Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum

James G. Speight earned a BSc and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Manchester, England. Since 1998, he has been employed at CD&W Inc. as a consultant/author/lecturer on energy and environmental issues. Dr. Speight has more than 40 years of experience in areas associated with the properties and recovery of reservoir fluids. His work has also focused on the environmental effects and remediation technologies related to fossil fuel and synthetic fuel processing. Dr. Speight is the author of more than 400 publications, reports, and presentations and has taught more than 70 courses. He is the author and coauthor of more than 50 books and bibliographies related to fossil fuels, synthetic fuels, biofuels, fuel processing, and environmental issues. He is also the recipient of several awards.

“… Offers a 21st century perspective on the development of petroleum refining technologies. This volume traces the science of petroleum from its subterranean formation to physicochemical properties and the production of numerous products and petrochemical intermediates. Presenting nearly 50 percent new material, this edition emphasizes novel refining approaches that optimize efficiency and throughput. It includes new chapters on heavy oil and tar sand bitumen recovery; deasphalting and dewaxing processes, and environmental aspects of refining, including refinery wastes, regulations and analysis. This text also features revised and expanded coverage of instability and incompatibility, refinery distillation, thermal cracking, hydrotreating and desulfurization, hydrocracking, as well as hydrogen production.” — In Anticancer Research, Vol. 27, No. 3B, May/June 2007

• Part I History, Occurrence, and Recovery. History and Terminology. Classification. Origin and Occurrence. Reservoirs and Reservoir Fluids. Kerogen. Exploration, Recovery, and Transportation. Recovery of Heavy Oil and Tar Sand Bitumen. Part II Composition and Properties. Chemical Composition. Fractional Composition. Petroleum Analysis. Structural Group Analysis. Asphaltene Constituents. Structure of Petroleum. Instability and Incompatibility. Part III Refining. Introduction to Refining Processes. Refining Chemistry. Distillation. Thermal Cracking. Catalytic Cracking. Solvent Processes. Hydrotreating and Desulfurization. Hydrocracking. Hydrogen Production. Product Improvement and Treating. Gas Processing. Petroleum Products. Petrochemicals. Part IV Environmental Issues. Refinery Wastes. Environmental Aspects of Refining. Environmental Analysis. Conversion Factors. Glossary. Index.