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Petrochemical Engineering Course
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Petrochemical Engineering Course

Master the full scope of petrochemical engineering, from crude oil characterisation and reaction kinetics to polymer production and process optimisation. This course delivers the technical depth and practical tools that working engineers need to design, evaluate, and improve real petrochemical facilities. Build expertise that spans thermodynamics, separation processes, safety management, and digital analytics.

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What you will learn:

This course covers the entire petrochemical value chain, starting with hydrocarbon chemistry and feedstock selection and advancing through steam cracking, aromatics processing, and polymer production. You will apply thermodynamic principles and reaction engineering methods to size reactors and separation units. Process simulation, heat integration, and economic evaluation techniques are included to support full-plant design decisions. Safety management, instrumentation, and environmental compliance are addressed with the same technical rigour as core process topics. You will also gain practical exposure to digital tools, data analytics, and machine learning applications used in modern petrochemical operations.

How you study in practice Petrochemical Engineering Course

How you practise Petrochemical Engineering Course

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Course content

8 Chapters • 41 LessonsDuration between 4 and 360 hours (you decide)

Chapter 1See details

Foundations of Petrochemical Engineering

  • Lesson 1 • Safety and Environmental Basics

    Introduces hazard identification, process safety fundamentals, and environmental compliance concepts. Establishes a safety-first mindset for all subsequent technical work.

  • Lesson 2 • Overview of the Petrochemical Industry

    Covers industry scale, major product families, and economic drivers. Provides context for all downstream technical content in the course.

  • Lesson 3 • Hydrocarbon Chemistry Fundamentals

    Reviews alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, and functional groups relevant to petrochemicals. Builds chemical literacy needed for process and reaction chapters.

  • Lesson 4 • Natural Gas and NGL as Feedstocks

    Analyses natural gas liquids, ethane, propane, and condensate as petrochemical feedstocks. Links feedstock selection to product yield and economics.

  • Lesson 5 • Crude Oil Composition and Characterization

    Examines crude oil fractions, assay data, and quality parameters. Connects feedstock properties to downstream processing decisions.

Chapter 2See details

Thermodynamics and Transport Phenomena

  • Lesson 1 • Phase Equilibria and Vapour-Liquid Systems

    Examines VLE, flash calculations, and equation-of-state models. Directly supports distillation and separation design in later chapters.

  • Lesson 2 • Mass and Energy Balances

    Teaches steady-state and dynamic balances for single and multi-unit systems. Forms the quantitative backbone of process simulation and design.

  • Lesson 3 • Fluid Flow and Pressure Drop

    Analyses Bernoulli principles, pipe flow, and two-phase flow in process piping. Supports pump and compressor sizing in process design chapters.

  • Lesson 4 • Thermodynamic Laws in Process Systems

    Covers the first and second laws applied to reactors and separators (production separators). Provides the energy accounting framework used throughout process design.

  • Lesson 5 • Heat Transfer in Petrochemical Equipment

    Covers conduction, convection, and radiation in furnaces and heat exchangers. Enables sizing and performance evaluation of thermal equipment.

Chapter 3See details

Chemical Reaction Engineering

  • Lesson 1 • Non-Ideal Flow and Residence Time

    Examines RTD theory, dispersion models, and bypassing effects. Connects real reactor behaviour to performance deviations from ideal models.

  • Lesson 2 • Reactor Heat Management

    Addresses adiabatic temperature rise, heat removal strategies, and runaway prevention. Integrates thermodynamics and kinetics for safe reactor operation.

  • Lesson 3 • Ideal Reactor Models

    Analyses CSTR, PFR, and batch reactor performance equations. Establishes baseline design tools before introducing non-ideal behaviour.

  • Lesson 4 • Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactors

    Covers fixed-bed, fluidised-bed, and moving-bed catalytic reactor design. Directly applicable to reforming, cracking, and hydroprocessing units.

  • Lesson 5 • Reaction Kinetics and Rate Laws

    Covers rate expressions, Arrhenius parameters, and reaction order determination. Provides the kinetic data foundation for all reactor sizing work.

Chapter 4See details

Separation Processes in Petrochemicals

  • Lesson 1 • Distillation Column Design

    Teaches McCabe-Thiele, Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland, and tray hydraulics methods. Core skill for separating olefin, aromatic, and paraffin product streams.

  • Lesson 2 • Membrane Separation Technologies

    Introduces gas permeation and pervaporation membranes for petrochemical applications. Provides modern alternatives to energy-intensive distillation.

  • Lesson 3 • Liquid-Liquid Extraction

    Covers solvent extraction for aromatics recovery and specialty chemical separation. Connects to BTX extraction processes covered in later chapters.

  • Lesson 4 • Absorption and Stripping Operations

    Examines gas-liquid contacting for acid gas removal and solvent recovery. Supports design of amine treating and light-ends recovery units.

  • Lesson 5 • Adsorption and Molecular Sieve Processes

    Analyses fixed-bed adsorption cycles, breakthrough curves, and PSA systems. Relevant to paraxylene recovery and gas purification applications.

