Activity I: Petroleum First, let us talk a little about some background information that most people do not know. You have heard of “barrels of oil”, but how much oil is that? One barrel of oil equals 42 US gallons. One interesting fact about petroleum is that by separating the crude oil, the volume actually increases! So, when a 42-gallon “barrel” of oil is refined, it typically makes ~45 gallons of finished product. Second, what is “crude oil”? It is important to note that every “barrel” of oil that is pumped out of the ground contains a number of different hydrocarbon molecules. Each molecule is well suited to a certain set of uses. Separating the different molecules at a refinery is accomplished by Fractional Distillation. While many of these molecules are well suited to producing various types of fuel, we also use some in non-fuel applications. Crude oil is first refined by heating it to boiling and catching the different fractionations in bubble trays at different temperatures. This is classic fractional distillation. Heavier longer carbon chains require higher temperatures to boil and remain closer to the bottom of the tower while lighter ones boil more easily and travel towards the top. Cutoff points in the boiling curve determine the type of product. The modern average yield by volume is roughly: 1 2 Gases: 5% Light Naptha: 10% Heavy Naptha: 10% Paraffin Oil: 20% Light Gas Oil: 15% Lubricating Oil: 10% Heavy Gas Oil: 20% Bitumen: 10% Total: 100% One major issue regarding Petroleum is not actually energy related at all! Each of these thermal cutoffs provides the raw materials to make a number of final products critical for modern civilization. Some are fuels, but many are not. Utilizing the fractionation column shown in Figure 1 below, answer the following questions about which oil fraction a product comes from. Which fractions make gasoline? ______________________ Which fraction makes tar and asphalt? _________________________ Jet fuel (or aviation fuel) is found in which fraction? __________________________ What are the products of the gas fraction? __________________________ Which fraction makes motor oil? ________________________ So, as you read above, there are non-fuel applications for petroleum. But what about petroleum as an energy source? Petroleum products accounted for 36% (35.1 quadrillion Btus) of the energy consumption in the US in 2021. Of that amount of energy, 69% was used for transportation purposes, 25% was used in industrial applications, 3% for residential use, 2% for commercial uses, and 1% went to generating electric power. The Transportation Sector primarily uses the Light Naptha, Heavy Naptha, Parrafin, and Light Gas Oil fractions. So, let us do some calculations. Use the data given above regarding yields for the different fractions and the data provided with each question below to answer the questions: Calculate the number of gallons produced for each of the fractions (shown in Figure 1 below) by fractional distillation of a single barrel of oil. (Show all work!) Gases _____________ Light Naptha _____________ Heavy Naptha _____________ Parrafin Oil ______________ Light Gas Oil ______________ Lubricating Oil ______________ Heavy Gas Oil _____________ Bitumen _______________