Evaluation and Characterization Parameters of Crude Oils and Petroleum Fractions

Abstract

Characterization of crude oil has always been an area of interest in the refining field; However, the need to define the properties of crude oil has gained importance in the production and distribution processes, and this is done simply by measuring the properties of crude oil, as the properties of these properties change according to the geological nature in which the oil is found in the traps and thus the physical and chemical properties must be studied and defined for this type Oil or so, from these physical and chemical properties such as API° (American Petroleum Institute), specific weight, pour point, viscosity, total sulfur content, vapor pressure, distillation, initial boiling point (IBP), final boiling point (FBP), were evaluated. The hydrocarbon residue and contents of crude oils were collected from the various oil fields in the Masala, Sarir, and Al Fountain fields using standard ASTM procedures. The results of crude oils in the three oil fields were compared with each other and with other international crude oils. The standards and specifications of their petroleum products were also examined. This study was conducted on the crude oil of the obelisk, bed, and fountain in 2017 that are mixed together to feed the oil refinery in Tobruk. The standards and specifications of the mixture and petroleum products of the refinery, including light Naphtha, heavy Naphtha, Kerosene, and Diesel, were measured and compared with other types of crude oil. According to the evaluation criteria, the examined crude oils can be classified as light sweet crude oil due to the high API value and low sulfur content in it, the percentage of Diesel oil is low and the (K) factor was low. It was also found that light crude oil has a high percentage of light fracture and that the pour point of light crude oil is higher than that of heavy crude oil. The salt content was also shown to be low in the mixture compared to other types. An increase in the boiling point of the distillate was observed with an increase in the percentage of the fraction volume. Moreover, Diesel has a higher boiling point than kerosene which has a higher boiling point than naphtha for all of the combined fractions. It was also found that the water content had few effects on the crude oil.