Gasoline



Background

Gasoline is a volatile, flammable liquid obtained from the refinement of petroleum, or crude oil. It was originally discarded as a byproduct of kerosene production, but its ability to vaporize at low temperatures made it a useful fuel for many machines. The first oil well in the United States was struck by Edwin L. Drake near Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859 at a depth of almost 70 feet (21 m). With the development of the four-stroke internal combustion engine by Nikolaus Otto in 1876, gasoline became essential to the automotive industry. Today, almost all gasoline is used to fuel automobiles, with a very small percentage used to power agricultural equipment and aircraft.

Petroleum, a fossil fuel, supplies more energy to the world today than any other source. The United States is the world's leading consumer of petroleum; in 1994, Americans used 7,587,000 barrels of oil per day. Petroleum is formed from the remains of plants and animals that have been held under tremendous pressure for millions of years. Ordinarily, this organic matter would decompose completely with the help of scavengers and aerobic bacteria, but petroleum is created in an anaerobic environment, without the presence of oxygen. Over half of the world's known crude oil is concentrated in the Persian Gulf basin. Other major areas include the coasts of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

Petroleum products, including gasoline, are primarily a mixture of hydrocarbons (molecules containing hydrogen and carbon molecules) with small amounts of other substances. Crude oil is comprised of different lengths of hydrocarbon chains, with some short chains and some very long chains. Depending on how much the oil is broken down, or refined, it may become any number of products. In general, the smaller the molecule, the lower the boiling point. Therefore, gas, with very small chains of one to five carbons, boils at a very low temperature. Gasoline, with 6-10 carbons, boils at a slightly higher temperature. The heaviest oils may contain up to 25 carbon atoms and not reach their boiling point until 761°F (405°C).

Raw Materials

Gasoline is one of the products derived from distilling and refining petroleum. Compounds of organic lead were added to gasoline in the past to reduce knocking in engines, but due to environmental concerns this is no longer common. Other chemicals are also added to gasoline to further stabilize it and improve its color and smell in a process called "sweetening."

The Manufacturing
Process

Exploration

Drilling

Recovery

Fractional distillation

Refining petroleum

Additives

Rating gasoline

Byproducts/Waste

On average, 44.4% of petroleum becomes gasoline. There really are no waste products from petroleum. The lighter chemicals are natural gas, liquified petroleum gas (LPG), jet fuel, and kerosene. The heavier products are used for the manufacture of lubricants, plastics, and asphalt. In addition, many less valuable products can be chemically converted into more saleable compounds.

The Future

Gasoline, though widely used in many applications today, is destined to become a fuel of the past because petroleum is a nonrenewable resource. Current technology centers on making the most of the remaining petroleum reservoirs and exploring alternative energy sources. New methods to accurately determine the extent of oil reservoirs, automated systems to control oil recovery, and ways of enabling workers to recover more oil from known reservoirs are all being investigated to fully utilize the oil stores available today.

The newest methods in oil field exploration measure the physical size of the reservoir and its volume of oil. Frequently, the pressure inside the well is measured over a period of time as the oil is recovered. Using this data, scientists can determine the size of the reservoir and its permeability. An echo meter, which bounces sound waves off the sides of the reservoir, can also be used to discover the well's characteristics.

Modern oil recovery methods are most often controlled, at least in part, by computerized systems. SCADA (Systems for Supervisory Control of Data Acquisitions) use specialized software to monitor operations through one or more master terminals and several remote terminals. These systems increase efficiency, help prevent mishaps that could harm the environment, and reduce the number of laborers with increased safety.

Enhanced oil recovery methods increase the percentage of oil that can be obtained from a reservoir. In the past, workers were able to extract less than half of the oil contained in a reservoir. New methods involve injecting gases or foams into the well to force out the oil, drilling horizontally into the well, and using more geophysical information to accurately predict the characteristics of the reservoir.

Because gasoline is produced from a limited supply of petroleum, scientists are looking for clean, renewable sources of energy to power machines of the future. Steam power, used in the steamboats of the past, is an energy source that is receiving renewed attention. Electric vehicles have been developed, and solar and wind energies are also powering cars and homes.

Where To Learn More

Book

Shilstone, Beatrice. The First Book of Oil. Franklin Watts, Inc., 1969.

Periodicals

Gibbs, L.M. "The Changing Nature of Gasoline." Automotive Engineering, January 1994, pp. 99-102.

Langreth, Robert. "Less Smog, More Buildup?" Popular Science, April 1995, p. 36.

"Getting the Lead Out." Motor Trend, April 1992, pp. 106-107.

Barry Marton /

Kristine M. Krapp



Also read article about Gasoline from Wikipedia

User Contributions:

1
S.C. Messner
In the refinement process where does "diesel" come into play?
2
larry primer
When refining oil for gasoline, where does the diesel come from? Which stage of the Fractional distillation does it derive from? Is the main reason for refining crude oil to get gas?
3
Tomy
Short and precise explanation. Nice job. Appreciate that ;)

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