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Kansas Department of Health and EnvironmentBureau of Environmental Remediation/Remedial Section

Developed By: Aspen Junge June 30, 2010

Petroleum Refining: A 125 Year Kansas LegacyK

AN

SAS DEPARTMENTO

F

KDHE

Kansans have been trying to gather andmarket petroleum since before Kansas was madea state in 1861. As early as 1855 petroleum wasbeing found in springs and seeps nearOsawatomie and Paola. The oil would beskimmed off and bottled to be sold as medicine,since industry had not realized the massivepotential of petroleum.

However, a number of things had tohappen before petroleum could become anythingresembling an industry in Kansas. The first oilwell in the pioneering oil fields in Pennsylvaniawasn’t drilled until 1859. The Civil Warinterrupted Kansas’ economic development. Therefining and uses of petroleum had not yet been

developed. Kansans were still traveling overwagon trails; the railroads wouldn’t crisscrossthe state until nearly the 1870’s. But since thenoil and gas has become a $4.3 billion industryin Kansas, employing tens of thousands andproviding an essential tax base for the state. Onlyagriculture exceeds oil and gas in economicimportance.

Finding, drilling, and extractingpetroleum is only the beginning of the story. Oilis little more than a useless potential pollutantuntil it can be refined and marketed, at whichpoint it is essential to modern life. Kansas hasnever been the most important petroleum-producing state, but our history reflects theadvancement of the American petroleumindustry from its most primitive form to the high-tech system it is today.

Development of the Refining IndustryOnce the Civil War ended, Kansas

entrepreneurs wanted to follow the lead of thebooming Pennsylvania oil business and look foroil in Kansas as well. Logically they started inplaces where oil had already been found, suchas at Wea Creek near Paola. The process offinding oil was hit-and-miss at the time, and whatoil was collected had to be placed in woodencasks and shipped out for refining. It wasn’tuntil 1886 that an oil refinery, a primitive facility

The Mid-American Refining Company facility after itwas closed in 1981. This refinery operated in Chanute

for 48 years.

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capable of processing 25 barrels of crude oil aday, was constructed in Paola. However, thisrefinery did not last very long, and Paola didn’tget another refinery until the Paola RefiningCompany constructed one in 1905.

Kansas did not have any refineries topurchase crude oil from the fields, and thishindered oil field development. The nearestrefinery was in Chicago, and it was noteconomical to ship crude oil by rail such a longdistance. There were many proposals to build arefinery in Wilson County, which had becomean oil-producing center in the 1890’s. In 1897Standard Oil built a state-of-the-art refinery nearNeodesha.

Standard, which had been profitablypumping, refining, and marketing petroleumproducts in the East, was well-positioned tobecome Kansas’ premiere refinery. Thecompany was well-capitalized and could afford

Furthermore, Standard had a reputationfor producing high quality products, primarilylubricants and kerosene, both of which weredesperately needed in a state that by 1890 wasalready approaching a population of 1.5 millionpeople. Kerosene was used in lamps for lightingand also in heaters and cooking stoves. Thepurity of kerosene was important— too great apercentage of naphtha and the fuel becamedangerously explosive.

Over the next few years, however,Standard’s preeminence in the industry becameworrisome for the Kansas oil men. There was ageneral suspicion of monopolies and trusts.Small businessmen and entrepreneurs werecritical of Standard’s influence in the Kansasoil industry; Standard controlled nearly half ofthe production, most of the pipelines, and thesole refinery in Kansas. Overproduction of oilflooded the Neodesha refinery with far more oil

The Sunflower State Refining Company in Niotaze, built in 1905. This was the only refinery in the state built andmanaged by a woman, Miss Hermena Kaessmann. The refinery was the largest in Kansas for several years.

to install steel storage tanks and pipelines togather crude oil from the fields, and negotiatefavorable railroad freight rates. Standard hadan experienced marketing staff and the mostexperienced and innovative refinery managersin the business. Kansas oil producers wereenthusiastically expecting Standard to purchaseall the oil they could pull out of the ground.

than it could use and crude prices fellprecipitously. Oil men, expecting high profitsin return for their risk and their labor, began tocomplain.

Politicians and businessmen beganagitating for a state-run refinery to providecompetition for Standard. To get past aconstitutional ban on the state government

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engaging in commerce, it was proposed thatprison inmates be employed as refinery workers.The state refinery was never built, but manyprivate refineries were. There were 16 refineriesbuilt between 1904 and 1910, in Atchison,Caney, Chanute, Cherryvale, Coffeyville, Erie,Humboldt, Independence, Kansas City, Longton,Niotaze, Paola, and Petrolia. One of these wasthe National Refining Co., which still exists asCoffeyville Resources in Coffeyville.

Some of these refineries lasted only a fewyears, while most managed to survive decliningsupplies from nearby oil fields, increasedcompetition, and the evolution of refiningtechnology for ten years or more.

These early refineries were veryprimitive, operating more like alcohol distilleriesthan the sophisticated petrochemical operationsof today. Kansas law at the time said that the oilproducer could lay claim to all the oil he couldpump out of the ground, and this encouragedoverproduction from a forest of closely spacedoil wells. The production companies had to storeall the oil they pumped until it could be shippedto a refinery by pipeline or tank car. The beststeel or wood tanks available at the time werenot very airtight, and up to five or six percent ofthe oil volume could be lost per year due toevaporation. In addition, the evaporative vapors

could be explosive. Fires caused by accident orlightning strikes were devastating.

It made sense to build simple refinerieswithin or near the producing oil fields. A“skimming plant” could use the simplestdistillation methods to extract kerosene, the mostvaluable product until 1915, and other lightfractions such as gasoline and naphtha. Theresidue, approximately half the volume of theunprocessed crude oil, was too heavy to vaporizeunder normal conditions and could be stored intanks until it was shipped out to be processedinto lubricating oils and greases, or sold as fueloil. There was only a very limited market forgasoline or naphtha, and their explosivenessmade storage a problem, so excess amounts ofthese products might simply be poured into anopen pit and burned just to get rid of them. Thevery lightest fractions of methane, butane, andpropane would probably just escape into theatmosphere or be flared off.

These simple refineries could be takenout of service as production from local oil fieldsor the demand from local markets declined, oras the equipment wore out or was made obsoleteby new refining techniques and technologies.

