Descripción del producto

Crude oil is a mixture of comparatively volatile liquid hydrocarbons (compounds composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon), though it also contains some nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. Those elements form a large variety of complex molecular structures, some of which cannot be readily identified. Regardless of variations, however, almost all crude oil ranges from *2 to *7 percent carbon by weight and *2 to *5 percent hydrogen by weight.

 

Crude oils are customarily characterized by the type of hydrocarbon compound that is most prevalent in them: paraffins, naphthenes, and aromatics. Paraffins are the most common hydrocarbons in crude oil; certain liquid paraffins are the major constituents of gasoline (petrol) and are therefore highly valued. Naphthenes are an important part of all liquid refinery products, but they also form some of the heavy asphalt like residues of refinery processes. Aromatics generally constitute only a small percentage of most crudes. The most common aromatic in crude oil is benzene, a popular building block in the petrochemical industry.