专业英语培训内容1. A World without Oil假如世界上没有石油Have you ever stopped to think how your life would change if the world ran out of oil? Take a look at your day. The roof of your home is probably made waterproof by an oil product, bitumen. The same product is used for the road surface outside your home. Before you leave to go to work or school, just examine your surroundings. Is the room warmer than the cold air outside? oil , or electricity from oil-fed generators may be keeping you comfortably warm. If you are comfortably cool in a tropical climate, your air conditioning unit may also depend on oil-fed generators.In the kitchen and the bathroom you will probably see some plastic fittings, such as tiles and working surfaces; polystyrene cups; curtains made from synthetic materials; disinfectants and detergents. All owe their origin to the oil known as petroleum。
Latin/Greek 'petra', rock, and Latin 'oleum', oil), found deep in the earth. Look inside the medicine cupboard for more petroleum products, medical paraffin and petroleum jelly. Cosmetics such as face creams, lipsticks and hair preparations are often based on petroleum.。
When you're out, notice the fields and gardens. Fertilizers and insecticides made from petroleum can improve crop production. Recently protein feeds for animals have been developed by growing yeast in a petroleum based stock.As you head for your bus, train or car, all of which use petroleum products in the form of fuel to move them and lubricants to keep them in working order. take a look in the mirror. What are you wearing today? A polyester shirt or dress, nylon socks or stockings, and acrylic sweater - a raincoat of PVC (polyvinyl chloride)? All of these are based on petroleum products.Scientists predict that the world's 'known oil resources will run out early in the next century. But long before then the world will have to decide on its priorities. Can we afford to use so much of our limited petroleum supplies for private motoring? Should airlines compete on similar routes allowing planes to fly long distances with empty passenger seats? What alternative energy resources can be developed?。
There is an old English saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention,"which means that when you are faced with a need you will discover some way of fulfilling it. Already scientists are proposing some fascinating solutions. There is one suggestion that thewheeled traffic and the footsteps of crowds walking the streets in major cities could generate energy.One company has presented an idea in which metal strips inserted in pavements and roads operate fly wheels by mean of a piston action using hydraulic fluid. They say the human and wheeled traffic in a busy city center could provide enough energy to light the streets of an entire town or power the heating system for a hospital or school.Some people are developing sophisticated versions of the windmill. Engines can run on alcohol, so surplus sugar cane could be used to produce energy. An air ship powered by energy from the sun has been suggested. Such "sun ship" would have a large enough surface area to carry the enormous number of solar cells necessary to move any appreciable load. Such "sun ship" might travel at over one hundred kilometers an hour. In such circumstances, of course, the tropical parts of the world would have a head start in the race to find new energy sources.2. An Introduction to Distillation蒸馏概述Petroleum refining is the separation of petroleum into fractions and the subsequent treating of these fractions馏分to make them into petroleum products. Most petroleum products, including kerosenes, fuel oils, lubricating oils, and waxes, are fractions of petroleum that have been treated to remove undesirable components .Other products, for example, gasolines, aromatic solvents, and even some asphalts, are totally or partly synthetic in that they have compositions that are impossible to achieve by direct separation of these materials from crude petroleum. They result from chemical processes that change the molecular nature of selected portions of crude petroleum; in other words, they are the products of refining or they are refined products.Refining petroleum is a complex series of steps by which the original crude material is eventually converted into salable products with the desired qualities and, perhaps more important, in the amounts dictated by the market.In fact, a refinery is essentially a group of manufacturing plants that vary in number with the variety of products produced; refinery processes must be selected and products manufactured to give a balanced operation: that is, crude oil must be converted into products according to the rate of sale of each. For example, the manufacture of products from the lower boiling portion of petroleum automatically produces a certain amount ofhigher boiling components. If the latter cannot be sold as, say, heavy fuel oil, they accumulate until refinery storage facilities are full .To prevent the occurrence of such a situation, the refinery must be flexible and able to change operations as needed. This usually means more processes --a cracking process to change an excess of heavy fuel oil into more gasoline with coke as the residual product or a vacuum distillation process to separate the heavy oil into lubricating oil stocks and asphalt --to accommodate the ever-changing demands of the market.In addition, a complete refining installation must include the following: all necessary non-processing facilities; adequate tankage for storing crude oil, intermediate, and finished products; a dependable source of electrical power, material-handling equipment; workshops and supplies for maintaining a continuous 24 h/day, 7 day/week operation; waste disposal and water-treating equipment; and product-blending facilities.In the early stages of refinery development, when illuminating and lubricating oils were the main products, distillation was the major and often only refinery process. At that time, gasoline was a minor, but