An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processplant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base,heating oil, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas. Oil refineries are typically large, sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units. In many ways, oil refineries use much of the technology of, and can be thought of, as types of chemical plants. The crude oil feedstock has typically been processed by an oil production plant. There is usually an oil depot (tank farm) at or near an oil refinery for the storage of incoming crude oil feedstock as well as bulk liquid products.

Oil Production: Filtration & Efficient Petroleum Production

The production of petroleum oil is basically a very simple process – a hole is drilled down into the earth's crust (on land or under the sea) until an oil-bearing rock formation is reached, whereupon the oil is forced up the drilled hole to the surface. The actual process is a good deal more complex than this, but the first stage of petroleum production can be regarded in this simple way, with the natural pressure of the subterranean zone being sufficient to force the oil to the surface, in what is known as the primary phase of production.

Drilling Muds

Large liquid and gas flows of several kinds are thus involved in oil production, but before looking at the needs for filtration of these flows, brief mention must be made of the liquid suspensions used in the original drilling process, since oil cannot be produced from underground until a drilled well is available through which it can pass.

As the drill bit moves downwards, it is surrounded by a thick liquid suspension of clay-like materials – the drilling mud – whose purposes include:

• Cooling and lubricating the drill bit
• Transporting the rock fragments to the surface
• Applying pressure to the walls of the bored hole to prevent collapse
• Minimising fluid loss across permeable rock formations by forming a filter cake over the surfaces of these formations.

Although not specifically involved in oil recovery, drilling muds are a vital part of the overall oil production process, and have important applications for filtration – in their initial formulation, and in their recycling, to remove rock fragments. Drilling muds is a kind of complex mixture, and therefore expensive in first cost, so it makes sound economic sense to recycle them as often as possible, which creates quite an exacting task for the mud recycle filter – to remove the maximum of the rock fragment content of the returned mud, while changing the basic composition as little as possible.

Recovery Fluid Flows

It will be apparent from the above descriptions that the oil recovery processes involve large flows of liquids and gases, most of which have essential needs for filtration and/or sedimentation to separate oil from water, and liquid or gas from solids. The most important liquid flow is, of course, the crude oil transported up the well bore for treatment at the surface (or on the oil production platform). This is carried by a flow of produced water, at least as large as the oil flow, and generally much larger. There will frequently, also, be a flow of associated natural gas from the oil reservoir, or there may be a gas flow that is being used to lift the gas from underground.

If the well is in secondary phase production, there will be a large water flow necessary for the waterflood injection, or possibly a gas flow to pressurise the reservoir. In tertiary phase, the various enhanced oil recovery processes will also have their operating fluid flows, especially for gas injection, with carbon dioxide flows increasingly important as part of the carbon separation and sequestration schemes required to combat global warming. Although the production of oil from tar sands is, on the global scale, nowhere near that of pumped crude oil, its fluid flow rates will become large, as the reserves are developed. These will include, besides the produced oil, the residual water from the processing of open-cast sands, or the recovery of oil from underground.

Water Treatment

The water produced from an oil field may well be several times the quantity of the crude oil associated with it, and if it is to be disposed of in the surrounding environment (especially the sea) then it will have to be thoroughly cleansed of suspended oil and solids, in common with any other waste water discharge requirement. If, however, the oil well is in a secondary, waterflood operation, then it obviously makes sense for the necessary water to come from that produced by the well.

Refinery Process

MS Experience in Refinery

Refiners are constantly looking to increase production capabilities, reduce costs, and generate increased revenues and profits. To accomplish this goal, refiners regularly search for new ways to improve efficiency, while continuing to deliver high–quality products at profitable prices. Membrane solutions can play a key role in this continuous improvement process. Our products and services help optimize productivity, reliability, quality, safety, and environmental protection, while reducing overall operating costs.

Membrane solutions maintains its position as the world leader in filtration and separations technology with a steady stream of innovative, high-quality products backed by excellent service and support. We invest heavily in R&D and technical service to provide the refining industry with exceptional returns on their investment. Our filtration and separations solutions have been successfully deployed within refineries throughout the world.

Features-Benefits of MS® Refinery

• Quality of chemical filters is guaranteed for MS has ISO 9001 Certification & CE Market
• Certificate of FDA Registration
• Global Supply Chain and Efficient Customer Service
• Glass 100,000 clean Room
• Reduce unscheduled downtime
• Meet environmental emission standards
• Reduce corrosion rates, lengthen plant life, and improve safety
• Raise product yield and conversion
• Minimize product reprocessing
• Enable capacity expansion with minimum capital expense
• Help to utilize opportunity crudes
• Enable refiners to meet tighter product specifications