When we drill for oil, it comes out in a thick sticky form called crude oil. Crude oil has its uses, but we use oil for so many different things that we need to refine it to get it into the usable forms that we need. We make plastics, gasoline and even carpet fibers out of oil and the process of refining it can be quite complex.
Crude oil is made of many different types of hydrocarbons. Each type of hydrocarbon can be used to produce different products. The problem is that they are all mixed up into a thick sticky substance. To use it, we have to separate the hydrocarbons into different substances. Oil refineries use the basic principal of heating to separate crude oil into the different states that it needs to be in for us to use it effectively.
This boiling process is called distillation. Basically, when you boil oil to one certain temperature, you get gasoline. Heat it up more and you get lubricating oil and so on. Crude oil is heated by a boiler and the products are pumped into a distillation column. The bottom of the column, which is basically a metal cylindrical container, is heated to six hundred degrees Celsius. As the products fill the column, they become cooler and cooler as they reach the top. The top of the column is kept at about twenty degrees Celsius. Pipes collect the different products at different temperatures all the way up the container.
There are many different types of gas and oil that we can extract from the distillation column. From the bottom, the hottest part of the distillation column, we get the thick residual products that come from heating crude oil to the maximum distillation temperature. This is where we get asphalt, tar, and other thick sticky solid oil products.
Just above the residual products, we can get heavy oil. We mainly use heavy oil to make other products. It is in a liquid form, but very thick. Heavy oil is also known as fuel oil because of the fuels that we make from it.
Up a little higher in the distillation chamber we can get lubricating oils. These thick, but liquid, oils are used to make motor oil, grease and other thick lubricants used in heavy machinery and our vehicles. Lubricating oils are retrieved at about two hundred and fifty degrees Celsius.
Going up the chamber, the products get thinner and thinner until we eventually get only gasses at the top. We get diesel, kerosene and gasoline from the distillation process. The thinnest form is petroleum gas. We collect petroleum gas at the lowest temperature of around twenty degrees Celsius from the top of the chamber. Oil companies like Triple Diamond Energy work hard every day of the year to bring us all of these products from the distilleries to accommodate our modern lives.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Oil from Ancient Times
Many people are surprised to hear that we’ve been using oil for almost seven thousand years. At first, we used oil that seeped to the surface in the form of thick black tar. In the Middle East, there is a huge oil reserve underground. In this area, there have been enormous oil seeps of bitumen, oil springs and oil-bearing rock. Oil has been readily available for use in this area since ancient times.
Oil was even effectively used in the time of the caveman. During the Stone Age, man used the bitumen tar to repair pottery and to seal water containers so that they would not leak. Oil and tar was also used in the Stone Age to make bricks and mortar. Not all ancient men were cave dwellers. Some, in the Middle East, were actually marsh dwellers. They are the ones that created bricks and mortar from the thick, black, sticky tar that they had readily available in their bitumen seeps. The area where they lived often flooded. Their oil and tar homes kept them safe and waterproofed from these floods. Entire cities were built of these bricks and mortars in Babylonian times. The oil trade was the catalyst for industrialization in the Middle East.
The next use of oil in ancient times, which we know about, was when ancient man started coating their boats with oil. They knew about the waterproof properties of oil and tar, which led to this very effective practice. Boats were made of reed. Bitumen kept them from leaking. The practice quickly spread around the world. Sailors would always be stained black from working in these bitumen sealed boats. They eventually became known as tars from all of the black stains that they had. The practice of caulking boats with bitumen remained unchanged for thousands of years. It only ended when people started switching to metal and fiberglass for boat production in modern times.
Currently, we use oil in all of its forms. In the past, oil and gas were considered flammable, dangerous and too thin to use for any practical purposes. Bitumen was mainly used as a glue and a waterproofing agent. The Persians were the first to use the thinner forms of oil. They realized that the flammable properties could be very useful in battle. This was the beginning of modern warfare. Flaming arrows quickly turned into fiery bombs made with bitumen.
The Chinese were the first people to drill for oil and spark a revolution. Purely by accident, they discovered that when drilling for salty brine water that they could get to oil. We don’t know if they used the actual oil, but we do know that they used the natural gas that they discovered to boil the brine and get the salt out. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy use the same drilling principles today.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy Corp specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Oil was even effectively used in the time of the caveman. During the Stone Age, man used the bitumen tar to repair pottery and to seal water containers so that they would not leak. Oil and tar was also used in the Stone Age to make bricks and mortar. Not all ancient men were cave dwellers. Some, in the Middle East, were actually marsh dwellers. They are the ones that created bricks and mortar from the thick, black, sticky tar that they had readily available in their bitumen seeps. The area where they lived often flooded. Their oil and tar homes kept them safe and waterproofed from these floods. Entire cities were built of these bricks and mortars in Babylonian times. The oil trade was the catalyst for industrialization in the Middle East.
