages are now commonly used to support the automated blending process. Online monitoring is also required at the same time. Automatic reconciliation is also closely related to production scheduling. This cannot be explained in a few words, nor can it be mastered in a short time. If it is small-scale oil blending, then it cannot really be called blending technology.

(⊙o⊙)… It seems I oversimplified things! But on our end, we use pumps to do it; it doesn’t seem to be automatically regulated!

The key is to know what types of oils you have; saying it in general terms is meaningless. The purpose of blending is to achieve the best performance indicators. With simple mixing, additive formulas can be used for straightforward calculations; the components are then combined in certain proportions. Some additives can be added as well. For different sources of oil, it is advisable to collect more data in order to determine the discrepancy between the calculated values and the actual parameters, which enables better application in practice. Additionally, the blending in refineries differs slightly from that in oil depots. I guess there are also differences between private enterprises and state-owned enterprises.

I. What is blending technology?  Blending technology is an applied technique that involves using various oil products that meet national standards or are of non-standard specifications, produced by refineries; light hydrocarbons (condensate) generated in oil fields; and chemical products. These materials are refined through specialized treatment units, and additives are added to them in order to create gasoline and diesel that meet the customer’s requirements. This approach aims to reduce costs to the greatest extent possible and conserve petroleum resources.  The blending technology for gasoline and diesel is highly developed in the international oil trade sector; for example, anti-knock agents can be used to convert 90# gasoline into 93# or 97# gasoline, and -5# or 0# diesel into -10# diesel for sale.  In our country, hundreds of tons of naphtha products are produced each year. Due to its low octane rating, with a RON of only around 40–60, most of this naphtha can only be sold as a raw material for ethylene cracking in order to produce high-octane gasoline components. Its price is low and unstable. If we employ blending techniques to refine the naphtha by removing sulfur from it, mix it with high-octane components, and then add anti-knock agents, we can produce 90# and 93# gasoline. This approach can help save a considerable amount of petroleum resources.  It can be seen that diesel and gasoline blending technology is an applied technique that effectively saves costs and makes efficient use of existing petroleum resources, and should be widely promoted in the country.  At this point, some might ask, can blended oil be used? Is the quality reliable? To answer this question, we need to start by discussing the production processes in refineries. II. Methods for producing gasoline and diesel in refineries  The gasoline and diesel currently in use in our country are both derived from petroleum. Unrefined petroleum is commonly referred to as crude oil. To produce gasoline and diesel from crude oil, the following basic processes are involved:  1. First, the crude oil is desalted and dehydrated, after which atmospheric distillation is carried out to separate out the fractions suitable for use as gasoline and diesel. These fractions are known as straight-run fractions, such as naphtha, light diesel, and heavy diesel.  2. Next, using heavy oils produced during the refining process as raw materials, secondary processing methods such as thermal cracking, catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, and delayed coking are employed to crack the high-boiling-point fractions into low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons suitable as fuels; subsequent distillation then yields components for gasoline and diesel via thermal cracking, catalytic cracking, and coking. If high-octane gasoline is to be produced, methods such as catalytic reforming and alkylation are also required to obtain reformate and light alkylated oil.  3. The straight-run distillates and those obtained through secondary processing methods are respectively subjected to electrochemical refining, hydrorefining, desulfurization, and dewaxing in order to remove harmful substances and improve the quality of the oils.  4. Finally, in accordance with the quality requirements for gasoline and diesel of different grades, these various distillate oils are used as components, mixed in the required proportions along with appropriate amounts of various additives, thereby producing gasoline and diesel whose quality meets **the standards. Typical gasoline blending schemes in refineries in our country: Gasoline grade, Proportion of blending components (%) – Catalytic gasoline, Reformated gasoline, Alkylated oil, MTBE. For 90# gasoline: 100; for 93# gasoline: 70–72%, 20–15%, 10–13%. For 93# gasoline: 70–72%, 20–15%, 10–13%; for 93# gasoline: 68–70%, 32–30%; for 93# gasoline: 60–64%, 40–36%. For 95# gasoline: 58–60%, 30–26%, 12–14%; for 95# gasoline: 38–41%, 32–35%, 34–24%; for 95# gasoline: 53–56%, 35–30%, 12–14%. For 97# gasoline: 28–33%, 58–55%, 12–14%; for 97# gasoline: 39–44%, 33–35%, 10–12%, 12–14%. It can be seen from this that refineries first produce various components, and then blend them to create finished gasoline products. It’s just that refineries can produce various types of oil components as needed, while blending technology involves using various non-standard oils and chemical raw materials; after refining them, the desired finished oils are produced. The two processes are similar, but with blending technology, the oil produced does not produce smoke, in contrast to refineries.

Regarding gasoline blending, most quality parameters can be calculated using volume addition or mass addition methods, which is relatively simple. The octane number calculated using the volume addition method often deviates significantly from the actual value; therefore, multi-component interaction models are required, and MTBE contributes more to the octane number than calculated by the addition method. The calculation of the boiling range is quite complex and requires computer programming to be carried out. What requires experience accumulation are the use of blast-resistant agents, the use of antioxidants, and the techniques for adjusting other substandard quality parameters.