Refining and reforming
Turning crude oil and gas into fuels and hydrogen.
Conversion and use · Fuel processing · No. 109
- Conversion and use
A refinery burns roughly a tenth of every barrel just to rebuild the rest into petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
Chart: Illustration: Refining and reforming
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Crude is a soup of thousands of hydrocarbons; heating it in a tall column lets each fraction condense at its own height. A US refinery gets about 19 to 20 gallons of petrol per 42-gallon barrel.
Three things to know
- Atmospheric distillation uses about five times its theoretical minimum energy, and the US DOE sees about 30% savings possible plant-wide.
- Every kilogram of hydrogen made from methane releases at least 5.5 kg of CO2 from the feed carbon alone.
- Almost 100 Mt of hydrogen was made in 2024, but less than 1% of it was low-emission.
The journey
- 1 Crude or gasCrude oil, natural gas or coal arrives
- 2 DistillationFired heaters and columns split by boiling point
- 3 CrackingCatalysts break heavy molecules into lighter fuels
- 4 UpgradingReforming and hydrotreating lift octane, remove sulphur
- 5 Fuels and hydrogenPetrol, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, hydrogen