701-01 Introduction to Petroleum Refining

When you complete this lesson, you will be able to identify and briefly describe various refining processes that take place in a typical petroleum refinery.

• Explain what is meant by crude oil
• Describe the purpose of each of the following processes:
  • Crude oil desalting
  • Atmospheric distillation
  • Vacuum distillation
  • Catalytic reforming
  • Cracking
  • Alkylation
  • Isomerization
  • Polymerization
• Discuss refinery treating processes
• Identify the function of a gas plant
• Explain the importance of refinery blending operations
• List substances often stored in the refinery tank farm

701-02 Basic Petroleum Chemistry

When you complete this lesson, you will be able to discuss the molecular structure, physical properties, naming conventions, and commercial uses of several common hydrocarbons.

• Compare the definitions of petroleum and crude oil
• Relate the physical states of hydrocarbons to their carbon content
• Discuss how covalent bonds are formed between hydrogen and carbon
• Explain the use of base names, prefixes, and suffixes to label hydrocarbons
• Describe and compare the structure of the following hydrocarbon families:
  • Paraffins
  • Napthenes
  • Aromatics
  • Olefins
  • Alkynes
• Identify correlations between physical properties of a hydrocarbon and the hydrocarbon’s molecular structure
• List some contaminants commonly found in crude oil and explain their adverse effects on oil refining

701-03 OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard

When you complete this lesson, you will be able to identify the main components and explain the objectives of the OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) standard.

• Discuss the purpose of the PSM standard
• Describe the type of process safety information required under the PSM standard
• List the points included in a process hazard analysis
• Identify the types of operating procedures that fall under the PSM standard requirements
• Discuss the training requirements under PSM standard
• Describe how the PSM standard relates to contractors
• Identify what is included in a PSM pre-start-up safety review
• Describe requirements to comply with PSM mechanical integrity standards
• Explain what is meant by management of change procedures under PSM
• Describe PSM incident investigation and emergency planning and response provisions
• Discuss PSM compliance audit requirements

701-04 History of Refining

When you complete this lesson, you will be able to provide a general overview of the evolution of crude oil processing from 1846 until the present day.

• Explain how and why kerosene replaced whale oil
• Discuss causes of the emergence of the gasoline market
• Describe how the CAA Amendments of 1970 affected refining processes
• Identify some effects of oil industry deregulation
• Discuss the effects of the vapor pressure regulations of 1989 and 1992
• Describe how the CAA Amendments of 1990 affected refining processes