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A consumer that purchases gas may never consider the manufacturing process that is used to make the gasoline that fuels a vehicle. However, the manufacturing process plays a major role in getting that fuel to the pumps. The gasoline manufacturing process begins with the crude oil from which the gasoline is extracted, and ends when additives have been placed into the fuel.

Crude oil and gas manufacturing

The gasoline manufacturing process begins with its main ingredient: crude oil. This viscous liquid is the base of all petroleum-derived products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, asphalt, and paraffin wax among dozens of others. Crude oil is a naturally occurring liquid found in rock formations, often deep in the ground. To extract crude oil from the ground, petroleum companies dig deep well bores into the oil reserves and pump it out. The crude oil is then taken to a refinery for the next phase of the gasoline manufacturing process.

Extracting gasoline from crude oil

Once the crude oil arrives at the refinery, the next step in the gasoline manufacturing process is refining it. Most refineries use fractional distillation. The extraction process uses distillation to break crude oil down into different distillates and fuel is one of them.

At the molecular level, crude oil is made up of chains of hydrogen and carbon atoms. These hydrocarbon chains come in different lengths. The longer the chain is, the higher its boiling point. The extraction stage of the manufacturing process takes advantage of these differing boiling points to extract the various distillates from the crude oil.

The distillation process begins by heating crude oil to over 400 degrees Celsius. The heat causes the oil to turn from a liquid to a vapor. The vapor exits the furnace into a distillation tower. The instant the vapor exits the furnace, it begins to cool down. Longer hydrocarbon chains, with a boiling point of over 400 degrees Celsius, are the first to move from vapor to liquid state. The chains exit the tower at the bottom as asphalt or bitumen. As the vapor continues to rise, shorter hydrocarbon chains begin to transition as they reach their boiling points.

When the vapor reaches about 150 degrees Celsius, the hydrocarbon chains that make up gasoline begin to move into liquid state. The gasoline begins to collect on the distillation plates and gets siphoned off into a holding tank for the next step of the manufacturing process.

Placing additives into the gasoline

The raw fuel that comes out of the distillation tower is not yet ready for the gas pump. In the final step of the gasoline manufacturing process, additives go into the fuel to make it ready for consumer use. Certain additives are required by the EPA and state environmental agencies to reduce emissions and improve mileage. Petroleum companies include other additives to give consumers better performance and to differentiate their gasoline from other companies on the market. Once the gasoline has all the required additives, it is ready for the retail fuel market.

If you need wholesale bulk fuel, contact us here at Kendrick Oil. We provide high-quality fuel products and services throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico. Give us a call today at 1(800) 299-3991. You can also connect with us via email by clicking on Contact Us.

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