ABSTRACT
The petroleum industry has had a remarkable history, beginning with the fantastic growth in oil discovery and the consistent development of ever increasingly sophisticated technology. As demand for various products for transportation and other uses grew exponentially, the technology of refining grew to meet the challenges. Crude oil, which consists of thousands of compounds, had to be separated into useful products and, ultimately, portions (cuts) in a particular boiling-point range had to be reacted to produce more valuable, lower boiling-point products. Undesirable portions had to be treated to remove or alter the offending compounds. Many of the necessary processes that were created required high temperature and pressure as well as other severe conditions. The refining industry became the pioneer in developing safe pressure vessels and many other process equipment items as well as a more scientific approach to catalyst development and application and reactor design techniques.
