Mr Hadid has most of the info you needed.
Feedstock is the stuff they use to make the products...the chemicals needed to produce gasoline, like the additives.
We have just about one of everything in the way of refineries.
Phillips makes plastic pellets…Dow, Auto Fina and Solvay make PVC products, from powdered PVC to Pellets.
Shell Deer Park, the largest refinery on the Gulf Coast, doesn’t make gasoline, but instead refines the products most other refineries needs…from LPG, (liquefied Petroleum Gas) to butadiene and so forth.
BP Petroleum makes gasoline, and nothing else.
I think for modeling purpose, Lubrizol would be your best bet…they make specialized lubrication products, from automobile engine oils to super fine lubricants.
They have a small “yard” inside their plant, three sets load out racks, and their own siding off our main.
They get a variety of tank cars, from the 8 axel rail whales to the tiny EDCX tank cars full of anti knock compounds…and the occasional covered hopper with a phosphor product.
As was pointed out, most transportation fuels travel by pipeline to distribution points, then trucks locally to retail outlets.
ICT, Inter Continental Terminals, is just such a distribution point.
They receive the majority of their fuels via barge and ship…LPG, Diesel and Gasoline…they ship out by barge and ship also…their main purpose is storage and distribution of the stuff…their rail service is set up to ship these products to places that have no pipeline access or barge access…so the majority of the cars we take them are empty inbound, loaded out bound.
The majority of the big tanks you see around a refinery aren’t holding the finished product, but the feed stock mentioned by 1435mm…the crude and other products needed to make the products.
Feedstock being the product you “feed” the refinery in order to get your finished product.
Refineries run 24/7/365…they cant shut down because they always have something “cooking” so the speak.
Don’t forget to put a burn off flare in you model…this is used to burn off any undesired by products…or to get rid of goof ups…yes, they do make mistakes, and have to burn off the stuff...there is no way to put it in the trash so to speak.
They also burn off excess natural gas.
Refineries use a tremendous amount of natural gas to generate power and heat, and they buy the stuff on consignment up to three years in advance of their projected production date…and when that day arrives, if the project was canceled or altered, they cant just send the gas back, the pipelines are one way deals, so they burn it off.
Ever notice that refineries seem to be grouped together?
That is because they are almost always interconnected with each other…one refinery receives a crude oil…makes their products out of it, then sends the leftovers via pipeline to their next door neighbor, who refines another product out of that, then sends the left overs on to the next guy, who may remove the paraffin or sulpher…so forth and so on till nothing is left of the crude but a sludge with no real use…which is then sent to a coke unit, and made into the petroleum coke mentioned.
And they share a lot of their finished products with each other...one makes LPG, then send it via pipeline to a plant that need the fuel to make steam or process a particular product.
As Mr. Hadid pointed out, most refineries don’t make gasoline or diesel, but instead, make products used to make other products such as the plastics used in your home every day.
For modeling purposes, I would think that a small specialty refinery and a plastic plant would just about cover your needs…it will allow you to run a bunch of tank cars, and lots and lots of covered hoppers for the plastic.
The plastic plant need not be over elaborate.
A few tall buildings covered with corrugated sheathing, a covered loading track, and a small yard next to it.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Houston+Texas&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=29.730098,-95.185804&spn=0.02944,0.072613&t=k&om=1
This is a link to a Google map/satellite view of our Pasadena yard.
It will give you an idea of how the refineries are interconnected.
You can see the railyard, next to a odd looking “lake”
Not a lake, but that’s a different story.
The triangle looking place straight up is Crown Petroleum; they make Naptha and other fancy chemicals.
If you see the empty fields, look up a little, that is the Mobil Fertilizer plant…looks like a refinery, but makes fertilizers.
Go right a little, and the first refinery you can see is Phillips, who makes plastic pellets.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Houston+Texas&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=16&ll=29.737439,-95.094631&spn=0.00736,0.018153&iwloc=A
This is ICT, Inter Continental Terminals, who store and ship petroleum products.
Note the barge and ship facilities.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Houston+Texas&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=18&ll=29.741426,-95.097839&spn=0.00184,0.004538
This is one of the load out racks at ICT…they get acid cars here…the acid is used to clean out the holding tanks.
If you start at the Pasadena yard, and just scroll to the right you will see over 15 different “refineries”, none of which makes gasoline or diesel…but most of them make the products used to refine gasoline, or make support products and feedstock for the plastic industry.
If you have a specific question, email me at
Renaissance-man@sbcgobal.net
With a link or your question, and I will be happy to discuss the specifics, or find the answer for you.
Here is a small sample of cars you will see, just type the reporting marks into your search engine for the car series, type and photos...
UTLX 68742 to Lubrizol
OCPX 950018
UTLX 663667 to Oxy chemicals
HOKX 111636 to VoPak Terminals
GATX 22460 to Oxy Chemicals
Ed