Petroleum Refining Course
Master every major process unit in a modern petroleum refinery, from crude distillation and catalytic cracking to hydrogen production and sulfur recovery. This course delivers the technical depth and economic context that refinery engineers, operators, and planners need to make better decisions every day. Whether you are entering the industry or advancing your career, this is the most complete refining education available.
What you will learn:
This course covers the full refinery workflow, starting with crude oil composition and distillation fundamentals and moving through catalytic cracking, hydrotreating, reforming, alkylation, and hydrogen and sulfur management. You will learn how each process unit connects to refinery economics and product specifications. The course also addresses advanced topics including linear programming models, advanced process control, corrosion and materials selection, process safety management, and sustainability strategies. Practical troubleshooting skills are built into every chapter so you can apply knowledge directly to real operational challenges. By the end, you will have a systems-level understanding of how integrated refineries are designed, operated, and optimised for maximum profitability.
How you study in practice Petroleum Refining Course
How you practise Petroleum Refining Course
For companies looking to train their teams
With Dedika for businesses, the course includes exercises and examples tailored to your company and its specific needs.
Course content
8 Chapters • 40 LessonsDuration between 4 and 360 hours (you decide)
Chapter 1HideHide detailsSee detailsFoundations of Petroleum Refining
Foundations of Petroleum Refining
Lesson 1 • Refinery Economics and Margins
Explains crack spreads, refinery margins, and feedstock cost drivers. Provides economic context for operational and investment decisions.
Lesson 2 • Petroleum Products and Specifications
Defines major refined products and their quality specifications. Links product specs to end-use requirements and market demand.
Lesson 3 • Refinery Configuration Overview
Introduces topping, hydroskimming, and complex refinery layouts. Connects configuration choice to crude slate and product demand.
Lesson 4 • Health, Safety, and Environmental Basics
Introduces hazard identification, process safety fundamentals, and environmental compliance concepts. Grounds all subsequent technical content in safe operating principles.
Lesson 5 • Crude Oil Composition and Properties
Covers hydrocarbon classes, heteroatom content, and key physical properties of crude oil. Establishes the chemical basis for all downstream processing decisions.
Chapter 2HideHide detailsSee detailsCrude Distillation and Separation
Crude Distillation and Separation
Lesson 1 • Atmospheric Distillation Unit Operation
Explains preheat train design, furnace operation, and side-draw product recovery. Connects column internals to product cut point control.
Lesson 2 • Vacuum Distillation Unit Operation
Covers vacuum generation, transfer line design, and VGO and residue recovery. Extends atmospheric distillation knowledge to heavy crude fractions.
Lesson 3 • Energy Integration and Heat Recovery
Introduces pinch analysis and heat exchanger network optimisation for crude units. Reduces energy cost while maintaining separation performance.
Lesson 4 • Principles of Distillation
Covers vapour-liquid equilibrium, relative volatility, and tray efficiency fundamentals. Provides the thermodynamic basis for column design and operation.
Lesson 5 • Crude Unit Troubleshooting
Addresses flooding, fouling, and product quality deviations in distillation columns. Builds diagnostic skills applicable to daily operations.
Chapter 3HideHide detailsSee detailsThermal and Catalytic Cracking Processes
Thermal and Catalytic Cracking Processes
Lesson 1 • Cracking Unit Optimisation
Addresses severity tuning, feed quality effects, and catalyst management strategies. Applies process knowledge to maximise margin from cracking units.
Lesson 2 • Thermal Cracking Fundamentals
Explains free-radical mechanisms, coking reactions, and visbreaking chemistry. Establishes the thermal basis before introducing catalytic alternatives.
Lesson 3 • FCC Product Recovery and Fractionation
Explains main fractionator design, gas concentration unit, and product treating. Links reactor performance to final product specifications.
Lesson 4 • Hydrocracking Process and Design
Covers hydrocracking catalysts, reactor configurations, and product selectivity. Compares once-through and recycle modes for different product targets.
Lesson 5 • Fluid Catalytic Cracking Fundamentals
Covers FCC catalyst chemistry, riser reactor design, and regenerator operation. Connects catalyst activity to petrol and LPG yield.
Chapter 4HideHide detailsSee detailsHydrotreating and Hydroprocessing
Hydrotreating and Hydroprocessing
Lesson 1 • Naphtha and Distillate Hydrotreating
Addresses feed-specific challenges for naphtha reformer pretreat and ultra-low-sulphur diesel production. Applies reactor design knowledge to real product targets.
Lesson 2 • Residue and Heavy Feed Hydroprocessing
Covers ebullated-bed and slurry-phase reactors for atmospheric and vacuum residue upgrading. Extends hydrotreating knowledge to the most challenging refinery streams.
Lesson 3 • Reactor Design and Operating Conditions
Covers trickle-bed reactor design, LHSV, pressure, and temperature effects. Connects operating variables to desulphurisation depth and hydrogen consumption.
Lesson 4 • Hydroprocessing Chemistry and Thermodynamics
Covers HDS, HDN, HDM, and olefin saturation reaction pathways and equilibria. Provides the chemical foundation for reactor design and catalyst selection.
