MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Oil and Gas Processing

Course unit fact file
Unit code CHEN60202
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

The course starts by examining crude oil and natural gas properties. Refinery product properties are then examined. Petroleum refining requires special techniques for the representation of physical properties and process calculations. These will be developed before turning attention to refinery processes. For each process, the physical principles, chemistry and process flowsheets will be studied. Refineries need various supporting processes that will be reviewed. Systematic methods for hydrogen integration will be introduced. Then the integration of these processes to achieve different refining objectives is addressed.

For natural gas processing, the exploitation of the gas requires the gas to be transported to the market by pipelines or liquefaction. Alternatively, the gas can be transformed chemically to liquid fuels or converted to power. The module will give particular emphasis to the exploitation by liquefaction.

 

Course Contents

Introduction

Lecture 1         Crude Oil and Natural Gas

 

Petroleum Refinery Processes

Lecture 2         Bulk Properties of Refinery Streams

Lecture 3         Modelling Physical Properties of Refinery Streams

Lecture 4         Refinery Liquid Fuel Products

Lecture 5         Crude Oil Distillation

Lecture 6         Heat Integration of Crude Oil Distillation

Lecture 7         Catalytic Cracking

Lecture 8          Residue Reduction

Lecture 9          Octane Processes

Lecture 10       Hydroprocessing

Lecture 11       Hydrogen Supply

 

Petroleum Refinery Integration

Lecture 12       Hydrogen Integration

Lecture 13       Sulphur Recovery

Lecture 14       Refinery Integration

 

Gas Processing

Lecture 15       Compression and Expansion of Gases

Lecture 16       Refrigeration Processes

Lecture 17       Liquefied Natural Gas Cycles

 

Conclusions

Lecture 18       The Future of Oil and Gas Processing

 

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Energy Systems CHEN64341 Pre-Requisite Recommended
CHEN64341 is a co-requisite of CHEN60202

  

Aims

The unit aims to:

  • Develop an understanding of the process technology exploited in the petroleum refining and natural gas industry.
  • Develop skills for the application of chemical engineering knowledge and skills to the design and integration of oil and gas processes.
  • Appraise how for the effective integration of refinery processes can be exploited to achieve different production objectives.
  • Develop skills for the application of process integration techniques to natural gas processing.

 

Learning outcomes

Category of outcome

Students should/will (please delete as appropriate) be able to:

  • Analyse and evaluate oil and gas processes and operations using relevant metrics.
  • Apply chemical engineering knowledge and skills to the design and optimization of oil and gas processes.
  • Demonstrate skills for defining, analysing and solving problems that are special to oil and gas processing.
  • Develop skills in the techniques for the representation of physical properties of petroleum streams and their application to process calculations in petroleum refining.
  • Demonstrate understanding of key properties of petroleum products and how product specifications can be achieved.
  • Appraise how for the effective integration of refinery processes can be exploited to achieve different production objectives.
  • Appreciate the major issues relevant to the use of low temperatures for natural gas processing.
  •  Predict how future trends in oil and gas processing will shape the industry going forward.

 

Teaching and learning methods

Three hour classroom teaching for 10 weeks.

One hour practical sessions for 10 weeks, including the use of software.

Coursework involving use of bespoke software.

All teaching material available in Blackboard.

PGT students are required to do additional private study of background material to support their study of this course.

 

Assessment methods

Assessment task

Length

Weighting within unit

Examination

Coursework

2 hours

10 hours

80%

20%

 

Feedback methods

Feedback will be delivered via the virtual learning environment.

Recommended reading

Core Reading

1.Gary JH and Handwerk GE (2001) “Petroleum Refining: Technology and Economics”, Marcel Dekker.

 

Essential Reading

 

2. Riazi MR (2005) “Characterization and Properties of Petroleum Fractions”, American Society of Testing Material

3. Meyer RA (2003) “Handbook of Petroleum Refinery Processes, 3rd Ed”, McGraw Hill.

 

Recommended Reading

4. Chang A-F, Pashikanti K and Liu YA (2012) “Refinery Engineering”, Wiley-VCH.

5. Hydrocarbon Processing (2017), “2017 Refining Processes Handbook ”, Gulf

 

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 30
Practical classes & workshops 10
Independent study hours
Independent study 110

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Nan Zhang Unit coordinator

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