Petrochemicals & Petroleum Products

Crude oil sometimes called petroleum is found in the Earth's crust. Millions of years ago, small animals and plants died and fell to the bottom of the sea. Their remains were covered by mud. The mud eventually turned to rock. This rock put a lot of pressure on the dead animals and plants. Rocks around them also heated them up. Together the heat and the pressure turned the remains into crude oil. It was important that no air or oxygen was present. Materials like crude oil and coal which formed from living things many years ago, are called fossil fuels. Crude oil takes millions of years to form, so when we have used it all, we cannot quickly get more.

Crude Oil naturally occurring unrefined liquid fossil fuel composed of hydrocarbon deposits and other organic materials. Crude oil can be refined to produce useable products such as gasoline or Mogas or Petrol, Gasoil or diesel or heating oil, jet fuel or aviation Fuel, kerosene, LPG and Bitumen and literally thousands of other products called petrochemicals.

It is a non-renewable resource as it can't be replaced naturally at the rate we consume it and is therefore a limited resource. The demand for crude oil is dependent on global economic conditions as well as market speculation.

Liquefied petroleum gas or LPG, a highly flammable mixtures of hydrocarbon gases used as fuel in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles. LPG is also referred to as simply Propane or Butane. LPG is prepared by refining Petroleum or "wet" natural gas, and is almost entirely derived from fossil fuel sources, being manufactured during the refining of petroleum (crude oil), or extracted from petroleum or natural gas streams as they emerge from the ground.

It is increasingly used as an aerosol propellant[1] and refrigerant replacing chlorofluorocarbons in an effort to reduce damage to the ozone layer. When specifically used as a vehicle fuel it is often referred to as auto gas.

It currently provides about 3% of all energy consumed, and burns relatively cleanly with no soot and very few sulfur emissions. It is usually supplied in pressurized steel vessels.

Fuel oil, also known as heavy oil, marine fuel or furnace oil, is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Fuel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains and refer only to the heaviest commercial fuel that can be obtained from crude oil, i.e., heavier than Gasoil, Jet A1, gasoline and naphtha. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid fuel that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power.

Fuel Oil has many uses like heating homes, Fuel for vessels and Power Generation. Residential use of fuel oils is classified as Number 1, 2, or 3, and industrial ones are classified as Number 4, 5, or 6 according to their specific gravity (higher the number, higher the sp. gravity). Number 5 and 6 are used mainly for powering ships and are also called bunker oils.

Bitumen is also known as Asphalt, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. The primary use (70%) of asphalt/bitumen is in road construction. It is principally obtained as a residual product in petroleum refineries after higher fractions like gas, petrol, kerosene and diesel, etc., are removed. It is a black or dark brown non-crystalline oil or viscous material having adhesive properties derived from petroleum crude either by natural or by refinery processes.

It is generally used for civil engineering works like constructions of roads, runways and platforms, water proofing to prevent water seepage, mastic floorings for factories and Warehouses, canal lining to prevent erosion, dump-proof courses for masonry, tank foundation, joint filling material for masonry etc.