The next use of oil in ancient times, which we know about, was when ancient man started coating their boats with oil. They knew about the waterproof properties of oil and tar, which led to this very effective practice. Boats were made of reed. Bitumen kept them from leaking. The practice quickly spread around the world. Sailors would always be stained black from working in these bitumen sealed boats. They eventually became known as tars from all of the black stains that they had. The practice of caulking boats with bitumen remained unchanged for thousands of years. It only ended when people started switching to metal and fiberglass for boat production in modern times.
Currently, we use oil in all of its forms. In the past, oil and gas were considered flammable, dangerous and too thin to use for any practical purposes. Bitumen was mainly used as a glue and a waterproofing agent. The Persians were the first to use the thinner forms of oil. They realized that the flammable properties could be very useful in battle. This was the beginning of modern warfare. Flaming arrows quickly turned into fiery bombs made with bitumen.
The Chinese were the first people to drill for oil and spark a revolution. Purely by accident, they discovered that when drilling for salty brine water that they could get to oil. We don’t know if they used the actual oil, but we do know that they used the natural gas that they discovered to boil the brine and get the salt out. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy use the same drilling principles today.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy Corp specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
How Do We Transport Natural Gas?
We use natural gas in numerous ways. Our dependence on natural gas is growing and growing. Oil companies have developed many ways to transport natural gas to our homes. Moving natural gas from its source to our homes involves transporting it through elaborate pipeline systems. Many regulations on transporting natural gas are in place to ensure that it is moved in the safest most effective manner possible. From the ground, to processing plants and ultimately to our homes, natural gas is transported by our oil companies in a very precise way.
The first step in transporting natural gas is to get it from the ground. Pipes known as the gathering system are used to collect the gas from the source. The gas needs to be obtained, then cleaned and processed so that we can use it. There are a few different processes utilized to get the natural gas into usable form.
When the gas gets to the processing plant, we add Thiols to it. This is purely a step towards safety. Natural gas has no smell that we can detect. By adding Thiols, we give it an odor that we can easily detect if there is a leak. Once it is processed, we send it through our intrastate and interstate pipeline networks. Intrastate pipelines carry natural gas around inside of one state. Interstate pipelines are networks that actually cross state lines. All of these pipes are made in the same way. They are constructed from carbon steel. The carbon steel pipes need to be able to withstand enormous pressure to ensure the safety of transport. Therefore, each pipe section is sent through rigorous testing before it can be considered for use.
The pipeline must be able to withstand tremendous pressure because natural gas must be transported in liquid form. Pressurizing natural gas forces it to transform from a gaseous to a liquid state. This reduces the amount of space that it takes up as well. In fact, the volume is reduced by about six hundred times. Pressurizing natural gas into a liquid state also acts as a propulsion mechanism. This greatly reduces the amount of time that it takes for the gas to move through the pipeline network.
The pipeline industry puts safety first when transporting natural gas. Relocating natural gas takes a lot of manual labor and can be very dangerous. Many steps are painstakingly executed to ensure the safety of the transportation process. Although the process is amazingly complex, the pipeline industry and oil companies, such as Triple Diamond Energy, have stellar reputations when it comes to ensuring the safety of the pipeline workers, the public and the environment.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
The first step in transporting natural gas is to get it from the ground. Pipes known as the gathering system are used to collect the gas from the source. The gas needs to be obtained, then cleaned and processed so that we can use it. There are a few different processes utilized to get the natural gas into usable form.
When the gas gets to the processing plant, we add Thiols to it. This is purely a step towards safety. Natural gas has no smell that we can detect. By adding Thiols, we give it an odor that we can easily detect if there is a leak. Once it is processed, we send it through our intrastate and interstate pipeline networks. Intrastate pipelines carry natural gas around inside of one state. Interstate pipelines are networks that actually cross state lines. All of these pipes are made in the same way. They are constructed from carbon steel. The carbon steel pipes need to be able to withstand enormous pressure to ensure the safety of transport. Therefore, each pipe section is sent through rigorous testing before it can be considered for use.
The pipeline must be able to withstand tremendous pressure because natural gas must be transported in liquid form. Pressurizing natural gas forces it to transform from a gaseous to a liquid state. This reduces the amount of space that it takes up as well. In fact, the volume is reduced by about six hundred times. Pressurizing natural gas into a liquid state also acts as a propulsion mechanism. This greatly reduces the amount of time that it takes for the gas to move through the pipeline network.
The pipeline industry puts safety first when transporting natural gas. Relocating natural gas takes a lot of manual labor and can be very dangerous. Many steps are painstakingly executed to ensure the safety of the transportation process. Although the process is amazingly complex, the pipeline industry and oil companies, such as Triple Diamond Energy, have stellar reputations when it comes to ensuring the safety of the pipeline workers, the public and the environment.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
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