Complex Refining 101 Distillation

US Complex refining capacity leads the world and US Gulf Coast refineries are enjoying an export led boom. As lower cost crude starts to become available to these refineries they should be in a strong position to compete even more efficiently in global markets. What makes these complex refineries competitive?  Today we conclude our two part refining tutorial by explaining refinery upgrading processes.

If you haven’t already read the first part of this tutorial then you can review it here. In Part 1 we provided an overview of the refining process described the fractions that make up crude oil and ran through the refined product outputs of a complex refinery. We looked at the first refinery process – atmospheric distillation that breaks crude down into its component fractions. Today we turn to the processes refiners use to upgrade the heavier residual fuel oil outputs from atmospheric distillation.

The US has more refining capacity than any other country (17MMb/d) and nowhere are refineries as sophisticated. In the past two years US refineries in the Midwest region have been running close to full capacity and refineries in the Gulf Coast region have led a refined product export boom. At the same time, refineries on the East Coast have been shuttered or saved only by a combination of last-minute deal-making and government subsidies. What makes one refinery better than another? Today we walk through the first distillation process in a complex refinery.