Petroleum is an extremely valuable fossil fuel that has many every day uses. The natural resource can be used for fuel, storing leftover meals in plastic Tupperware, driving on different roads, roofing homes, and candles just to name a few. Many people do not realize how many products contain petroleum that they use every single day. Petroleum was formed over time from dead organic material. The once living organism’s remains were covered by a layer of sediment and over time, the remains were heated and compressed to form petroleum. By no means does this process happen overnight; it happens over hundreds and thousands of years. For that reason, that is why this non-renewable resource is extremely valuable to everyone. A common misunderstanding is that petroleum and gasoline are the same thing. Petroleum has to go through a unique and precise distilling method to obtain all of the byproducts that the resource has to offer.
Before petroleum enters cars, airplanes, roads, and roofs, it must be derived. The distillation process of petroleum is a very precise process that has to be done correctly or else the petroleum will not produce the byproducts that it is supposed to. With petroleum being a non-renewable limited resource, companies cannot afford to have this process done incorrectly. The most important step is to first obtain the petroleum. Once the crude oil is obtained, whether it is from underneath the ocean floor or underground on land, it is sent to an oil refinery. According to the U.S. EIA, the petroleum is then heated and placed in a still. Once it is placed in the still, the distilling process begins. The still is heated up and “different products boil off and are recovered at different temperatures” (U.S. EIA, 2012). In organic chemistry, a common way of deriving compounds to get different byproducts is a distillation method. The object is to heat up the compound and separate the organic and inorganic liquids. The various compound’s vapors that boil off are cooled down and turned into a liquid. Then what is left is an organic and inorganic substance. The same exact method is used when making the various byproducts of petroleum. The byproducts have various boiling points where they can be separated. Dr. Dietmar Kennepohl was a contributor in making a chart that shows all of these boiling points:
Figure 1.1
Kennepohl, Dr. Dietmar. (2018) Chemistry LibreTexts. Retrieved from
https://chem.libretexts.org/Textbook_Maps/Organic_Chemistry/Map%3A_Organic_Chemi
stry_(McMurry)/Chapter_03%3A_Organic_Compounds%3A_Alkanes_and_Their_Stereoc
hemistry/3.8%3A_Gasoline_-_A_Deeper_Look
With this information, oil companies are able to tell the percent yield of each product. The U.S. EIA said that 20 gallons of gasoline, 12 gallons of distillate fuel, and 4 gallons of jet fuel are produced from a 42-gallon barrel of oil (U.S. EIA, 2017). This means that a single barrel of oil produces 48% gasoline, 29% distillate fuel, 10% jet fuel, and the remaining 13% of oil produces other various byproducts. Gasoline is the most commonly used byproduct because it fuels cars; without it, society would be left without the most common way of transportation. In fact, “Society’s dependence on fossil fuels has been blamed for global economic problems and wars” (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2017). Despite all the great uses and worldwide popularity of petroleum, the fossil fuel might actually be doing some damage to the environment as well.
Due to petroleum being used every day throughout the world, there are some consequences that come with it. When petroleum byproducts burn, they burn off different gases that contribute to air pollution. Because of,
“increasing global coal and crude oil production, as well as aviation fuel consumption – rise in strikingly parallel fashion to the rise in global temperature…Currently, air pollution is the leading environmental cause of disease and death worldwide, and…is increasing at an alarming rate” (PR Newswire, 2018).
With the pollution levels increasing daily, there have been many actions taken such as: promoting carpooling, public transportation, biking, and even walking. The actions that were listed were ways to limit the overall use of petroleum-based fuel, but the government wants to make the fuel itself, better for the environment. In order to do this, the government mandated that,
“Ethanol is blended into the gasoline. This is done to boost the octane level to meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements for oxygenated (smog reducing) fuels. Gasoline with 10% ethanol is approved for use by all automotive vehicle manufacturers in the U.S.” (Exxon and Mobil).
Octane is a carbon chain that contains a total of eight carbon atoms. The “octane number of gasoline is a measure of its resistance to knock” (Ophardt, 2003). A “knock” or “ping” is referring to a detonation in the engine. This happens when the “fuel octane [number] is too low for a given compression ratio, the fuel prematurely and spontaneously ignites too early and the fuel charge EXPLODES rather than BURNS resulting in incomplete combustion” (Ophardt, 2003). Controlling the octane level in fuel is extremely important because it determines how efficiently the fuel burns. If the gas does not burn efficiently, it can be a key contributor to air pollution because of the smog it releases. Blending ethanol into pure gasoline is extremely helpful for the environment. By the simple process of blending this alternative fuel, it has been proven to reduce carbon emissions as well as helping to clean an automobile’s engine. Every gas station in the United States sells 10% ethanol gasoline. This is the standard that “meets the EPA requirements for oxygenated fuels” (Exxon and Mobil). According to Dr. Kennepohl, ethanol has an octane rating of 108 (Kennepohl, 2018). When ethanol is blended with gasoline, it causes the overall octane level of the gasoline to increase. With that being said, if the gasoline has a higher octane rating, the fuel will burn more efficiently rather than exploding and giving off the bad carbon emissions. There is a lot of behind the scenes chemistry involved in not only making all of the byproducts of petroleum, but into finding the most efficient burning formula for all of the fuels as well.