PROCESS FOR TREATING CRUDE OIL

摘要

A process for treating a crude oil having a crude oil distillation and a separation step for distilling a crude oil to separate into a distillate oil and a residual oil, a thermal cracking step for subjecting to heat-decomposition the residual oil which is obtained substantially as a bottom fraction from the distillation and separation step, to thereby convert it to a light oil, and a thermally cracked product distillation and separation step for distilling and separating the thermally cracked product from the thermal cracking step, characterized in that the crude oil distillation and separation step and the thermally cracked product distillation and separation step are carried out at the same time in a distillation section comprising a reduced pressure distillation apparatus. The process makes a crude oil treating process more simple and more space-efficient and can reduce the cost for treating. Further, the process can be advantageously employed in a small scale oil refinery.