more often unwanted, product. As the demand for gasoline increased, conversion processes were developed because distillation could no longer supply the necessary quantities.Nevertheless , distillation has remained a major refinery process and a process to which just about every crude that enters the refinery is subjected. A multitude of separations are accomplished by distillation, but its most important and primary function in the refinery is its use for the separation of crude oil into component fractions.Thus it is possible to obtain products ranging from gaseous materials taken off the top of the distillation column to a heavy residue or "bottom", which is usually nonvolatile, with correspondingly lighter materials taken off at intermediate points. However. the majority of crude oils, and this applies to the heavier, more viscous粘性的petroleums, which are processed by distillation, are usually separated into the lighter fractions (gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, and gas oil) and the bottom or, as it is more generally called, the reduced crude.The reduced crude may then be processed by vacuum or steam distillation to separate the high-boiling lubricating oil fractions without the danger of decomposition, which occurs at high (>350℃,660℉) temperatures. Indeed, atmospheric distillation may be terminated with a lower boiling fraction ("cut") if it is thought that vacuum or steam distillation will yield a better quality product or if the process appears to be economically more favorable.3. An Introduction to PetrochemicalsThe petroleum era was ushered in by the 1859 finding at Titusville, Pennsylvania, but the flourishing of chemicals from petroleum has been only since the early twentieth century. Natural gas and petroleum are in fact our chief sources of hydrocarbons. Natural gas is quite variable in composition, but the major constituent (>60%) is methane. Other components are the homologous alkanes, ethane, propane, and higher hydorcarbons. In terms of volume, most of the natural gas produced is used for fuel, although a substantial amount is used as raw material for the synthesis of various types of chemicals.The chemical industry depends very heavily on petroleum, natural gas, and natural gas liquids as sources of raw materials. It is likely that in excess of 90% of the literally thousands of different basic organic chemicals employed today are derived from these sources.The petrochemical industry has grown with the petroleum industry and is considered by some to be a mature industry. However, as is the case with the latest trends .in changing crude oil types, it must also evolve to meet changing technological needs.The manufacture of chemicals or chemical intermediates from petroleum and natural gas constituents is an excellent example of the conversion of such materials to more valuable products. The individual chemicals made from petroleum and natural gas are numerous and include industrial chemicals, household chemicals, fertilizers, and paints, as well as intermediates for the manufacture of products, such as synthetic rubber and plastics.The processing of petroleum hydrocarbon to yield materials that are, essentially, the building blocks of other chemicals industries, is now very extensive.Petrochemicals are generally chemical compounds derived from petroleum either by direct manufacture or by indirect manufacture as by-products from the variety of processes that are used during the refining of petroleum. Gasoline, kerosine, fuel oils, Lubricating oils, waxes, asphalts, and the like are excluded from the definition of petrochemicals, since they are not, in the true sense, chemical compounds but are in fact intimate mixtures of hydrocarbons.The classification of materials such as petrochemicals is used to indicate the sourceof the chemical compounds, but it should be remembered that many common petrochemicals can be made from other sources, and the terminology is therefore a matter of source identification.The starting materials for the petrochemical industry are obtained from crude petroleum in one of two general ways. They may be present in the virgin petroleum and as such, are isolated by physical methods, such as distillation or solvent extraction. On the other hand, they may be present in trace amounts and are synthesized during the refining operations. In fact, unsaturated hydrocarbons, which are not usually present in virgin petroleum, are nearly always manufactured as intermediates during the various refining sequences.The manufacture of chemicals from petroleum is based on the ready response of the various compound types to basic chemical reactions, such as oxidation, halogenation, nitration, dehydrogenation, addition, polymerization, and alkylation. The low-molecular-weight paraffins and olefins, as found in natural gas and refinery gases, and the simple aromatic hydrocarbons have so far been of the most interest because it is these individual species that can readily be isolated and dealt with. A wide range of compounds is possible, many are being manufactured, and we are now progressing the stage in which a sizable group of products is being prepared from the heavier fractions of petroleum. For example, the various reactions of petroleum heavy ends, in particular the asphaltenes, indicate that these materials may be regarded as chemical entities and are able to participate in numerous chemicaI or physical conversions to, perhaps, more useful materials.The overall effect of these modifications is the production of materials that either afford good-grade aromatic cokes comparatively easily or the formation of products bearing functional groups that may be employed as a nonfuel material.For example, the sulfonated and sulfomethlated materials and their derivatives have satisfactorily undergone tests as drilling mud thinners, and the results are comparable to those obtained with commercial mud thinners. In addition, these compounds may also find use as emulsifiers for the in sim recovery of