Alkylation - A process using sulfuric or hydrofluoric acid as a catalyst to combine olefins and isoparaffins to produce a high-octane product known as alkylate.

Aromatics - One of the three principal groups or series of hydrocarbon compounds that occurs naturally in crude oil. New formulations of gasoline with increased octane levels often contain increased amounts of aromatics.

Bottom-of-the-Barrel (Residual) Fuel - Heavy, high sulfur and high metals residual fuel oil left after lighter crude oil has been distilled off.

Catalytic Cracking - The process of breaking up heavier hydrocarbon molecules into lighter hydrocarbon fractions by using heat and catalysts (see Cracking below).

Circulating Fluidized-Bed (CFB) Boilers - Used with a variety of fuels, particularly successful at burning those of poor quality. When the flow of air reaches a certain velocity, it causes the solid particles to lift (or fluidize) and combustion occurs in this fluidized zone.

Cogeneration - The use of a single plant to simultaneously produce power and heat or steam.

Coke - A high carbon content solid residue from an oil refinery process, which can be used as a boiler fuel to produce steam and electric power.

Coking - Processes for thermally converting and upgrading heavy residual oil into lighter products and by-product petroleum coke.

Cracking - The production of lighter oils by breaking down heavy oil molecules. This process increases the yield of gasoline from crude oil.

Deasphalting - Process of removing asphaltic materials from reduced crude using liquid propane to dissolve nonasphaltic compounds.

Delayed Coking - A coking process that raises the temperature of the heavy oil residue to nearly 1000° and leaves the oil in a large drum to gradually crack the large molecules into light oil components (see Coking).

Dewaxing - Removal of wax from petroleum products by solvent absorption, chilling and filtering.

Downstream - The refining or process of crude oil into finished fuel products.

Feedstock - Stock from which material is taken to be fed into a processing unit.

Fractionating Column - Process unit that separates various fractions of petroleum by simple distillation with the column tapped at various levels to separate and remove fractions according to their boiling ranges.

Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) - A boiler that recovers heat from a gas turbine exhaust and converts it to usable steam to improve efficiency.

Hydrocracking - This exposes heavy fuel oil to hydrogen at high pressure and temperature in the presence of a catalyst to reduce sulfur and produce lighter oils by cracking the heavy oil molecules.

Independent Power Producer - A producer of electricity that is not regulated as a utility by state or federal authority.

Lump-Sum Turnkey Project - Fixed price project for which all components are within a single supplier's responsibility.

Petropower™ - The use of refining waste products such as petroleum coke, to fuel a power plant which produces steam and/or electricity.

Pulverized Fuel (PF) Boilers - Usually in the higher capacity range (over 200 MW), fueled by pulverized solid coal or petroleum coke. Traditionally, customers are utilities.

Scrubbing - Purification of a gas by washing it with a liquid in a tower.

Solvent Deasphalting - Extracts higher quality oils using a solvent, leaving pitch or asphalt residue (see Deasphalting).

Thermal Cracking - The breaking up of heavy oil molecules into lighter fractions by the use of high temperature without the aid of a catalyst.

Turnkey Project - A project in which all components are within a single supplier's responsibility (see Lump-Sum Turnkey Project).

Upstream - The exploration, production, and transportation of oil and gas.

Visbreaking - Heats the heavy oil residue to a high temperature to crack some of it to lighter components and reduce the quality of heavy residue remaining.