A refinery would sell its products to local“jobbers,” who would run retail operations.

Sometimes old structures still exist at former refinerysites. This is a photograph of KDHE personnel taking

soil samples at the H&H Refinery in Osawatomie.The refinery was active from 1919 until 1923.

When the Mid-America Refining Company was closed,there was still oil in the tanks and pipelines. Years later,

the oil began to leak onto the ground.

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Some would deliver kerosene from a tank onthe back of a wagon to homes and businesses.Hardware and grocery stores stored barrels ofkerosene and other petroleum products in theback of the store; a customer would bring hisown container to be filled from the barrel.

The Kansas oil industry began a newboom in 1914 when the rich oil fields near ElDorado were discovered. These fields were thefirst to be found by analyzing the underlyinggeology of the area. This approach proved sopowerful that it is still being used in oilexploration today. Soon tens of thousands ofbarrels of oil were being produced per week.

To handle the new production, newrefineries were built, particularly to fill the needfor fuel oil and gasoline to help the Americanwar effort in World War I. There were 29 newrefineries built in Arkansas City, Augusta,Chanute, Cherryvale, Coffeyville, El Dorado,Humboldt, Hutchinson, Kansas City, Moran,Osawatomie, and Wichita.

World War I proved the utility of gasolineengines for automobiles and trucks, and gasolinebecame more important as a refinery product.Ocean-going steamships converted from usingcoal as their primary fuel to using heavy fueloil, which had the advantage of being pumpedinto the engine rather than being shoveled. Inresponse to the changing market, refineriesresearched ways to increase the amount of

gasoline and other valuable products extractedfrom every barrel of crude oil. Theseinvestigations were kept secret to preventcompetitors from stealing the refiners’ ideas.They also developed better materials andtechniques for building refinery equipment, tomake it easier to manage and more durable. Thestills and condensers were being run at moreprecise temperatures and pressures to producebetter products. Even so, it wasn’t until the1920’s that industrial chemists began makingserious investigations into the nature of crudeoil and developing scientific methods fordistilling and treating crude oil into marketableproducts.

Since each refinery could market theirown brands of fuels and oils, a reputation forquality was important. Advertising became moresophisticated and important, and one wayrefineries began to market their product wasthrough developing networks of dedicated fillingstations. These stations used underground fuelstorage tanks, because they were out of the wayand the cool earth helped prevent gasoline fromevaporating. The fuel pumps were in front ofthe station, rather than being hidden in the back

Contamination has the potential to migrate from asite into the surrounding areas. Here, contami-

nated rainwater is beginning to flow into the localwatershed.

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yard, and often had glass reservoirs on top ofthem so the customer could judge the quality ofthe fuel by its color and clarity. Filling stationsalso provided mechanical services and freeradiator and tire filling. The refinery’s marketingdepartment insisted that the stations be kept tidyand attractively landscaped. As a result, thecustomer became more aware of brands ofgasoline and oil, a development that helped drivethe success of the major oil companies thatcontinues today.

One challenge for refinery managers wasthe rapid technological development andimprovement of engines for automobiles,airplanes, tractors, ships, and other motorizedvehicles. The engineers designing these enginesworked on improving performance, fueleconomy, and ease of maintenance. Theydecided that for best engine performance, thereneeded to be a supply of consistently high-qualityfuel and lubricants, and the refineries workedhard to fill this need.

As a result, each refinery built a state-of-the-art laboratory where professional chemistswould constantly test the quality of each step ofthe refinery process. The crude oil coming intothe refinery would be tested for its specificgravity, proportions of paraffin compounds to

asphalt compounds, type and amount ofcontaminating materials, and other features.From this data, the chemists and processmanagers would coordinate the most effectiveway of refining the desired products from thecrude oil. The refinery’s chemists would alsoexperiment with new equipment and processesto discover better, more efficient refiningmethods, and develop new high value products.

For example, refineries began to usepressurized stills and high temperatures tothermocrack gas oil into the more lucrativegasoline. These techniques required tanks, stills,furnaces, piping, and valves that could handlethe stresses. Sometimes an accident wascatastrophic, such as when the Dubbs crackingunits at the Moore Refining Co. in Arkansas Cityexploded, igniting a fire that destroyed the entirerefinery. Only part of the refinery was everrebuilt, operating as the Arkansas City RefineryCo.

Thermocracking wasn’t the onlyadvanced process being developed. Newmethods were created to turn unprocessed crudeoil into final products in a single pass withoutstoring, reheating, and reprocessing intermediateproducts. Many skimming plants, located in ornear the oil fields, began to go out of business inthe 1920’s and 1930’s, replaced by refineries thatcould handle more complex equipment andprocesses.Left, the Warren Petroleum Co. refinery in Galva in

1938. Its small size and relative simplicity, as well asits location in a well field, indicate this was a skimmingplant. On the right is the Vickers Petroleum Company

in 1967. This was a complete refinery, capable ofturning crude oil into dozens of products.

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Even with the more complex equipmentand processes, 43 refineries were built, changedhands, or continued to operate during the 1920’s,in Arkansas City, Augusta, Baxter Springs,Chanute, Cherryvale, Coffeyville, El Dorado,Erie, Florence, Fredonia, Humboldt, Hutchinson,Kansas City, Moran, Neodesha, Osawatomie,Potwin, Russell, and Wichita.

The economic crisis of the 1930’s didaffect the petroleum industry; however, demandfor fuels remained relatively steady throughoutthe decade. This period is marked by anexpansion in the national pipeline system, whichmade it cheaper to deliver refined products tomarket. For the first time more petroleumproducts were delivered by pipelines than by railor barges. Independent pipeline companiesencouraged product quality standards, becauseit was easier to schedule the delivery of a quantityof fuel of a standard quality, rather than a specificbatch of fuel from a specific refinery. However,most pipelines were owned by verticallyintegrated production, refining, and marketingcompanies, who owned the oil they weretransporting.

31 refineries operated in the 1930’s inArkansas City, Chanute, Chase, Coffeyville, ElDorado, Fredonia, Galva, Garnett, Great Bend,

Hutchinson, Kansas City, Natoma, McPherson,Neodesha, Parsons, Phillipsburg, Potwin,Russell, Scott City, and Wichita.

