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Oil Is The Lifeblood Of The World

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Oil is the lifeblood of the world. Everything that is created by human hands can be related back to it in some way. In an age where there is a dwindling supply of oil it is becoming increasingly important to use every last bit of it to its full potential. After crude oil is removed from the ground it goes through a process called fractionation which separates the hydrocarbons found in oil based on their size. When fractionation is completed the separated hydrocarbons can be manipulated to form more useful hydrocarbons. The three major types of manipulation are decomposition, unification, and alteration. As a future chemical engineer I hope to make the world a better place by manipulating substances into more useful products. The changes made to the hydrocarbons in oil by these processes allow for humans to use every last bit of oil to its full potential. When large hydrocarbons are broken down into smaller more useful ones it is called decomposition. The first form of decomposition is thermal cracking, which can be broken up into the sub categories of visbreaking, steam cracking, and coking. Visbreaking is a process of thermal cracking which involves heating heavy crude oil residue to break down the hydrocarbons into more useful middle distillates, heating oil, and diesel. A mix of the residue is pumped into a furnace where it is heated to a desirable temperature; this temperature depends on what products are desired. When this temperature is reached bonds in the

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