heavy oils. There are also indications that these materials and other similar derivatives of the asphaltenes, especially those containing such functions as carboxylic or hydroxyl, readily exchange cations and could well compete with synthetic zeolites. Other uses of the hydroxyl derivatives and/or the chloroasphaltenes include high-temperature packings or heat transfer media,Reactions incorporating nitrogen and phosphorus into the asphaltenes are particularly significant at a time when the effects on the environment of many materials containing these elements are receiving considerable attention. Various measures have been and will be taken to release such effects.Nevertheless, the main objective in producing chemicals from petroleum is the formation of a variety of well-defined chemical compounds that are the basis of the petrochemical industry. It must be remembered, however, that ease of separation of a particular compound from petroleum does not guarantee its use as a petrochemical building block. Other parameters, particularly the economics of the reaction sequences, including the costs of the reactant equipment, must also be taken into consideration.Words and Expressions of the petrochemical industry. It must be remembered, however, that ease of separation of a particular compound from petroleum does not guarantee its use as a petrochemical building block. Other parameters, particularly the economics of the reaction sequences, including the costs of the reactant equipment, must also be taken into consideration.4.Better Refinery Gas Utilization1.Refinery gas is mostly methane and hydrogen produced as a by-product in the many refining processes. Traditionally, refinery gas is utilized as plant fuel gas to fire process heaters and to generate process steam and power. In the past there were no economical alternative uses for this gas because its market value was controlled by the price of natural gas which was very low. Today, however, natural gas prices are moving toward low sulfur fuel value. Therefore, refinery gas is quickly becoming a valuable product which must be utilized in only premium applications.2.The refinery gas analysis, yield, variability, and best utilization varies greatly with every specific refinery. However, as natural gas proceeds toward deregulation, a general forced ranking of the best to the worst refinery gas uses is beneficial. We consider the following application the best use of refinery gas in decreasing order:Hydrogen for hydroprocessingSynthesis gas for chemicalsFuel gas for radiant heatingNatural gas for export salesFuel gas for combustion turbine shaft powerFuel gas for steam generation3.The most valuable use of refinery gas is for hydrogen production. The decline in crude quality and changing refinery product markets is increasing the hydrogen requirements of oil refineries. Hydrogen can be effectively and economically recovered from the refinery gas by cryogenics, pressure swing absorption, or semipermeable membranes. The methane-enriched refinery gas from hydrogen separation can then be steam reformed to meet any additional hydrogen requirements. Our detailed technical and economic analyses indicate that steam methane reforming (SMR) is the lowest cost source of hydrogen even at relatively high methane values. SMR is a cheaper hydrogen source than even low value alternative feedstocks such as high sulfur residue, high sulfur coke, or coal.4.the second most valuable use of refinery gas is the production of synthesis gas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) for the manufacture of chemicals such as methanol. Large scale testing of methanol as a primary engine fuel continues, with impressive results. Important research and development advances are being made on the chemistry and catalysis of synthesis gas reactions for the manufacture of other chemicals, essentially all these chemicals have a much higher value than gasoline. However, they must meet the potential competition from products currently made via ethylene or from imports produced from low priced remote natural gas.5.The third best use of refinery gas is as fuel gas to fire radiant-type process furnaces. This type of heat transfer is commonly used in oil refinery processes to meet the high temperature requirements of most processes, plus the necessary high heat transfer rate and heat flux control, and for ease of decoking. The use of refinery gas has a number of technical and operability advantages over direct combustion of coal or coke for radiant process heating. Efficient use of refinery gas for this application required recovery of the lower level heat by convection-type heat transfer. Therefore, he process feed, combustion air, and fuel gas should be preheated as much as possible before considering steam generation in the convection section.6.The fourth best use of refinery gas is purification and sale as natural gas, if the market value of the as (on an energy basis) is near that of low sulfur fuel oil. This situation already exists in Europe and Japan. After natural gas deregulation, this situation may also develop in the United States. Purification of the refinery gas to produce substitute naturalgas is relatively easy, especially if hydrogen is already being recovered from the raw refinery gas.7.A lower value use of refiner gas is to generate shaft power. Purchased electricity is usually a lower cost option if utilities in the area generate most of the electricity from coal. If the electricity price is high enough to warrant the consideration of making shaft power from premium fuel like refinery gas, it is likely that the local utility is making making much of the electricity from premium fuels such as natural gas or low sulfur fuel oil. In most cases the combustion of coal or coke to generate steam will be the first alternative to purchased electricity. Nevertheless, refinery gas might be effective for shaft power if utilized efficiently. Specifically, the flue gas leaving the combustion turbine exhaust is about 1000 F and still contains 12-15 vol.