CHEG421: Petroleum Refining

and Processing
Dr. C. S. Kannan
Room No. : 2208 (Buhasa)
: 8309 (Arzana)

Students develop skills

by
Reading the lecture material prior to the lecture
Active participation in the lecture and tutorial
sessions
independent efforts on solving the homework
problems

Course Information
Calculator
Bring your calculator to the class and to tests
No sharing of calculators in tests

Class Notes

Will distribute basic lecture handouts

Students should develop a file of the lecture handouts
Supplement handouts with your notes
Always be with the handouts during lecture

Classrooms
Buhasa: Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday 2124 (9.00-9.50am);
Arzana: Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday 8140 (1.00-1.50pm)

Course Information
Attendance
Daily attendance is required
I will take random attendance. Students who are not in their
seats at the start of class will be counted absent.
Final mark will be reduced by 0.5% for each unexcused
absence with no limit on the maximum mark deducted.
To receive an excused absence, bring an excuse from
counselors the day you return to class.
Any absence on a test or quiz will result in a grade of zero.

Teamwork
Class assignments and homework can be a team effort.
Tests, quizzes and exams are strictly an individual effort!

Student Assessment
Tests will cover
Lectures and handouts
Homework will be assigned but not graded;
however it is important for quizzes and tests
Classroom problems
Background material from previous weeks
One-hour midterm exam
Two-hour final exam

Student Assessment
Grading
90% or above A
87.5-90% is a A 82.5-87.5% is a B+
80-82.5% is a B
77.5-80% is a B 72.5-77.5% is a C+
70-72.5% is a C
67.5-70% is a C 60-67.5% is a D
Below 60% is F
Evaluation
Quizzes:
15%
Two Midterm Exams:
40%
Final Exam:
35%
Project
10%

(20% each)

Office Policy
Office hours
2-4pm on Wednesday (Buhasa); 10-12am on
Wednesday (Arzana)

Please realize that if you come to see me outside

of office hours without an prior appointment, I
may be committed to some other activity.
Additionally I might not be able to give
appointments on short notice.

Re-grading Policy
You can request for re-grading within three
day from the time the graded material was
returned to you.
Write your concerns on a piece of paper, attach
it to the exam paper and return it back to me.
I will not accept any material for re-grading
beyond the specified deadline above.

PI Code of Conduct and Dress

Code
Students are bound by the PI Code of Conduct. A summary of
the policy is available at:
http://www.pi.ac.ae/PI_ACA/arz/docs/PICodeofConduct.pdf
Men are expected to dress professionally wearing the
traditional kandoura or a shirt and long trousers. Any other
form of dress is strictly prohibited.

Academic Integrity
Students are bound by the PI Academic Integrity Policy. This
means that you are expected to do your own work on
quizzes/examinations/tests.
As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards
for this course. It is critical to be aware of the consequences
of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism.
Please sign the last page of the syllabus which states that you
have read and will abide by the Honesty Code and return it to
me.

Textbook
Petroleum
Refining
Technology
and
Economics by James H. Gary, Glenn E.
Handwerk, Mark J. Kaiser, CRC Press, Taylor
and Francis Group
Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining, by
Mohamed Fahim, Taher Al-Sahhaf, Amal
Elkilani, Elsevier, 2010.

Course Content
Crude Oil Distillation unit: Distills the incoming crude oil into
various fractions for further processing in other units.
Vacuum Distillation unit: Further distills the residue oil from the
bottom of the crude oil distillation unit. The vacuum distillation is
performed at a pressure well below atmospheric pressure.
Naphtha Hydrotreater unit: Uses hydrogen to desulfurize the
naphtha fraction from the crude oil distillation or other units within
the refinery.
Catalytic Reforming unit: Converts the desulfurized naphtha
molecules into higher-octane molecules to produce reformate,
which is a component of the end-product gasoline or petrol.
Alkylation unit: Converts isobutene and butylenes into alkylate,
which is a very high-octane component of the end-product gasoline
or petrol.

Isomerization unit: Converts linear molecules such as normal pentane into

higher-octane branched molecules for blending into the end-product gasoline. Also
used to convert linear normal butane into isobutene for use in the alkylation unit.
Distillate Hydrotreater unit: Uses hydrogen to desulfurize some of the other
distilled fractions from the crude oil distillation unit (such as diesel oil).
Merox (mercaptan oxidizer) or similar units: Desulfurize LPG, kerosene or jet
fuel by oxidizing undesired mercaptans to organic disulfides.
Amine gas treater, Claus unit, and tail gas treatment for converting hydrogen
sulfide gas from the hydrotreaters into end-product elemental sulfur. The large
majority of the 64,000,000 metric tons of sulfur produced worldwide in 2005 was
byproduct sulfur from petroleum refining and natural gas processing plants.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit: Upgrades the heavier, higher-boiling
fractions from the crude oil distillation by converting them into lighter and lower
boiling, more valuable products.
Hydrocracker unit: Uses hydrogen to upgrade heavier fractions from the crude
oil distillation and the vacuum distillation units into lighter, more valuable
products.
Visbreaker unit upgrades heavy residual oils from the vacuum distillation unit
by thermally cracking them into lighter, more valuable reduced viscosity products.
Delayed coking and Fluid coker units: Convert very heavy residual oils into
end-product petroleum coke as well as naphtha and diesel oil by-products.