Refinery Processes: Cracking

Because there is more demand for some distilled products like gasoline, refiners have an incentive to convert heavy liquids into lighter liquids. The term cracking comes from the process of breaking up long hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, more useful molecules. The cracking process converts heavy straight run liquids into gasoline. There are multiple versions of the cracking process, and refiners use the process extensively. Cracking is a highly controlled process, so cracking units exist separate from distillation columns. The most common type of cracking is “cat cracking,” named for the use of catalysts, substances added to a chemical reaction to speed up the process.