% oxygen. This gas should be effectively utilized as preheated oxidant to steam methane reforming furnaces or to other large radiant-type process furnaces. Steam generation from this hot flue gas is a last resort option.8.The lowest value use of refinery gas is direct combustion, specifically to cogenerate steam and power. It is usually more economical to generate steam from coal or coke because of their much lower value relative to refinery gas. It must be noted, however, that refinery gas usually generates a certain amount of steam in the convection section of refinery gas-fired radiant furnaces.5. Oill. The existence of oil wells has been known for a long time. Some of theIndians of North America used to collect and sell the oil from the wells of Pennsylvania. No one, however, seems to have realized the importance of this oil until it was found that paraffin-oil could be made from it; this led to the development of the wells and to the making of enormous profits. When the internal combustion engine was invented, oil became of worldwide importance.2. What was the origin of the oil which now drives our motor-cars and aircraft?Scientists are confident about the formation of coal, but they do not seem so sure when asked about oil. They think that the oil under the surface of the earth originated in the distant past, and was formed from living things in the sea. Countless billions of minute sea creatures and plants lived and sank to the sea bed.They were covered with huge deposits of mud; and by processes of chemistry,pressure and temperature were changed through long ages into what we know as oil. For there creatures to become oil, it was necessary that they should be imprisoned between layers of rock for an enormous length of time. The statement that oil originated in the sea is confirmed by a glance at a map showing the chief oilfield of the world; very few of them are far distant from the oceans of today. In some places gas and oil come up to the surface of the sea from its bed. The rocks in which oil is found are of marine origin too. They are sedimentary rocks, rocks which were laid down by the action of water on the bed of the ocean. Almost.always the remains of shells, and other proofs of sea life, are found close to the oil.A very common sedimentary rock is called shale, which is a soft rock and was obviously formed by being deposited on the sea bed. And where there is shale there is likely to be oil.3. Geologists, scientists who study rocks, indicate the likely places to the oil drillers. In some cases oil comes out of the ground without any drilling at all and has been used for hundreds of years. In the island of Trinidad the oil is in the form of asphalt, a substance used for making roads. Sir Walter Raleigh visited the famous pitch lake of Trinidad in 1595; it is said to contain nine thousand million tons of asphalt. There are probably huge quantities of crude oil beneath the surface.4. The king of the oil field is the driller. He is a very skilled man. Sometimes he sends his drill more than a mile into the earth. During the process of drilling, gas and oil at great pressure may suddenly be met, and if this rushes out and catches fire, the oil well may never be brought into operation at all. This danger is well known and steps are always taken to prevent it. '5. There is a lot of luck in drilling for oil. The drill may just miss the oi although it is near; on the other hand, it may strike oil at a fairly high level. When the drill goes down, it brings up soil. The samples of soil from various depths ar{ examined for traces of oil. If they are disappointed at one place, the drillers go to another. Great sums of money have been spent, for example in the deserts of Egyp in 'prospecting' for oil. Sometimes little is found. When we buy a few gallons oJ petrol for out cars, we pay not only the cost of the petrol, but also part of the cosl of the search that is always going on.6. When the crude oil is obtained from the field, it is taken to the refineries to be treated. The commonest form of treatment is heating. When the oil is heated, the first vapors to rise are cooled and become the finest petrol. Petrol has a low boiling point; if alittle is poured into the hand, it soon vaporizes. Gas that comes off the oil later is condensed into paraffin. Last of all the lubricating oils of various grades are produced. What remaihs is heavy oil that is used as fuel.7. There are four main areas of the world where deposits of oil appear. Thefirst is that of the Middle East, and includes the regions near the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, another is the area between North and South America, and the third, between Asia and Australia, includes the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java.8. The forth area is the part near the North Pole. When all the present oi!fields are exhausted, it is possible that this cold region may become the scene of oil activity. Yet the difficulties will be great, and the costs may be so high that no company will undertake the work. If progress in using atomic power to drive machines is fast enough, it is possible that oil-driven engines may give place to the new kind of engine. In that case the demand for oil will fall, the oilfields will gradually disappear, and the deposits at the North Pole may rest where they are for ever.6. SO2 Emission Reduction 降低二氧化硫排放1.Throughout the world, pollutant emission standards for combustion plants have become increasingly strict over the past ten years. This has stimulated interest in different approaches to reducing these emissions. The principal emissions from coal-fired combustion plants are mainly sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate. Sulfur dioxide reduction can be achieved in many different ways. These methods can be classified on the basis of the waste, or product produced, after the scrubbing of flue gas. In the wet flue gas desulfurization method, the product of desulfurization