Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
f527af29ccbc4a1298242d77d8d6c914
Materials
Associated ID
8552da7e-ac79-4e5d-95e2-f38a202dc001
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
Mineral oil can be used in the production of plastics, lubricants, cooling oils, fuel oils, synthetic cleaning agents, and pesticides. This dataset includes main raw and auxiliary materials, energy inputs, atmospheric emissions, and waterborne emissions from the production process; however, infrastructure such as production equipment and facility construction is not included within the system boundary of the dataset. The life cycle inventory data are sourced from literature. The refining process for producing mineral oil from petroleum includes steps such as feedstock preparation, distillation, and refining.
Activity Description
The process flow for producing mineral oil from refined petroleum includes procedures such as raw material preparation, distillation, and refining.
Process Description
Mineral oil is a highly refined mixture of normal paraffins and cycloalkane liquid hydrocarbons with a boiling point greater than 200°C. Mineral oil can be used in plastics, such as polystyrene, to improve and control the melt flow rate of the finished polymer. Mineral oil can also be used in the production of lubricating oils, cooling oils, fuel oils, synthetic detergents, and pesticides.
Time period
2020
2026
Geography
China
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
The initial distillation of crude oil is used to remove lighter petroleum fractions such as gasoline and naphtha, leaving behind a residue composed of feedstocks like fuel oil, coke, grease, and asphalt. This residue is processed through a vacuum distillation unit to separate feedstocks for lubricant oil production. Lubricant oil production involves hydrotreating, deasphalting, and dewaxing processes, which remove components such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, asphalt-like compounds, and straight-chain alkanes. Mineral oil production requires extensive refining, resulting in relatively high energy demand compared to other refinery products.