Catalytic cracking was introduced in1938 by the Houdry process. This process wasmore efficient than previous attempts tocommercialize cracking oils; thermocrackingrequired a great deal of heat, and experimentswith previous catalysts proved too expensive orinefficient. The Houdry process enabledrefineries to produce abundant gasoline relativelycheaply.

Since 1940 few new oil refineries havebeen built in Kansas. The refineries that haveoperated since then have slowly closed as theoil industry consolidated. Economic conditions,the need to upgrade equipment in response totechnology changes, and government policies,including environmental regulations, encouragedsmall refineries to close and large refineries toget larger. Nationally, most of America’s refiningcapability is along the East, West, and GulfCoasts, near international shipping corridors andpopulation centers. Today only three Kansasrefineries still exist: Coffeyville Resources inCoffeyville, Frontier Refining Co. in El Dorado,and the NCRA Refinery in McPherson.

This photograph was taken of theCoastal Derby refinery in Wichitaduring the years the facility wasbeing demolished. This was theDerby Oil Company from 1920

until 1955, the ColoradoInterstate Gas Company from1955 to 1973, and the CoastalDerby Refining Company from

1973 until 1993. Contaminationat the site is being addressed by

El Paso Merchant Energy –Petroleum Company.

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Barnsdall RefineryWichita

1926-1951

Arkansas CityLesh Refining Corp. 1915-1924Milliken Refining Co. 1917-1919Kanotex Refining Co. 1917-1996Simms Petroleum Co. 1920Mid-Co. Petroleum Co. 1920-1922Moore Refining Co. 1922-1925Roxana Petroleum Co. 1923-1928Arkansas City Refining Co. 1925-1938Shell Petroleum Corp. 1929-1938

AtchisonUncle Sam Oil Co. 1906-1910

AugustaWalnut River Refining Co. 1917Bliss Oil and Refining Co. 1917-1919White Eagle Oil and Refining Co. 1917-1934Universal Petroleum Corporation 1920Crystal White Oil Co. 1921-1922Harvey Crude Oil Co. 1921Socony-Vacuum Oil Co./Mobil Oil 1935-1983Augusta Oil Refining Co. 1917-1922Lakeside Refining Co. 1917-1923Grant Oil Co. 1923-1926Equitable Refining Co. 1922-0923

Baxter SpringsGood Eagle Refining 1920General American Oil Co. 1921-1923McCree Petroleum Co. 1923

CaneyKanotex Refining Co. 1907-1919

ChanuteKansas Refining Co. 1905Kansas Co.-Operative Refining Co. 1905-1917Chanute Refining Co. 1905-1916

Chanute continuedCudahay 1916Kanotex 1917Morgan Refining Co. 1917Sinclair Refining Co. 1917-1921Mutual Oil Co. 1919-1924Peerless Oil and Refining Co. 1921-1931McWhorter-Chanute Refining Co. 1923-1923Altitude Petroleum Corp. 1931-1934Petroleum Products Co. 1933-1942Chanute Refining Co. 1935-1963MARCO. (Mid-America Refining Co.) 1943-1956Warwick Wax Co. 1943-1946Sun Chemical Corp. 1946-1959Western Petrochemical Corp. 1959-1979Petrolite 1979Mid-Region Petroleum 1989-1996

ChaseSecurity Petroleum Co. 1934-1935Cusco Oil and Refining 1935-1937Western Refining Co. 1935-1936Chase Refining Co. 1936-1939

CherryvaleUncle Sam Oil Co. 1905-1921Wright Producing and Refining Co. 1917-1919Imperial Refining Co. 1921-1923

CoffeyvilleKansas Oil Refining Co. 1905-1926National Refining Co. 1906-1944Cudahy Refining Co. 1913-1916Sinclair Refining Co. 1917-1948Cooperative Refining Association 1944-1982Farmland Industries 1982-2004Coffeyville Resources Refining and 2004-present

Marketing LLC

El DoradoTrapshooters Refining Co. 1917Midland Refining Co. 1917-1923El Dorado Refining Co. 1917-1958Reliance Refining Co. 1918Railroad Men’s Refining Co. 1918-1919Fidelity Refining Co. 1919-1921Tri-State Oil and Refining Co. 1919-1921St. Louis Oil and Refining Co. 1919-1923Red Ball Refining Co. 1921-1922Associated Producers and Refining Co. 1921-1923Bell Producing and Refining Corp. 1921-1923Marigold Refining Co. 1922Richardson Refining Co. 1922-1925Industrial Refining Co. 1923-1925Skelly Oil Co. 1923-1977Fina Oil and Chemical Co. 1958-1977Pester 1977-1982Getty Oil 1977-1982Texaco 1982-1999Frontier Refining and Marketing 1999-present

ErieGreat Western Oil Refining Co. 1905-1923

FlorenceGreat Western Petroleum Corp. 1922-1923Gordon Refining Co. 1923-1924

FredoniaRed Bird Refining Co. 1923-1926Fredonia Oil and Refining Co. 1937-1940

GalvaWarren Petroleum Co. 1935-1942

GarnettAnco Refining Co. 1939-1940

Kansas Refinery Locations and Dates

Great BendFalcon Refining 1932-1942

HumboldtMiller Petroleum Co. 1904-1929Stewart Oil Refinery 1906Minnetonka Refining Co. 1917-1920

HutchinsonHutchinson Refining Co. 1915-1919Hutchinson Petroleum Co. 1920-1921Frontier Refining Co. 1921-1925United Oil and Refining Co. 1925-1926Hutchinson Oil Refining Co. 1928-1929Sunflower Refining Corp. 1933United Oil and Refining 1933-1935Hutchinson Oil and Refining Co. 1933-1935

IndependencePetroleum Products Co. 1916Standard Asphalt and Rubber 1916Empire Refining Co. 1919-1922

Kansas CityKansas City Refining Co. 1907-1926Uncle Sam Oil Co. 1909-1916Rosedale Refining Co. 1916-1917General Refining Co. 1917Sinclair Refining Co. 1917-1948North American Refining Co. 1919-1923Miller Petroleum Co. 1920Prairie Refining Co. 1922Indiana Refining Co. 1921Manhattan Oil Co. 1926-1929Independent Oil and Gas Co. 1929-1931The Fairfax Gasoline Co. 1931Phillips Petroleum 1931-1982Coral Refinery 1970-1978

