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Texas City Boat Trip : Case Study

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Texas City Boat Trip.

Violeta Leilani Curameng.

Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, Texas.

INTRODUCTION
The Valero Refinery of Texas City is located in the Texas City Ship Channel in the Gulf Coast region. The Valero Company “is an international manufacturer of transportation fuels, petrochemical products and power” (1). Originally acquired in 1997, the refinery has been through a series of major upgrades and extensions (1). Valero is an independent refiner that purchases a variety of oils such as crude oil and sour and residual oil (2).
The complex refining and distillation processes for Valero can be compared to the experiments performed in an Organic chemistry lab. From what the company’s procedures are to what the Lab …show more content…

Products of this process can include, pet coke, gasoline, jet fuels, diesels, and liquid petroleum (8).

Figure 2: The Refining Process

Crude oil is heated through the bottom of the distillation tower and then each of the chemical compounds in the crude oil are sorted into different units based on their boiling points. Products of this process can include, pet coke, gasoline, jet fuels, diesels, and liquid petroleum (8).
Fractional Distillation. Process.
Fractional distillation is a series of simple and small scaled distillations. Instead of having multiple condensers and receivers the evaporation and condensation cycles happen in one distillation column (4). Figure 3 shows the setup of a fractional distillation apparatus.

Figure 3: Fractional Distillation Apparatus.

Distillation is used to separate mixtures that do not work well together. The simple distillation performed during lab is done to obtain a pure liquid, such as recycling waste acetone to retrieve purified acetone (4).

DISSCUSSION.
Comparison of the Processes.
In the lab a thermometer is placed into the fractionating column to measure the temperature of the vapors produced from the heated liquid. At the Valero Refinery to measure the temperature of the crude oil in the column, thermocouples are used and transmit a radio signal to a control room that keeps track of the heating status. This process Valero

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