ENGI 8694

Downstream Processing
Winter 2011

Course Outline

Course Objective
This module will introduce various industrial processes by which crude oil and
natural gas are refined into more useful petroleum products. The major contents of
this course include: a) the introduction to petroleum processing and unit operations;
b) the overview of crude oil processing, natural gas processing and upgrading
process; c) introduction to environmental aspects of oil and gas refinery; and d)
prospects for oil and gas refinery. From this module, students are expected to
understand the key features of some important petroleum processes, such as
dehydration, acid gas removal, nitrogen removal and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC)
etc.

Course Schedule
Lectures: Dates: Tuesday & Thursday
Times: 12:30-13:45 PM
Room: EN-2043

Instructor
Dr. Yan Zhang, IIC-1011, Ext. 2309
Email: via D2L only, http://online.mun.ca
Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 15:30-16:30 PM

Teaching Assistant
Mr. Omid Zadakbar
Email: o.zadakbar@mun.ca

Course Notes
Course notes and some reference materials will be available on D2L

Textbook and References

 No textbook
 James G. Speight, The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum, 4th Edition,
CRC Press, New York, 2007.
 Arthur J. Kidnay and William R. Parrish, Fundamentals of Natural Gas
processing, CRC Press, New York, 2006.
 Wiley Critical Content Petroleum Technology, Volume 1, Wiley, Hoboken,
2007.
 James G. Speight, Gas Processing: Environmental Aspects and Methods,
Butterworth-Heinemann, Manchester, 1993.
 James G. Speight, Synthetic Fuels Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008.
available online.

1
Course Outline ENGI 8694
Evaluation:
Project 25%
Midterm (Feb 17) 25%
Final 50%

Detailed Course Outline

Week Lectures
Jan. 6-Jan. 12 Course outline
Introduction
Jan. 13-Jan. 19 Natural gas processing(I)
Jan. 20-Jan. 26 Natural gas processing (II)
Jan. 27-Feb. 2 Oil refinery (I): distillation
Feb. 3-Feb. 9 Oil refinery (II): thermal cracking
Feb. 10-Feb. 16 Oil refinery (III): catalytic cracking
Feb. 17-Mar. 2 Oil refinery (IV): hydroprocessing
Midterm exam (Feb.17)
Mar. 3-Mar. 9 Oil refinery (V): alkylation, isomerisation, polymerization
Mar. 10-Mar. 16 Environmental issue of oil and gas processing
Mar. 17-Mar. 23 Bitumen upgrading process
Mar. 24-Mar. 30 Petrochemical production
Mar. 31-April 5 New technology trend
Review

Course Rules
1. No make-up quiz (exam) except for the final.
2. Attendance in all lectures and tutorials is mandatory. Students are expected to
arrive at lectures on time, and to conduct themselves during class in a professional
and respectful manner that is not disruptive to others
3. Cheating is a scholastic offence. The commission of a scholastic offence is
attended by academic penalties, which might include expulsion from the program.
If you are caught cheating, there will be no second warning.
4. Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated and will entail proportionate
penalization.
5. Cell phones and other electronic communication devices (such as iPods and
Blackberries) are not permitted during exams.