LongtonSuperior Refinery 1905-1908Kanotex 1908-1909

McPhersonDickey Refining Co. 1933-1937Globe Oil and Refining Co. 1933-1943Bay Petroleum 1937-1953National Cooperative Refining Assoc. 1943-1999Cooperative Refining 1999-2000National Cooperative Refining Assoc. 2000-Present

MoranEastern Kansas Oil Co. 1915-1917Commonwealth Oil and Refining Co. 1919-1926

NatomaKreuger Refining Co. 1934-1938

NeodeshaStandard Oil Co. 1887-1970

NiotazeSunflower State Refining Co. 1905-1909Miller Refining Co. 1912Niotaze Refining Co. 1913-1915Schock Refining Co. 1915O. K. Refining Co. 1916-1919

OsawatomieH&H Refinery Co. 1919-1923

PaolaPaola Oil, Gas and Mining Co. 1886Paola Refining Co. 1905-1909

ParsonsRoper Petroleum Co. 1938-1940

PetroliaPetrolia Refining Co. 1906-1909Kansas Crude Oil Co. 1914-1916

PhillipsburgCooperative Refining Assoc. 1938-1982

PotwinVickers Petroleum Co. 1920-1970

RollinRollin Oil Refinery 1915-1916

RussellWest Kansas Refining Co. 1925-1926Russell County Pipe Line Co. 1926Derby Oil Co. 1926-1929Russell Refining Co. 1935-1937United Refining Co. 1937-1939

Scott CityShallow Water Refinery 1937-1981

WichitaWichita Independent Oil & Refining Co. 1914-1918Derby Oil Co. 1916-1955Sterling Oil and Refining Co. 1916-1924Evans-Thwing Refining Co. 1917-1919Golden Rule Refining Co. 1917-1943Blue Ridge Refining Co. 1921-1922Fugatt-Giles Oil Corp. 1921-1923Tuxedo Oil and Refining Co. 1922-1923Kansas-Texas Oil & Refining Co. 1923-1924Tri-State Oil & Refining Corp. 1924Waite Phillips Co. 1924-1926Barnsdall Refining Co. 1926-1951Super Refined Oil Co. 1950-1970Colorado Interstate Gas Co. 1955-1973Coastal Derby Refining Co. 1973-1993

Kansas Refinery Locations and Dates

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Petroleum ProductsThe first really important product made from

petroleum was kerosene, which was sold to be usedin lamps, space heaters, cooking stoves, and internalcombustion engines. Today it is sold also as liquidparaffin for decorative lamps and is a primarycomponent in jet fuel. The highest quality kerosenewas a clear as water, contained no sulfur compoundswhich would cause a stink as it was used, and hada flash point of at least 110° F. As early as 1879Kansas had laws regulating the purity and safety oflamp oils.

When we think of petroleum products todaywe usually think of gasoline that we put in our cars.Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons, lighter thankerosene with a lower flash point. Before gasolineautomobile engines became common, gasoline andnaphtha would be used as a grease-cutting solvent.Gasoline can be extracted from crude oil bydistillation (straight-run gasoline), or by thermal orcatalytic cracking. It can also be condensed fromthe product of natural gas wells— this is calledcasinghead gasoline. The various types of gasolineare blended together to produce gasoline with thedesired characteristics.

Automobile engines are precision machinesrequiring fuel with very specific features. Onemeasure of fuel quality is the octane rating scale.This scale measures how evenly a particular blend

of fuel combusts in a cylinder by comparing it to astandardized mixture of iso-octane and heptane—the number represents the percentage of iso-octanein the reference mixture. The point is to preventknocking— a phenomenon in which the fuel in acylinder ignites prematurely, robbing the engine ofpower and causing wear to the cylinder.

Refineries began to add tetra-ethyl lead togasoline blends in the 1920’s in order to improvetheir octane rating. However, the United Statesdiscontinued almost all uses of leaded gasoline in1973, and very little is sold in the United Statestoday. As a result, theaverage level of lead in theblood of Americans hasbeen reduced. Todaygasoline is often blendedwith methyl tert-butyl ether(MTBE) to increase theoctane rating and reducesmog. While MTBEperforms admirably as afuel additive, if it is spilledor leaks into theenvironment, it can easilycontaminate large amountsof groundwater. MTBEmay be phased out soon infavor of gasoline additivessuch as ethanol.

Naphtha, apetroleum fraction heavierthan gasoline, can bechemically converted togasoline at the refinery, orused as an industrialsolvent or as fuel for thingslike camp stoves.

The lightestfractions of all, hydrogen,methane, butane, andpropane, might becaptured and sold, used aschemical inputs for other

An example of aparaffin-type

molecule. The longchains slide easilypast one another,making paraffins

excellent lubricants.

Sampling the contents of abandoned oil drums at theWestern Petrochemical refinery site.

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refinery processes, or used as fuel for the refinery.Fractions of petroleum that are heavier than

kerosene include light gas oil, which is used to makediesel fuel and furnace oil, or thermally or catalyticallycracked to make more gasoline. The heavy oil atthe bottom of the column can be used as fuel, or,depending on the nature of the crude oil used, refinedinto paraffin-based products or asphalt-basedproducts.

All crude oil contains some paraffins andsome asphaltenes, but the proportions of each aredifferent for each oil field from which the crude oilcomes. Paraffins are hydrocarbons that come inlong, snaky chains of molecules that easily slide pastone another. These make excellent lubricating oils.The large paraffin molecules, when crystallized, formparaffin wax. Another product is petroleum jelly,which is commonly used as a base for medicinesand cosmetics.

Asphaltenes, however, are very complexmolecules that, because of the way the carbon atomsform rings with one another, have a structure similarto that of chicken wire. Asphaltenes are thick andgummy, and used to make things like paving materialand shingles.

The final residue, coke is made of almostpure carbon, and is created by thermal or crackingprocesses. When petroleum molecules that have a

high proportion of carbon, like asphaltenes, arecracked, some of the carbon forms coke. If notproperly managed, coke can clog up pipes, processunits, and catalysts, shortening equipment life anddecreasing efficiency. If extracted from oil residue,it can be burned as fuel, or purified for applicationsrequiring pure carbon.

