Bitumen production from crude oil

Bitumen production from crude oil

Bitumen production from crude oil is placed at ambient pressure and at a temperature of 300 to 350 degrees to separate its light components such as gasoline and kerosene. On the other hand, the heavy components of oil, which are bitumen, lubricating oils, etc., because they consist of hydrocarbons with high molecular weight, are discharged from the lower part of the tower. To separate these heavy components, temperatures above 400 degrees Celsius are used; Because the high temperature breaks the molecules and causes bitumen and their thermal destruction. As a result, to prevent this, the pressure inside the tower must be reduced. The residue of the atmospheric distillation tower is heated from 400 to 350 °C in the furnace and later enters the vacuum distillation tower. Then, in the process of passing water vapor, light volatile substances are separated and purified in disturbed columns. Finally, the non-volatile materials, whose main part is bitumen, are removed from the end of the column.