When you look at what an oil refinery does, it is a massive plant where petroleum is manufactured through crude oil conversions. We need these petroleum by products for various important sources for example liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene, heating oil, asphalt base, diesel fuel, and gasoline and petroleum naphtha. You will find that typically a refinery uses a massive piece of land with sprawling complexes that has extensive piping systems between each one of their chemical processing units.
Unfortunately it is something that we need in our lives as refined petroleum for example has many uses. When you use refined petroleum product you will know that it comes from a refinery that manufactured the product via crude oil. Oils that has not been refined has its own specific uses which we look at below.
- When you look at asphalt, which some places call bitumen, you need it for paving roads and stadiums are often using asphalt too.
- You need base oils for the manufacturing of lubricants.
- Looking at statistical thermodynamics you find that you need heating oil if you want heat.
- A major petrochemical feedstock is naphtha.
- We need jet fuel and therefore do we need kerosene.
In order to drive around in our cars, use buses and other form of transport or even moving products from one end to another via trucks, we consistently need diesel and petrol even though electrical cars are hoping to take over that market in the future, we are a long way off from not needing diesel and gasoline.
LPG liquefied petroleum gas which is a combination of natural gas processing and 40 percent refined crude oil, which is also known as propane and butane gasses, are used for numerous household purposes, packaged in bottles and for automotive fuels too and something most people use on a daily basis.