Refineries must remove sulfur from theirproducts to improve the product characteristics andto comply with laws limiting the amount of sulfur infuels. Powdered sulfur is one by-product ofpetroleum refining. Another refinery product isfeedstock for petrochemical plants. A chemicalcompany would further treat the feedstock toproduce very pure products that can be used toproduce anything from plastics to dyes to flavorings.

Finished liquid products, like gasoline,diesel, aviation fuel, or fuel oil, can be deliveredfrom the refinery to terminals through a nationalpipeline system. From there, they are delivered toretail outlets by truck. Very large users of product,such as major airports, will commonly havededicated pipelines delivering fuel directly to thefacility.

An asphaltic-type molecule. The high proportion ofcarbon results in coke formation when these are

cracked into smaller molecules.

At the Coastal Derby refinery in El Dorado, the oilymaterial remaining in this storage tank was too thick

to remove with a pump, but too thin to remove bydigging. With KDHE approval, the contractor mixed

this material with soil to stabilize it, at which point themixture could be loaded onto a truck for disposal in a

permitted landfill as a solid waste.

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The Refining ProcessThe refining process actually begins at the

oil well. The pumped oil is mixed with salt water(brine) and mud as it comes out of the well, and inthe tanks, the oil, brine, and mud settle into layers.The crude oil is pumped from the top of the tankinto a truck or into a pipeline for delivery to arefinery. The brine and mud is disposed of accordingto the well’s permit; often by injecting it right backinto the oil-bearing geologic formation; thisrepressurizes the formation makes the oil easier topump. This injection is regulated by the KansasCorporation Commission through a state permittingprocess to avoid brine pollution to the surface orgroundwater.

Crude oil is not made up of only one kind ofmolecule; instead, it is a combination of a vast numberof hydrocarbon compounds, along with a small

amount of impurities and salts. The hydrocarboncompounds range from the smallest molecules suchas methane, or natural gas, to large asphaltenes andparaffin chains, that can be separated from oneanother because they have different boiling points.The lightest molecules have the lowest boiling points,and the heaviest ones have the highest.

As the crude oil enters the refinery througha pipeline, it is tested in the refinery’s laboratory todetermine the kinds of hydrocarbons in it. Everyoil field produces crude oil with different mixturesof hydrocarbons. A “light” crude oil has a higherproportion of lighter hydrocarbons, such as thecompounds used in gasoline blends. A “heavy”crude oil has a higher proportion of heaviercompounds, and may produce plenty of lubricatingoil, wax, and/or asphalt. “Sweet” oil is low in sulfur,and since sulfur must be removed from oil as it isconverted to fuel, it requires less processing. “Sour”oil is high in sulfur. Some crude oil has a great dealof water mixed in it as an emulsion; this water hasto be removed. The choice of crude oil to be usedby the refinery is dependent on price, marketdemand for particular products, and the refinery’sprocesses. Crude oil is stored in large tanks untilthe refinery is ready to process it.

The first step is to remove excess salt fromthe crude oil by mixing it with water. The salt willbe dissolved in the water, and as the water and oilare separated, the salt can be washed away.

The next stage of refining is atmosphericdistillation. This is essentially the same process thatwas used by the earliest oil refineries, such as thePaola refinery built in 1886. This process is alsoknown as “straight-run” distillation. Atmosphericdistillation is based on the fact that as you heat crudeoil, the lightest molecules boil first, followed by thenext lightest, and so on. The vapors are removedand recondensed into “cuts” or “fractions.” Eachfraction can be described in terms of its specificgravity, a measure of the size and weight of themolecules within the fraction. The remainder, calledresidue, may be burned to fuel other refineryprocesses or converted into other products.

Pits found at the Mid-America Refining Company sitefilled with water, oil, and debris.

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At 90° F, the lightest fractions of oilvaporize; these are the gases such as methane,ethane, and butane. The gasoline fraction isvaporized between 90 and 220° F. Between 220and 315° F, the product obtained is naphtha.Kerosene is distilled between 315 and 450° F, andgas oil between 450 and 800° F.

If the temperature of the crude oil getsabove 1000° F, the heavy hydrocarbons will beginto crack— break up into smaller compounds similarto those found in kerosene. Cracking is not part ofstraight-run distillation, because the molecules in theoil actually change.

The earliest refineries distilled crude oil inbatches in very simple stills which were basicallylarge iron tanks built over a furnace. The still wouldbe filled with crude oil and heated from the furnaceand by introducing steam into the still, until it startedto boil. The vapors would be captured in acondenser and allowed to condense back into liquid.This is almost exactly the same process used to distillliquor. After each fraction of crude oil boiled off,the still was heated further until the next fractionboils. The refinery operator would control theproduct coming out of the condenser by controllingthe temperature of the still. Each fraction would becollected in a separate container, possibly redistilledto produce a purer fraction, treated to remove

impurities such as sulfur compounds, and preparedfor market. If this approach seems somewhatimprecise and unsophisticated, that’s because it was;but when your most valuable products are lamp oiland axle grease, it is not necessary to be very precisewhen cutting your fractions.

In order to increase the volume of anyparticular product produced through straight-rundistillation, the refinery operator can move his “cutpoints,” the temperatures between which a fractionis being distilled. Modern refineries do this whenswitching from making summer gasoline to wintergasoline; winter gasoline is distilled at slightly lowertemperatures and has a slightly lower gravity,increasing its volatility and making it easier to ignitein cold weather. Summer gasoline is distilled atslightly higher temperatures and has a higher gravity,which helps prevent it from evaporating as quicklyand causing vapor lock. Early refinery operatorswanted to maximize the production of lamp oil, butif they were careless and set the cut point too low,the final product would be too light, increasing thepossibility it would explode when being used. Thisis why Kansas regulated the quality of lamp oilbeginning in 1879; to be sold in Kansas, it had tohave a flash point above 110° F.

Some early refiners would “run to coke” inthe still; heat the oil to above 1000° F until all the

Part of the former Coastal Derby refinery in El Dorado.

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A diagram of an early continuous distillation method. Temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit.

residue cracked to kerosene. The material left inthe still was solid coke, which had to be removedby hand after cooling the still down. This mightdamage the still; the weight of the coke could causethe hot steel to sag and distort, in which case thestill would have to be replaced.

