Crude Oil Refining, An Essential Process

Crude oil

Oil that has not been refined.

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first needs to be refined into other products before it can be used by consumers and industry. The process involves separating the large number of

hydrocarbon

Organic compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons are the principal constituen...

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molecules present in the oil into various components. Some of the molecules are very light and are in gas form, while others are very heavy. Refining converts oil into a broad range of marketable products, including gases (butane and propane); fuels (gasoline,

diesel

Diesel is the name of an internal combustion engine that works by compression-ignition, inven...

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and kerosene);

naphtha

An intermediate product between gasoline and jet fuel obtained from the fractional distillati...

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(a petrochemical feedstock); heating oil; base oils and

asphalt

At ambient temperature, a sticky, black and highly viscous or solid mixture of heavy hydrocar...

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for paving roads.