- •Астраханский государственный технический университет
- •«Английский язык»
- •Методическое пособие утверждено на заседании кафедры “ияито” протокол № 10 от 16.05.07
- •IV. Read the text carefully and say what you have learnt about petroleum. A. Petroleum
- •B. Formation of petroleum Biogenic theory
- •Abiogenic theory
- •C. From the history of the oil industry
- •Exercises
- •III. Read the text carefully and say what you have learnt about natural gas. A. Chemical composition of natural gas
- •V. Say if the following statements are true or false. Correct the false ones.
- •B. Storage and transportation of natural gas
- •C. The use of natural gas
- •D. Sources of natural gas
- •E. Possible future sources
- •F. Safety
- •Exercises
- •VII. Render the text about natural gas in the oral form. Unit 3 Oil well
- •I. Study and learn the vocabulary list:
- •II. Look at the title and the picture and say what information the text gives. Read the text attentively for the details and be ready to discuss it with your groupmates.
- •A. The history of an oil well
- •B. Life of a well
- •Drilling
- •Completion
- •3) Production
- •4) Abandonment
- •C. Types of oil wells
- •Exercises
- •I. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Translate the following sentences into English using your active vocabulary:
- •III. Create a questionnaire on the topic “Oil wells” and test your groupmates’ knowledge. You can use the following questions:
- •Unit 4 Oil exploration
- •I. Study and learn the vocabulary list:
- •II. Read the text carefully and say what you have learnt oil exploration.
- •A. Searching for Oil and Gas
- •B. Oil extraction
- •C. Working conditions in the oil industry
- •D. Occupations in the oil industry
- •Exercises
- •I. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Give definitions to the following jobs:
- •III. Find in the text the English equivalents to the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Write down own sentences using words and word combinations from exercise 3.
- •V. Make up dialogues using the following situation:
- •Unit 5 How oil drilling works
- •I. Read and learn the vocabulary list:
- •II. Read the text carefully and say what you have learnt oil drilling. A. Preparing to drill
- •B. Setting up the rig
- •C. Drilling
- •D. Drilling rig classification
- •Exercises
- •V. Look at Fig. 4 and tell about the structure of an oil rig.
- •III. Read the text attentively and say what you have learnt about offshore drilling. A. The drilling template
- •B. Moveable offshore drilling rigs
- •1) Drilling barges
- •2) Jack-up rigs
- •3) Submersible rigs
- •4) Semisubmersible rigs
- •5) Drillships
- •C. Permanent platforms
- •1) Fixed platforms
- •2) Compliant towers
- •3) Seastar platforms
- •4) Floating production systems
- •5) Tension leg platforms
- •6) Subsea system
- •7) Spar platforms
- •Exercises
- •I. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Say if the sentences are true or false. Correct the false sentences.
- •III. Translate the following sentences into English using your active vocabulary:
- •Unit 7 How oil refining works
- •I. Study and learn the vocabulary list:
- •II. Read the text attentively and say what you have learnt about oil refinery. A. From the history of oil refinery
- •B. The refining process
- •Treating and blending the fractions
- •D. Safety and environmental concerns
- •Exercises
- •I. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Say if the statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.
- •III. Translate the following text into English using your active vocabulary:
- •IV. Render the text about oil refinery in the oral form.
- •II. Read the text attentively and say what you have learnt about gasoline. A. What is gasoline?
- •B. Chemical analysis and production of gasoline
- •C. Octane rating
- •D. Volatility
- •E. Gasoline Additives
- •1) Lead
- •3) Oxygenate blending
- •F. Health concerns
- •Exercises
- •I. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Say if the statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.
- •III. Translate the following sentences into English using your active vocabulary:
- •IV. Render the text about gasoline in the oral form. Contents
E. Gasoline Additives
1) Lead
The mixture known as gasoline, when used in high compression internal combustion engines, has a tendency to ignite early (pre-ignition or detonation) causing a damaging "engine knocking" (also called "pinging" or "pinking") noise. Early research into this effect was led by A.H. Gibson and Harry Ricardo in England and Thomas Midgley and Thomas Boyd in the United States. The discovery that lead additives modified this behavior led to the widespread adoption of the practice in the 1920s and therefore more powerful higher compression engines. The most popular additive was tetra-ethyl lead. However, with the discovery of the environmental and health damage caused by the lead, and the incompatibility of lead with catalytic converters found on virtually all automobiles since 1975, this practice began to wane in the 1980s. Most countries are phasing out leaded fuel; different additives have replaced the lead compounds. The most popular additives include aromatic hydrocarbons, ethers and alcohol (usually ethanol or methanol).
In the U.S., where lead was blended with gasoline, primarily to boost octane levels, since the early 1920s, standards to phase out leaded gasoline were first implemented in 1973. In 1995, leaded fuel accounted for only 0.6 % of total gasoline sales and less than 2,000 tons of lead per year. From January 1, 1996, the Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles. Possession and use of leaded petrol in a regular on-road vehicle now carries a maximum $10,000 fine in the United States. However, fuel containing lead may continue to be sold for off-road uses, including aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines until 2008. The ban on leaded gasoline was presumed to lower levels of lead in people's bloodstream and led to thousands of tons of lead not being released in the air by automobiles.
A side effect of the lead additives was protection of the valve seats from erosion. Many classic cars' engines have needed modification to use lead-free fuels since leaded fuels became unavailable. However, "Lead substitute" products are also produced and can sometimes be found at auto parts stores.
Gasoline, as delivered at the pump, also contains additives to reduce internal engine carbon buildups, improve combustion, and to allow easier starting in cold climates.
2) MMT
Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) has been used for many years in Canada and recently in Australia to boost octane. It also helps old cars designed for leaded fuel run on unleaded fuel without need for additives to prevent valve problems.
There are currently ongoing debates as to whether or not MMT is harmful to the environment and toxic to humans. However, US Federal sources state that MMT is suspected to be a powerful neurotoxin and respiratory toxin.
3) Oxygenate blending
Oxygenate blending adds oxygen to the fuel in oxygen-bearing compounds such as MTBE (MTBE is the acronym for methyl tertiary butyl ether), ethanol and ETBE, and so reduces the amount of carbon monoxide and unburned fuel in the exhaust gas, thus reducing smog. In many areas throughout the US oxygenate blending is mandatory. For example, in Southern California, fuel must contain 2% oxygen by weight. The resulting fuel is often known as reformulated gasoline (RFG) or oxygenated gasoline.
MTBE use is being phased out in some states due to issues with contamination of ground water. In some places it is already banned. Ethanol and to a lesser extent the ethanol derived ETBE are a common replacements. Especially ethanol derived from biomatter such as corn, sugar cane or grain is frequent, this will often be referred to as bio-ethanol. An ethanol-gasoline mix of 10% ethanol mixed with gasoline is called gasohol. An ethanol-gasoline mix of 85% ethanol mixed with gasoline is called E85. The most extensive use of ethanol takes place in Brazil, where the ethanol is derived from sugarcane. Over 3,400 million US gallons (13,000,000 m³) of ethanol mostly produced from corn was produced in the United States in 2004 for fuel use, and E85 is fast becoming available in much of the United States. The use of bioethanol, either directly or indirectly by conversion of such ethanol to bio-ETBE, is encouraged by the European Union Biofuels Directive. However since producing bio-ethanol from fermented sugars and starches involves distillation, ordinary people in much of Europe cannot ferment and distill their own bio-ethanol at present.