Around 1906 a continuous distillationmethod was developed. Instead of heating one stillup to 800° F, four stills would be connected withpiping. Crude oil was run into the first still, whichheated it to 220° F, and the vapors were capturedinto a dedicated condenser. The hot residue wouldflow by gravity to the next still, where it was heatedto 315° F, and so on. Meanwhile, fresh crude oilcontinuously entered the first still, while heavy oilresidue would leave the last one. This process spedup production, while conserving fuel and wear andtear on the equipment due to alternately heating andcooling the stills.

After each fraction was distilled, it neededto be purified before it could be sold. Purificationwould remove compounds from the product thatcould be smelly when burned, produce soot thatdarkened lamp glass, and produce color in the

product. Consumers knew to look for “water white”kerosene; the lack of color indicated its purity.Kerosene produced through cracking was alwayscolored, requiring more treatment before it couldbe sold. Sulfur and nitrogen compounds could beremoved from the product by mixing the productwith sulfuric acid, then letting the mixture settle untilthe product and the acid separated. The sulfur andnitrogen compounds would precipitate and form asludge which would have to be disposed of. Theproduct would be removed and mixed with a causticsoda (lye) solution to return the pH to normal andremove more impurities; then the product could beredistilled. Other methods of purification includedtrickling the product through powdered charredbone or fuller’s earth, a type of clay.

The residue from the last still could be soldas heavy fuel oil. Paraffin wax could be removedfrom the residue of paraffin-based crude oil bycooling it and pressing it through giant cloth filters;the remaining oil was excellent for lubrication, andthe wax had many uses. Asphaltic-based crude oilresidue could be used to make asphalt pavingmaterials, paint base, or shingles.

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Chemical engineers in the 1920’s invented the modern bubble-cap distilling tower which is stillused today. The tower can cut very clean fractions of product from the base crude oil because it uses atechnique known as reflux. Reflux means that at various points in the distillation, parts of each fraction arereintroduced into lower parts of the distilling tower to be reheated and redistilled. This results in productfractions that overlap very little.

In the distilling tower, the crude oil is preheated before it enters the bottom of the tower. Once inthe tower, the lightest fractions rise to the top, the middle fractions rise to the middle, and the heaviestresidue is pumped out of the bottom. The tower is filled with trays, which provide a surface on whichvapors can condense and collect. Each tray has openings covered with little caps that allow vapors tobubble up through them. As any fraction reaches the level where it will condense, it becomes a liquid andfills the trays. Some of that liquid will overflow into trays beneath, to be reheated and vaporize again(reflux). At the appropriate spot, the product is pumped out of the trays into a sidedraw. Some of theproduct is reintroduced back into the distilling tower at a lower level, and the rest is drawn off for furtherprocessing.

A simplified diagram of a modern bubble capdistillation tower.

The residue still needs further distillation intomore cuts, but when its temperature is raised toabove 800° F it will begin to crack, and cracking isa process that needs to be carefully controlled. Toseparate these heavy oil fractions without addingmore heat, the residue is pumped into a vacuumflashing unit, which is a separate distilling tower thatis kept at a vapor pressure lower than the outsideatmosphere. The lowered pressure means the lighterfractions of the residue can vaporize without addingmore heat. The vacuum flashing unit wasn’tdeveloped until refinery engineers learned to makeequipment that could handle high temperatures andlow pressures without breaking down.

The same technology that can make vacuumflashers can make high-pressure units as well, andin the mid-1920’s the first commercial high-pressurethermal cracking units came online. In a high-pressure thermal cracking unit, the residue from thedistilling tower is heated to around 1000° F in a stillkept at high atmospheric pressure. This encourageslarge hydrocarbons to break into smaller, morevaluable ones, while discouraging the formation ofcoke which would clog the pipes in the processingunit. Running an early high-pressure cracking unitcould be a dicey business; there was always thedanger of an explosion and devastating fire thatwould destroy most of the refinery. Despite thedanger, cracking was the best means for increasingthe amount of gasoline extracted from each barrelof crude oil.

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Catalytic cracking takes place at lowertemperatures and pressures than thermal cracking.A catalyst is an agent which facilitates a chemicalreaction, while not directly participating in thatreaction. The catalyst remains unchanged, and canbe used over and over again. In 1938 petroleumchemists developed the Houdry process, which wasthe first commercial catalytic cracking process. Themodern process was developed by 1949. Overthe years new catalysts that are cheaper and longer-lasting came into use. The refinery operator canchoose catalysts depending on the needs of therefinery, such as producing higher proportions ofhigh-octane gasoline or working at lowertemperatures.

In the cat-cracker reactor, hot gas oil fromeither the straight-run distillation tower or from thevacuum flashing unit is mixed with steam andbubbled through a catalyst, which has beenmanufactured into a very fine dust. The catalystcracks the oil into gasoline, which vaporizes andrises to the top of the reactor. There is catalystdust in the vapor, and it is spun through at leastone cyclone to remove the dust from the gasolinevapor; this action is similar to how a bagless vacuumcleaner works. The gasoline (and smallermolecules) leaves the reactor to be separatedthrough another fractionation tower, and the spent

catalyst is sent to a regenerator, which burns offany carbon molecules that may have stuck to thecatalyst. The catalyst is then returned to the reactor.In theory, it is possible to keep circulating leftoveroil through the catalyst until all of its molecules havebeen cracked, but in practice it causes less carbonbuildup in the reactor if a little of the oil is drawn offcontinuously.

Another method of increasing gasolineyields from oil fields is to collect casinghead gasoline.Casinghead gasoline is extracted from natural gas,not from crude oil. Collecting casinghead gasolineis almost like distillation in reverse; a stream ofnatural gas that is rich in relatively heavyhydrocarbons is cooled until the heavy fractions, inthis case naphtha and gasoline, condense into a

Petroleum contamination can wash or seep into streams and other waterways, staining the soil along the banksand endangering wildlife and communities downstream. Below right: Absorbent boom has been deployed in a

drainage way to capture an oil sheen near the Coastal Derby refinery in Wichita.

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liquid that can be pumped from the condenser anddelivered to the refinery. Casinghead gasoline isusually blended with the gasoline the refineryproduces.

