ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on the general layout of a refinery and the interrelationship of the various processes. The thermal cracking processes and the catalytic cracking processes are important aspects of the conversion of the viscous feedstocks (heavy crude oil, extra heavy crude oil, tar sand bitumen, and distillation residua), and while they are the focus of this book, it would be remiss not to include the use of naphtha, kerosene, and gas oil as feedstocks to thermal https://processes.In" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">processes.In order to fully comprehend the function of the various process units within refinery operations, it is necessary to understand the place at which the process units employed and the reason for this employment. This will assist the reader to place thermal cracking processes and the catalytic cracking process in the correct perspective of the refinery, not forgetting that prior to any conversion processes it is necessary to desalt, dewater, and distill the raw (i.e., unrefined) refinery feedstock, as described in the second book of this series.