Chapter 5See details

Steam Cracking and Olefin Production

  • Lesson 1 • Cold Train and Product Fractionation

    Covers demethaniser, deethaniser, C2 splitter, and C3 splitter sequencing. Produces polymer-grade ethylene and propylene meeting purity specifications.

  • Lesson 2 • Cracked Gas Compression and Treating

    Examines multi-stage compression, acid gas removal, and drying of cracked gas. Prepares the gas stream for cryogenic separation in the cold train.

  • Lesson 3 • Quench and Heat Recovery Systems

    Covers transfer-line exchangers, quench oil towers, and dilution steam generation. Explains energy recovery strategies that reduce overall utility consumption.

  • Lesson 4 • Steam Cracking Fundamentals

    Covers pyrolysis chemistry, severity parameters, and feedstock-yield relationships. Establishes the technical basis for furnace design and operation sections.

  • Lesson 5 • Cracking Furnace Design and Operation

    Analyses radiant coil design, residence time, and steam dilution ratios. Directly links furnace parameters to olefin selectivity and run length.

Chapter 6See details

Aromatics Production and Processing

  • Lesson 1 • BTX Extraction Processes

    Covers sulfolane, Morphylane, and similar solvent extraction processes for benzene, toluene, and xylene recovery. Links extraction efficiency to solvent properties.

  • Lesson 2 • Xylene Isomerisation and Paraxylene Recovery

    Covers xylene isomerisation catalysts, SMB adsorption, and crystallisation for paraxylene. Produces high-purity paraxylene for polyester fibre and PET resin markets.

  • Lesson 3 • Benzene and Styrene Production Routes

    Examines ethylbenzene synthesis and dehydrogenation to styrene. Connects aromatics feedstocks to high-volume polymer intermediates.

  • Lesson 4 • Catalytic Reforming Technology

    Examines naphtha reforming chemistry, catalyst systems, and reactor configurations. Produces the reformate feed for downstream aromatics extraction.

  • Lesson 5 • Toluene Disproportionation and Transalkylation

    Analyses TDP and transalkylation reactions for maximising benzene and xylene yields. Integrates with xylene isomerisation to optimise aromatics complex output.

Chapter 7See details

Polymer and Intermediate Chemical Production

  • Lesson 1 • Polyethylene Production Processes

    Analyses LDPE, HDPE, and LLDPE production via high-pressure and Ziegler-Natta routes. Connects polymer microstructure to process conditions and catalyst choice.

  • Lesson 2 • Vinyl Chloride and PVC Production

    Covers EDC cracking, VCM purification, and suspension PVC polymerisation. Addresses chlorine balance and HCl recovery in the integrated process.

  • Lesson 3 • Acetic Acid, Acrylonitrile, and Caprolactam

    Analyses methanol carbonylation, propylene ammoxidation, and cyclohexanone oxime rearrangement. Covers three high-volume intermediates with distinct reaction chemistries.

  • Lesson 4 • Ethylene Oxide and Glycol Production

    Examines silver-catalysed ethylene oxidation and EO hydration to MEG. Produces key intermediates for polyester, antifreeze, and surfactant industries.

  • Lesson 5 • Polypropylene and Elastomer Production

    Covers bulk, gas-phase, and slurry polypropylene processes and EPDM rubber production. Links catalyst stereospecificity to isotactic polypropylene properties.

Chapter 8See details

Process Design, Integration, and Optimisation

  • Lesson 1 • Process Simulation Tools and Methods

    Introduces steady-state simulation, thermodynamic package selection, and convergence strategies. Enables quantitative flowsheet analysis and design optimisation.

  • Lesson 2 • Process Optimisation Strategies

    Examines linear programming, nonlinear optimisation, and real-time optimisation systems. Connects simulation models to plant-wide performance improvement.

  • Lesson 3 • Heat Integration and Pinch Analysis

    Applies pinch technology to minimise utility consumption in petrochemical complexes. Directly reduces operating costs and carbon intensity of the plant.

  • Lesson 4 • Process Flowsheet Development

    Covers block flow diagrams, PFDs, and P&IDs for petrochemical plants. Builds systematic flowsheet documentation skills used in engineering and operations.

  • Lesson 5 • Economic Evaluation of Process Designs

    Covers capital cost estimation, operating cost analysis, and profitability metrics. Enables engineers to compare process alternatives on an economic basis.

  • Lesson 6 • Sustainability and Carbon Footprint Reduction

    Addresses life cycle assessment, carbon accounting, and low-carbon process modifications. Prepares engineers to meet evolving environmental performance targets.

Certification

Your valid completion certificate

This course is for you:

  • Chemical engineer: wants structured expertise across the full petrochemical production chain.

  • Refinery process engineer: seeks to expand skills into downstream chemical manufacturing roles.

  • Recent engineering graduate: building practical knowledge to accelerate early career progression.

  • Environmental or safety professional: needs deeper process context to strengthen technical credibility.

  • Career changer from energy sector: transitioning into petrochemical engineering with transferable technical background.

  • Plant operations supervisor: aiming to move into process engineering or technical advisory positions.

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