Petrochemistry

Update on crude oil refinery operation: Discussion of the main refinery product types. Energy producing products, non-energy producing products. Discussion of the main refinery processing units. Desalting, distillation, hydrotreating, catalytic processes, residue upgrading processes.

- Refinery flow scheme. Based on the processes and products discussed, we build a theoretical refinery flow diagram and discuss the products routed to the petrochemical industry.

 - Aromatic production. Discussion of the different processes, which produce aromatic components. Further processing and final products from aromatic hydrocarbons.

 - Methanol production: Theory of catalytic background. Process and uses of methanol. Final products from methanol.

- Catalysis and catalyst poisons: general discussion of catalysis, use of catalysts around the petrochemical industry.

- Company site visits: depending on the availability of the companies and their experts, several site visits to discover the real operating environment. The visits help the students to orient themselves. Examples of company profiles (not all is visited necessarily every year): pyrolisis and polyethylene/polypropylene production, lubricant production, aromatic compounds production, tyre production, PVC and TDI/MDI production, polystyrene production