is in the form of a solution or sludge and in the dry system is ‘dry gas’. In general wet methods are further divided into regenerative and non-regenerative processes. Among regenerative processes, the wellmanlord process is based upon using a concentrated solution of sodium sulfite. This solution is contacted with flue gas in an absorber and sodium sulfite is reclaimed in the evaporator by separation of the rich stream of SO2. The other well-known regenerative process is citrate process. It has two versions. In both a scrubbing solution of sodium citrate is used, but they differ in regeneration step. The buffering action of citrate maintains the pH in the range3.5-5.0. regeneration is carried out by stream stripping or reaction withH2S. Among non-regenerative processes, the lime or limestone is added to flue gas and the reaction follows gas/liquid, Liquid/liquid and liquid/solid. Gypsum is the product of the process.2.the dry processes include spray drying, convective or pass injection, post-furnace injection of sodium compounds and furnace sorbent injection. In spray drying, droplets of a slurry of CaOH is introduced from the top, and a dry product results, after its contact with flue gas. In convective or pass injection, powdered hydrated calcitic or dolomitic lime is injected near the economizer inlet. The SO2 capture occurs as sorbent and flue gas passes through economizer. In post-furnace injection sodium compounds like sodium bicarbonate are used. Upon injection they decompose to form sodium carbonate, which reacts with SO2 to form sodium sulfate. In furnace sorbent injection the limestone or dolomite is injected with or without coal in the high temperature zone of the combustor where calcination and sulfation takes place and as a result removal of SO2 is achieved.3.The most widely investigated method nowadays for in-furnace reduction of SO2 from power plant emissions is by the use of a dry sorbent-like limestone. However, previous studies have demonstrated that other additives such as ammonia gas and liquor are also capable of reducing SO2 and Nox emissions. The use of ammonia gas under high inventory of oxygen (due to air staging) for the reduction of SO2 emissions is a new aspect of this work. The staged combustion of coal is a condition where the combustor air is divided into a primary and secondary stream. A higher proportion of primary air is introduced to the bottom of the combustor through the air distributor, and the secondary air is introduced higher up in the freeboard area of the combustor via a secondary air injector, all the coal is injected in the lower part of the bed. The distributor has multihole projections to maintain a uniform distribution of air. The area above the bed where combustion is completed is called the freeboard, the primary air fluidizes the bed of sand particles, and by changing its flow rates, the desired fluidizing velocity (superficial gas velocity) can be set. All the coal is injected into the bed at a certain rate. The rate of coal feed and fluidizing air maintains the bed’s stoichiometric conditions. If the air exceeds the stoichiometric requirement of coal, the combustor is in an overall excess air mode as in a conventional operation. Due to fluidization, the static bed of sand particles expands and the height of the expanded bed depends upon the fluidizing velocity7. Long-term Environmental Monitoring 环境的长期监控1.Continuity and reliability in information is only assured if it is gathered or produced in a consistent and well documented manner. The most detailed examples are in the chemical sciences where an analytical measurement is the result of following a precisely defined method or process. Deviation from the method or its components will often compromise the outcome and adherence to specification and is therefore critical for ensuring reliability of results. In many cases, the way in which the component parts of an experiment or data collection exercise are combined is as important as the correct implementation of the individual parts, and this aspect is often susceptible to operator differences in interpretation. To ensure similarity in scientific investigation or monitoring, nationally and internationally agreed standards are being introduced. Several systems of documenting experimental methods and procedures are in use today and are becoming increasingly important for indication data quality and verifying the integrity of studies. One such approach is Good Laboratory Practice which was introduced in 1982 by the Health and Safety Executive to monitor the testing of industrial chemicals. Since 1982 the range of laboratories inspected has been extended to include those working with pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, cosmetics and food additives. Good Laboratory Practice is concerned with the way laboratory of field studies are planned, monitored, recorded and reported and the conditions under which this occurs. Following the principles of GLP ensures that the studies are properly planned, can be adequately carried out and are fully and accurately reported. As part of the planning, execution and reporting of a study, the various processes carried out are carefully documented as Standard Operating Procedures.2.The value of long-term observation of environmental factors has only been recognized relatively recently although some monitoring of the environmental factors have been in existence for over a century. The best known long-term study is probably the Broadbalk Experiment at Rothamsted. Broadbald and the other long-term experiments at Rothamsted and elsewhere are now proving to be extremely valuable by answering questions not considered, nor even conceived, when they were originally set up. Even so they are limited in geographically, have in the main been set up to measure just one aspect of the environment. In contrast, the Environmental Change Network (ECN) was set up to give added value to long-term monitoring and data collection by providing a network。