What do we call tower-look in a refineries, that can process fluids with different kinds of output?

Question

I am having my training on piping designing, am just curious with a tower-look in a refinery that can produce different types of fluids, such as gasoline, diesel, etc... can anybody discuss me about these?Thanks....

Answer 1

These are commonly known as distillation towers or cracking towers,

There is a good video, a bit too expensive, but which gives full technical details (what you want)

at

http://www.ecofootage.com/vs0108.html

Oil Refinery & Storage Tanks:

Oil refinery with distillation towers, piping, vents, storage tanks, and an adjacent residential neighborhood.

5 Stock Video Clips TRT: 1 Minute 29 Seconds

QuickTime File on a DVD or CD NTSC 4:3

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Answer 2

I believe that the tower is called the fractional distallation column.

Crude oil is composed of compounds that have different boiling points and number of carbon atoms.  The crude oil is first heated to around 600º celsius where it boils and is converted into a vapor. The vapor is fed into the bottom the long fractional distallation column that has plates with holes located at various heights inside the column. As the vapor rises, the compounds condense into liquids (depending upon their boiling point and number of carbon atoms). Each plate collects one type of liquid and sends it either to a condensor for further cooling, or on to more chemical processing. The higher boiling point compounds (and the most carbon atoms) are separated before the lower boiling point compounds (and the least carbon atoms).