Question

Refining question

Answer 1

ok so i know that refining is basically separating complex mixtures to simpler mixtures or near pure components using chemical or physical processes

so i know that for example crude oil is a mixture of many different compounds, when refined what of the simpler mixtures would be natural gas

whats near pure components?
correct me if im wrong
@matt101

Answer 2

The pure components are just referring to the individual compounds that were in the complex mixture to begin with. After you refine the mixture you no longer have a mixture but separated compounds. Refining isn't a foolproof process (few separating processes are), so there will still be some impurities in your "pure" component - therefore it's called near pure.

Answer 3

so what your saying is that its basically the simpler mixtures...... like for example natural gas which contains impurities like hydrogen sulfide?

Answer 4

@matt101

Answer 5

ok so im pretty sure what i said was right, but still correct me if im wrong please

ok i have another question and its to do with natural gas refining

1.so i know that raw natural gas is copnsidered sour becuase it is impure as it contains a deadly toxic gas hydrogen sulfide. So it would have to be (i think, correct me if im wrong) chemically refined by reacting with the aqeuos solution diethanolamine to seperate the hydrogen sulfide creating sweet gas.

So would it only react with diethanolamine, or could it react with other aqeuos solutions (other amines), and is there a specific named process for this?

2. So in my notes it said that , you would have to extract the water and the liquid hydrocarbons before chemically refining .....

is there a reason for this? why would it be necessary?

i mean whats the point of doing that first (extracting water and liquid hydrocarbons) when after you get sweet gas you can separate the sweet gas further into its components (hydrocarbons ex: methane, ethane, propane) using fractional distillation or any other process?


3. I know that natural gas is made up of many components, being methane, ethane, propane

its not just composed of these three right? theres more right?


@matt101

Answer 6

Unfortunately I don't know enough about this specific subject to give you confident answers. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will be able to chime in!

Answer 7

I was thinking maybe you know then? @aaronq and thanks anyways @matt101 for your previous answer

Answer 8

and would you guys happen to know what solvent extraction is?

i just know it has to do with solubility.....

Answer 9

Extraction is the process of separating out (extracting) a solute of interest from a mixture. The two main kinds of extraction are liquid-liquid extraction (partitioning) and solid-phase extraction.

Liquid-liquid extraction is done based on the relative solubilities of the solute of interest in two immiscible (non-mixing) liquids (usually one aqueous or water-based liquid and one organic liquid). You are using a liquid to extract the solute of interest. This might be hard to visualize, so I found this link that walks you through an example: http://www.chem.ualberta.ca/~orglabs/Interactive%20Tutorials/separation/Theory/theory1_1.htm

Solid-phase extraction is done by passing the mixture through some sort of column that has a high affinity for the solute but not the solvent. As the mixture passes through, the solute gets stuck inside the column while the solvent continues to pass through, becoming "pure" solvent by the time it leaves the column and leaving all the solute stuck in the column. You are using a solid (the column) to extract the solute of interest.

If you have any questions about this please let me know!