Refinery

     Petroleum refining is the process of separating the many compounds present in crude oil.  The principle which is employed is that the longer the carbon chain, the higher the boiling point of the compounds.  Crude oil is heated until it takes on a gaseous form.  The gases are passed through a distillation column which becomes cooler as the height increases.  When a compound in the gaseous state cools below its boiling point, it condenses into a liquid.  These different types of liquids are then drawn off the distillation column at various heights.  

     The yields and quality of refined petroleum products produced by any given oil refinery depends on the mixture of crude oil used as feedstock and the configuration of the refinery facilities.  Light/sweet crude are generally more expensive and have inherent great yields of higher value light products / clean oil and middle distillates such as naphtha, jet fuel / kerosene and gasoil.  Heavy / sour crude are generally less expensive and produce greater yields of lower value heavy products / dirty oil such as fuel oil.

     The configuration of certain refineries is more oriented toward the production of gasoline (large reforming and/or catalytic cracking_ whereas the configuration of other refineries is more oriented towards the production of middle distillates such as jet fuel and gasoil (large thermal catalytic cracking and hydro-cracking processes).

Petrochemical- Olefins

     Formosa Petrochemical's naphtha crackers convert naphtha feedstock into ethylene, propylene, BTX and by-products in a two-step process of cracking and separating.  Formosa Petrochemical's two crackers are capable of cracking naphtha, or a combination of naphtha, gasoil and LPG.  Historically, however, Formosa Petrochemical's crackers have been run primarily on naphtha feedstock. 

     Feedstock, typically naphtha, is first pumped through the pyrolysis section of the naphtha cracker, where it is cracked in a  tubular furnace in the presence of steam.  The pyrolysis process converts the heavier hydrocarbon into lighter fractions, primarily ethylene and propylene, by removing the hydrogen molecules.  The hot gas effluent from the furnace is then passed through the quench section where it is cooled to retard further cracking and to condense heavy fractions.  The heavy fractions are subsequently processed into fuel oil, light cycle oil and pygas by-products.  The pygas stream can then be fed to the aromatics plants for benzene and toluene production.  Steam generated in the quench section is recycled back to the furnace for re-use.

     The cooled gases are then compressed, treated to remove acid gases, dried over a desiccant and fractionated into separate components at low temperature through a series of refrigeration processes.  Hydrogen and methane are removed by way of a compression / expansion process.  The methane removed is distributed as fuel gas for use in the furnaces, boilers and co-generation power plants.  Hydrogen is collected and further purified in a pressure swing unit for use in the hydrogenation process.  Polymer grade ethylene and propylene are separated in the cold section.  The separated ethane and propane streams are recycled back to the furnace for further cracking while the mixed C4 stream is hydrogenated prior to recycling back to the furnace for further cracking.

Utilities

     Formosa Petrochemical's co-generation power plants generate the electricity needed by Formosa Petrochemical for its petroleum refinery and naphtha cracking activities.  Coal is burned in the burner units of the power plants to generate superheated steam.  The steam is channeled to drive the 10 turbines in the power plants, which produces electricity.  This process also generates other utilities products, for example excess steam, industrial water, ultra-pure water, nitrogen, oxygen and compressed air.