In a perfect refinery, the only outputs wouldbe marketable products. However, no refinery isperfect, and there are still wastes to consider, manyof them toxic. Before the enactment of regulationsunder the Resource Conservation and Recovery Actin 1980, many of these wastes would be disposedof on the refinery property, because it was aconvenient and inexpensive option. Processwastewater could be stored in ponds until the waterand volatile organic compounds (VOCs)evaporated. Solid waste sludges, spent catalysts,and spent purification materials might be buried inpits or sent offsite for disposal. Much of a refinery’swaste would be discharged directly into theatmosphere through the smokestacks or pressure-release valves in the processing units; these includednitrogen and sulfur oxides, ammonia compounds,VOCs, and combustion by-products such as sootand carbon dioxide.

Refinery wastes are handled muchdifferently now. In fact, more than 70% of all waste

material is reclaimed, recycled, or used elsewherein the refining process. Improvements in leakdetection have cut the amount of fugitive emissionsinto the atmosphere. Spent catalysts are routinelysent for reclamation of the valuable metals in them.Wastes that cannot be reclaimed are carefullydisposed of. However, especially in a refinery thatoperated for decades and closed before modernwaste reduction and mitigation processes weredeveloped, there can be a vast amount of legacycontamination that needs to be addressed.

Sampling solid waste sludge at the Western Petro-chemical refinery in Chanute. The sludge is theconsistency of tar. These technicians have laid

plywood over the sludge to provide a place to walk.

A large sludge pit discovered at the Arkansas CityRefinery site. This waste is left over from refinery

operations that ceased in the late 1920’s.

The Standard Asphalt and Rubber Company refinery inIndependence closed its doors in 1922. Years later, the

property was sold to a developer, and eventually therefinery became a residential neighborhood.

Homeowners discovered sludge in their yards, whichwas removed by KDHE.

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Remedial Activities at theStandard Asphalt and Rubber Company site

Independence, Kansas

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Site Investigation and EvaluationThe remediation process for a large refinery,

one that may have operated for more than 70 years,is complex and can last for decades. It is an iterativeprocess of assessment, planning, corrective action,reassessment, and planning for the next stages. Toadequately address the complex remedial needs ofa refinery, KDHE needs to understand nearly everyaspect of the refinery’s history, processes, wastedisposal practices; as well as addressingstakeholders’ needs, concerns, and future plans forthe refinery property.

The process begins with assessment andevaluation of the refinery property and the propertiesadjacent to it. KDHE determines what human orenvironmental receptors are in the area and likelyto be affected by refinery contamination, such asresidents, workers, schools or hospitals, andenvironmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands andwaterways. KDHE will contact the landowner andarrange to visit the site to evaluate its currentenvironmental condition, take photographs, andbegin developing a site sampling plan. This planguides the process of collecting samples from soiland groundwater, and possibly collecting water andsediment samples from streams or ponds at the site.These samples are sent to a laboratory for analysis.

Results from the laboratory are comparedto the health standards outlined in KDHE’s Risk-based Standards for Kansas (RSK) Manual.KDHE uses this information to assign a priority tothe project and determine the nature of futureinvestigation and cleanup.

A responsible party identification search willidentify any Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)who can be approached to perform cleanupactivities under KDHE guidance, either throughKDHE’s Voluntary Cleanup and PropertyRedevelopment Program or through anotherprogram. The PRP is responsible for paying thecost of cleaning up the site to KDHE standards.

Technicians examine soilcores taken at the CoastalDerby refinery in Wichita.

Soil from these cores will becollected and sent to the lab

for chemical analysis,helping KDHE determine the

extent and depth of thecontamination.

Excavating oil-stained soil.

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The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency developed the “Skinner List” to identify contaminants commonlyfound at former refinery sites.

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Remedial StrategiesEach refinery site is a unique challenge, and

usually multiple remedial strategies will be used oneach one. Once the remedial systems have beenput in place and are operating, environmentalconditions are constantly monitored to determineoverall effectiveness of the cleanup plan and whetherpre-established remedial goals are being satisfied.Commonly used remedial options to clean upcontamination left at refinery sites include any or allof the following methods.

Source control. Source control can beachieved by either by physically removing thecontamination from the site, such as the excavationof contaminated soil or removing a leakingunderground storage tank, or by preventing itsmigration.

Product recovery. In sites where there hasbeen long-term leakage and spillage from storagetanks and refinery process elements, petroleum andproduct will have infiltrated the groundwater beneaththe site, a situation which can be confirmed byinstalling monitoring wells. If there is enough freeproduct, it may be economical to install wells topump the product into tanks where it will betransported to another refinery for reprocessing. Pump and treat. In this remedial strategy

contaminated groundwater is pumped into anabove-ground treatment system designed to removethe specific contaminant from the water. Freeproduct found in the groundwater can be removedusing an oil/water separator system. Dissolvedpetroleum contaminants in groundwater can betreated with oxygenation to encourage the growthof petroleum-eating bacteria, or the groundwatercan be agitated so that the dissolved compoundsevaporate. Other contaminants may be removedthrough filtration, and the used filters are disposedof properly offsite. Cleaned water can bedischarged into a sewage treatment system, directlyinto the environment through a National PollutionDischarge Elimination System permit, or strategicallyreintroduced into the aquifer to encourage the flowof more contaminated water to the recovery wellsystem. Pump and treat systems can be expensiveto build and operate.

This groundwater sampling tube contains a thick layerof oil as free product.

A laser-induced fluorescence technology such as thiscan be used in the field to rapidly determine the

concentration of petroleum contaminants in soil. Itcan be a cost-effective way to determine the severity,

extent, and depth of contamination. This informationhelps KDHE to determine which remedial strategies

will be used for cleanup.

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Excavation. Contaminated soil can bemanaged by digging it out and replacing it with cleanfill. The excavated soil will be tested to determinethe concentration and nature of contamination, andthe appropriate disposal option. Soil contaminatedprimarily with petroleum products, for example, maybe treated by landfarming, while soil contaminatedwith significant concentrations of metals such as leadmay need to be treated as hazardous waste andsent to a permitted landfill. The scope of theexcavation can be limited due to structures on theproperty and cost.

