mart360

Where in the cracking process does diesel arrive?

I remenber from school many years a go we had a table that showed where a barrel of crude was processed, and at each revision or refining a different set of oil based products were produced.

the reason i ask is that ive just been raped at the pumps for 1.07 a litre for diesel, whereas super unleaded was cheaper :grr:

now i seem to recall that diesel was one of the first products to come from the cracking process, if so why do we get raped for it?


Mart

dpb

Cos ive just forked out for a tdci - and its prolly been detected by Gordo

Tam the bam

I'm no Chemist but I assume it's due to the amount of people buying DERV cars as an alternative to petrol, the ****** in charge, sorry the Government have realised this and the fact they get more MPG than petrol cars and have adjusted the price accordingly, for maximum profit to them

RB5_245

Diesel is defracted later than petrol and is a also less pure product.

However where it comes out has less to with the cost that the demand for the product LPG is one of the first products out and look how cheap that is

Aviation fuel is pretty much very pure diesel, so it's not the only thing coming out of that part of the tower.

warrenm2

you also getting different yields depending on a) what you started with b) the time of year (blends vary with seasons c) the fraction you are aiming for. IIRC correctly automotive diesel is actually a low yielding fraction - aviation fule is kerosene a heavier fraction than automotive diesel I think

warrenm2

ah heres the graphic I needed (lightest at the bottom...
What's In A Barrel of Oil?

Leslie

Interesting to see that one.

Les

Brit_in_Japan

I think I read that the increase in diesel prices is related to a few factors. The percentage of different hydro-carbon products that can be produced the cracking process is largely governed by the type of crude oil used as raw material. There has been a disproportionate increase in demand for diesel in the past 10 years and refineries are simply not able to boost yields of just one hydrocarbon product in the same proportion. The results is under-supply by UK refineries and therefore petrol companies have to go to the open market to secure more supplies. Increasing demand, inflexible supply, classic conditions for price rises.

warrenm2

yes exactly. Current fuel supply price rises are as much to do with refining capacity - there are a lot of refineries going off line currently for maintainance - hence a reduction in the amount of oil that can be processed