Lesson 5 • Hydrotreating Catalysts
Explains catalyst composition, presulphiding, deactivation, and regeneration. Links catalyst management to unit run length and product quality.
Chapter 5HideHide detailsSee detailsCatalytic Reforming and Isomerisation
Catalytic Reforming and Isomerisation
Lesson 1 • Catalytic Reforming Chemistry
Covers dehydrogenation, cyclisation, and isomerisation reactions over bifunctional catalysts. Establishes the chemical basis for octane improvement and hydrogen production.
Lesson 2 • Reformate Fractionation and Aromatics
Covers reformate splitter design and benzene, toluene, and xylene extraction. Links reformer operation to petrochemical feedstock production.
Lesson 3 • Reformer Severity and Optimisation
Addresses RONC targets, hydrogen balance, and catalyst deactivation management. Applies process knowledge to maximise reformer contribution to refinery margin.
Lesson 4 • Light Naphtha Isomerisation
Covers C5/C6 isomerisation catalysts, reactor configurations, and recycle options. Maximises octane from light naphtha without reformer severity.
Lesson 5 • Reformer Reactor and Regeneration Systems
Explains semi-regenerative, cyclic, and continuous catalytic reformer designs. Connects regeneration frequency to severity and catalyst life.
Chapter 6HideHide detailsSee detailsAlkylation, Polymerisation, and Etherification
Alkylation, Polymerisation, and Etherification
Lesson 1 • Petrol Blending Component Optimisation
Integrates alkylate, reformate, isomerate, and ethers into petrol pool management. Maximises octane value while meeting vapour pressure and aromatic limits.
Lesson 2 • Etherification Processes
Covers MTBE, ETBE, and TAME synthesis from isobutylene and isoamylenes over acid resin catalysts. Links etherification to oxygenate blending requirements.
Lesson 3 • Sulphuric Acid Alkylation Units
Explains reactor design, acid strength control, and effluent treating for H2SO4 alkylation. Connects acid management to alkylate quality and safety.
Lesson 4 • Alkylation Chemistry and Mechanisms
Covers carbocation mechanism, isobutane-olefin reactions, and side product formation. Provides the chemical basis for acid catalyst selection and operating conditions.
Lesson 5 • Hydrofluoric Acid Alkylation Units
Covers HF reactor design, acid inventory minimisation, and emergency mitigation systems. Addresses the unique safety requirements of HF alkylation.
Chapter 7HideHide detailsSee detailsHydrogen Production and Sulphur Recovery
Hydrogen Production and Sulphur Recovery
Lesson 1 • Amine Gas Treating
Covers amine solvent selection, absorber-stripper design, and H2S and CO2 removal. Prepares acid gas for Claus sulphur recovery.
Lesson 2 • Claus Sulphur Recovery Process
Explains thermal and catalytic Claus stages, sulphur condensation, and tail gas treating. Achieves high sulphur recovery to meet emission standards.
Lesson 3 • Hydrogen Network Management
Explains hydrogen pinch analysis, purity management, and purge gas recovery. Minimises hydrogen production cost by optimising network flows.
Lesson 4 • Steam Methane Reforming
Covers SMR reaction chemistry, reformer tube design, and shift conversion. Establishes hydrogen production fundamentals for refinery self-sufficiency.
Lesson 5 • Sour Water Stripping
Covers sour water sources, stripper design, and stripped water reuse. Integrates with amine treating and Claus units for complete sulphur management.
Chapter 8HideHide detailsSee detailsRefinery Integration and Advanced Optimisation
Refinery Integration and Advanced Optimisation
Lesson 1 • Refinery Sustainability and Carbon Management
Covers energy efficiency metrics, carbon intensity reduction, and low-carbon hydrogen integration. Positions the refinery for long-term competitiveness under decarbonisation pressure.
Lesson 2 • Refinery Linear Programming Models
Covers LP model structure, stream vectors, and objective function formulation for refinery planning. Connects unit-level knowledge to enterprise-wide optimisation.
Lesson 3 • Debottlenecking and Capacity Expansion
Covers constraint identification, revamp options, and capital cost estimation for capacity projects. Applies economic analysis to unit-level improvement opportunities.
Lesson 4 • Crude Flexibility and Opportunity Crudes
Addresses processing challenges of high-acid, high-sulphur, and tight oil crudes. Maximises margin by expanding the processable crude slate.
Lesson 5 • Advanced Process Control Applications
Explains model predictive control, inferential sensors, and real-time optimisation. Translates process knowledge into automated control strategies.
Your valid completion certificate
This course is for you:
Petroleum engineers: seeking deeper knowledge of downstream processing and refinery economics.
Process operators: wanting to understand the full system behind their daily unit tasks.
Chemical engineers: transitioning from other industries into refining or petrochemicals.
Energy analysts: needing technical grounding to evaluate refinery assets and margins.
Recent graduates: entering the oil and gas sector and building a competitive skill set.
HSE professionals: expanding their technical understanding of the processes they oversee.
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