Sub-Product

The first unit operation (after being desalinated) in a Petroleum Refinery is the Crude Oil Distillation Unit. The overhead Liquid Distillate from that Unit is called Virgin or Straight-Run Naphtha or Full Boiling Range Naphtha (FBR Naphtha) and that Distillate is the largest source of Naphtha in most Petroleum Refineries. The Naphtha is a mixture of many different Hydrocarbon Compounds. It has an initial boiling point (IBP) of about 35°C and a final boiling point (FBP) of about 200°C, and it contains Paraffins (Alcanes), Naphthenes (Cycloalcanes) and Aromatic Hydrocarbons ranging from those containing 4 Carbon Atoms to those containing about 10 or 11 Carbon Atoms.