Uses of oil
Oil is an important energy source in the modern world.
By applying the refining processes, a wide range of commercial products can be made available to the consumer.
- Energy: specific fuels for transport, agriculture, industry, electricity generation and domestic use.
- Special products: lubricants, paraffins, asphalts, greases for vehicles and products for industrial use.
- Raw materials for the basic petrochemical industry: plastics, acrylics, gloves, paints, miscellaneous packaging, detergents, textile fibres, insecticides, etc.
Facts about oil:
- The Chinese were already drilling wells with bamboo up to 2000 m to extract water with salt and oil.
- The “sea fire” used by the oil-based Byzantine Empire inspired the “Valyrian fire” of the Games of Thrones series.
- The internal combustion engine mimics cellular combustion (respiration) by using the breaking of the bonds of hydrocarbon molecules to release energy. The engine has an efficiency of 37%, our cells 100%.
- 30 billion barrels of oil are consumed annually. One barrel = 159 litres, equivalent to 4.8 km3.
- Currently, new technologies allow oil to be extracted from other types of sediments, so reserves have increased enormously.