Interceptor trenches. Interceptor trenchesare dug perpendicular to the flow of groundwater.Their intent is to provide a collection point forcontaminated groundwater, which can then becollected and treated, or to direct uncontaminatedgroundwater away from a contamination source.Interceptor trenches are routinely installed at siteboundaries. If combined with barriers, they canprevent contaminated groundwater from migratingoff site where it is harder to collect and treat.

Landfarming. Naturally occurring soilbacteria will break down petroleum products, giventhe appropriate soil temperatures and oxygen levels.In a soil landfarming solution, contaminated soil isspread on a dedicated field and regularly tilled orturned until testing determines that contaminationhas been reduced to below action levels. Whilelandfarming is often used for treating soilscontaminated with petroleum products, it cannot beused for soils with high levels of metals or othermaterials that cannot biodegrade. A landfarmingpermit is required from KDHE, and care must betaken that contamination does not migrate from thelandfarming cell into the underlying soil.

Interceptor trenches are used to control groundwatermigration. This trench was dug at the Coastal Derby

Refinery site in El Dorado.

A landfarming cell under construction. In thisexample, a blue plastic liner prevents contaminatedsoil from mixing with the underlying soil; a layer of

sand protects the liner from rips and tears.Contaminated soil is placed on top, and periodically

tilled to encourage the breakdown of thecontamination. Not all landfarming sites require this

level of complexity.

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Air sparging/Soil vapor extraction.These techniques are sometimes used together toremove dissolved VOCs from soil and groundwater.VOCs are of particular concern when there is apossibility of vapor intrusion, when vapors from thesoil enter a building through the foundation wherethey can become concentrated and are breathedby the building’s occupants. An air sparging systeminjects air, or sometimes steam, into the soil or watertable. The soil vapor extraction system applies avacuum pressure to the soil, sucking the vapors intoa collection system where the VOCs are removed.

Enhanced bioremediation. Sometimes thenaturally occurring bacteria cannot effectively breakdown the petroleum because of the lack of a suitableenvironment. An enhanced bioremediation strategywill inject material, such as nutrients or microbes,into the soil or groundwater being treated in orderto encourage biodegradation.

Waste stabilization and burial. Thesludges from tank bottoms, still bottoms, and refinery processes can be treated until they are

chemically inert. Once these sludges have beensolidified, their acid or caustic nature neutralized,and it has been determined that they are nothazardous enough to require disposal in a dedicatedfacility, they may be buried on-site in a dedicateddisposal area. The disposal area is designed toprevent the wastes from becoming exposed to theenvironment. On-site disposal areas always havean environmental use control applied to them toprevent inappropriate use of the property in thefuture.

Environmental use controls. Also knownas deed restrictions, institutional controls, or landuse controls, an environmental use control is a legaldirective attached to the property deed, instructingthe current and future landowner as to theappropriate future use of the property. Commonrestrictions include a requirement to maintain theengineered cap by preventing and mending damagedue to erosion; restrictions on digging or installingwater wells; or restrictions on using the propertyfor agriculture, residences, schools, or recreationalareas. If any landowner in the future wants to usethe property for a restricted use, further remedial

Waste stabilization of pond sediments at the Pesterrefinery. Once the water was removed and treated, thesoft soil from the pond bottom was mixed with portland

cement using this special tool to stabilize it andprevent future migration of the waste offsite. After-wards the pond area was filled to grade with clean

soil.

Air stripping equipment installed at the VickersPetroleum site in Potwin.

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work must be planned and coordinated throughKDHE.

Natural attenuation. Over time manycontaminants from refineries will slowly and naturallydegrade through bacterial action and weathering.In locations where contamination is at very low levelsand the risk to human health and the environmenthas been judged to be low, it is possible to simplymonitor the contamination levels over time and letnature take its course. Monitoring is crucial, though,because if contamination levels remain steady orrise more aggressive measures will need to beemployed.

Research and development of newtechnologies. There is a constant effort to createnew methods, strategies, and technologies foraddressing cleanup of environmentally contaminatedsites. KDHE is always seeking new methods thatcan control costs and more effectively prevent risksto human health and the environment.

When the Verdigris River breached its levee in June 2007, the floodwaters inundated eastern Coffeyville as well asthe Coffeyville Resources Refinery. Coffeyville Resources has been coordinating their remediation activities withthe Environmental Protection Agency, including buying out and cleaning up more than 300 destroyed homes and

businesses.

The ChallengeKansas has had some 100 separate

historical refinery operations located in 36communities. These refineries range from simpleshort-lived oilfield skimming operations to massivefactories producing a full array of petroleumproducts. Identifying, locating, assessing, andremediating all of these is an ongoing challenge thatKDHE has been addressing for decades, constantlyimproving its approach toward investigation andevaluation, working with PRPs, perfecting currentremedial strategies, and developing new ones.

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ReferencesCross, Roy. 1919. A Handbook of Petroleum, Asphalt and Natural Gas. Kansas City Testing Laboratory(Bulletin No. 15): Kansas City, MO.

A Woman Captain of the Oil Industry. October 3, 1909. Kansas City Star.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Bureau of Environmental Remediation files.

Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association. Website at www.kioga.org.

Larson, Henrietta M. and Porter, Kenneth W. 1959. History of Humble Oil and Refining Company.Reprint edition 1976, Arno Press: New York, NY.

Leffler, William L. 2000. Petroleum Refining in Nontechnical Language, 3rd Edition. PennWell Corporation:Tulsa, OK.

Miner, H. Craig. 1987. Discovery! Cycles of Change in the Kansas Oil and Gas Industry 1860-1987.Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association.

Miner, H. Craig. 1976. The Fire in the Rock: A History of the Oil and Gas Industry in Kansas 1855-1976. Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association.

Oil and Gas Journal. 1915-1940.

Schruben, Francis W. 1972. Wea Creek to El Dorado: Oil in Kansas 1860-1920. University of MissouriPress: Columbia, MO.

U. S. Census. Website at www.census.gov.

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1995. Profile of the Petroleum Refining Industry. Office ofCompliance.

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1997. Skinner List. Region 5 Waste Management Branch.

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1996. Study of Selected Petroleum Refining Residuals. Officeof Solid Waste.

Williamson, Harold F. et al. 1963. The American Petroleum Industry: The Age of Energy 1899-1959.Northwestern University Press: Evanston, IL.