Questions tagged [petrochemistry]
For questions about the chemistry of crude oil or natural gas products.
26 questions
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What happens to the waste products from crude oil refining?
The process of refining of crude oil is used to separate crude into fractions of various derived products.
For example, crude contains fractions of gasses such as methane, ethane, propane, butane, ...
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Is there not a strict definition of what naphtha vs petrol represent?
If you search for information about fractional distillation of petroleum, many sources place petrol above naphtha, while others do the reverse.
Is there not a strict definition of what these compounds ...
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Products formed upon pyrolysis of alkanes
What sort of products will be formed when we subject a higher alkane (say decane) to pyrolysis by heating at 773-973 K in the presence of $\ce{H2/Ni}$? I know that lower aliphatic alkanes and alkenes ...
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Fractional Distillation Fractions
Currently, I am trying to remember the order of fractions within the fractionating column. However, I have found a contradiction.
Consider the above diagrams, both from reputable sources. The first ...
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Why can i not use glue (which contains cyklohexane, petrol and ethyl acetate) for gluing PVC materials? [closed]
The manufacturer do not recommend using glue to gluing PVC. But Why? Thank you for your help.
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What chemicals can remove or greatly reduce the smell of burning diesel fuel?
I am not a chemist myself but I am trying to solve a practical problem I am experiencing.
I have a nicely working diesel stove but it produces some smell.
I've read that adding urea to the exhaust may ...
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Can someone explain the chemistry around adding Isopropyl Alcohol to water contaminated gasoline - how does the IPA 'remove' water from the gas?
So there are many products on the market sold as fuel additives; some (like 'Heet' brand) are nothing more than 99.9% isopropyl alcohol in a nice package.
When trying to understand how they work and ...
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How to remove oil/grease contaminant from an aqueous solution?
I have a solution of water and calcium nitrate that is contaminated with some sort of heavy petroleum oil, semi-solid at room temperature a bit like petroleum jelly, and a strong odor of very crude ...
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Could an LPG gas ever become lighter than air?
Both of the LPG gases, propane ($\ce{C3H8}$) and butane ($\ce{C4H10}$) are heavier than air. Propane is $1.55$ times heavier and butane is $2.08$ times heavier. Is same-temperature air always lighter ...
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Would a PNG geyser work on biogas?
I am trying to understand if a water heater designed to run on piped natural gas (PNG) could be powered by biogas without any modifications. Typically, these geysers have a battery-powered ignition ...
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A useful way to reuse non-recyclable plastics: Turn them to petrochemicals, shall we?
I read here (https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/34016/101483) that strongly acidic catalysts can facilitate dimerization of alkene. With catalysts on zeolite to allow only the isooctane (octane ...
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Small scale gas-to-liquids via Fischer–Tropsch — is it even possible?
I'm really interested in the Fischer–Tropsch gas-to-liquids (GTL) process. A lot of people are using wood or other biomass feedstock to make syngas on small scales (farms, shops, etc.).
Practically, ...
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Is reforming and isomerization the same thing?
Okay, just to give an idea of my current understanding. Reforming is a step one can do after one has cracked some hydrocarbons. As such, the process of reforming is dependent on a separate process, ...
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How does the purification until analytical grade work? [closed]
What are some industrial methods used for puryfing organic solutions, like toluen, until it is analytical grade? Im not looking for details just some names and somewhere to keep reading
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Are petroleum-based products prone to produce hard residues with black powder?
A common controversy about black powder is lubricant composition. Some people tell this is a bad idea to use any petroleum based products in such lube because it will produce hard, difficult to clean ...
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What is responsible for the odor of gasoline?
Gasoline as we know it is a blend of combustible hydrocarbons and has a characteristic odor. The natural gas we use to heat our homes and (for some of us) cook our food has its own odor, except...
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Why refine tar sands oil?
Why refine tar sands oil into petroleum and the rest of the oil processing byproducts rather than burning it directly in the furnaces of private residencies? At least in the snowbelt areas where gas ...
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Is it more economical to liquify natural gas to ship overseas or convert it to propane (C3H8) and ship it overseas?
Problem statement: Companies want to frack oil wells and then export natural gas overseas using transport via high pressure pipeline followed by liquefaction at a terminal port.
If the methane ...
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Fractional distillation of crude oil and resulting fuel ratios
I understand from the diagram below that different fuels condense at different temperatures. But I don't know anything about crude oil (and very little about chemistry in general).
Could I simply ...
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Is heating oil identical to fuel oil?
I don't quite understand the categorization of middle distillate petroleum products.
Is heating oil the same thing as fuel oil which is the same thing as diesel, or not? Can someone explain the ...
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What does my textbook mean by saying this about petroleum?
It reads:
Petroleum consists of crude oil and natural gas and contains a mixture of up to 300 hydrocarbons, including sulfur and nitrogen compounds. It is formed over thousands of years from the ...
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How is the octane percentage defined?
Normally octane percentage is mentioned on petrol (95% octane). How is this defined? Is it percentage of chemical or some other parameters?
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Chemical composition of petrol
What is the chemical composition of petrol? What are the compounds available in petrol? Does octane number have something to do with actual octane concentration?
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Heat of combustion for octane
I'm a Mechanical Engineering student and I have been working on a school project but I want to go a bit beyond that and it has led me here. I'm designing an engine cylinder, and I figured I should be ...
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When was oil discovered to be of biological origin?
Is there an article, book, some account of the discovery that crude oil came from decayed biological material?
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What are the key chemical characteristics that determine the octane rating of fuel?
The octane rating of petrol (gasoline) is a measure of the how much compression a fuel air mixture can have before detonating (which in petrol engines is a bad thing as you want the mix to combust ...
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