Complex Refining 101 Part 2 - Upgrading - No Test and No Math Guaranteed
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.
