石油炼制Oil refinery

第一步是分馏：原油加热到约 350–400 °C 后进入常压塔，按沸点范围分出液化气、石脑油、煤油、柴油；塔底重油再进入减压塔，在较低温度下分出蜡油和渣油，避免高温裂解。第二步是转化：通过裂化把重组分变轻，通过重整提高汽油辛烷值。第三步是精制：加氢脱除硫、氮等杂质，满足环保标准。

The first step is fractionation: crude heated to about 350–400 °C enters the atmospheric column and is split by boiling range into LPG, naphtha, kerosene and diesel; the bottoms go to a vacuum column, which separates gas oil and residue at lower temperature to avoid thermal cracking. The second step is conversion: cracking makes heavy fractions lighter and reforming raises gasoline octane. The third is finishing: hydrotreating removes sulfur, nitrogen and other impurities to meet environmental standards.

19 世纪中叶，人们蒸馏石油主要为了得到照明用的煤油。1913 年伯顿发明热裂化，大幅提高汽油产量以满足汽车需求。1937 年胡德利催化裂化工业化，1942 年流化床催化裂化（FCC）投产，成为现代炼油的核心装置。1950 年代以后，铂重整、加氢裂化和分子筛催化剂相继出现。

In the mid-nineteenth century oil was distilled mainly for lamp kerosene. Burton's thermal cracking of 1913 greatly raised gasoline yields for the growing car fleet. Houdry catalytic cracking was commercialised in 1937, and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) started in 1942, becoming the heart of modern refining. Platinum reforming, hydrocracking and zeolite catalysts followed from the 1950s.

一桶原油（约 159 L）通常产出近一半的汽油和柴油。炼油厂还为乙烯、丙烯、芳烃等石化产品提供原料。炼油是重要的能源消耗和排放来源，现代炼厂通过脱硫、硫磺回收和能量集成减少污染，并逐步加工生物原料。

A barrel of crude (about 159 L) typically yields close to half its volume as gasoline and diesel. Refineries also supply feedstocks for ethylene, propylene and aromatics. Refining is a major consumer of energy and source of emissions; modern plants cut pollution with desulfurisation, sulfur recovery and heat integration, and increasingly co-process bio-based feeds.