This work concerns the topological optimization problem for determining the optimal petroleum refinery configuration. We are interested in further investigating and hopefully advancing the existing optimization approaches and strategies employing logic propositions to conceptual process synthesis problems. In particular, we seek to contribute to this increasingly exciting area of chemical proce...

A significant quantum of crude oil is trapped in reservoirs and often unrecoverable by conventional oil recovery methods. Further downstream, the petroleum industry is facing challenges to remove sulfur, metal, nitrogen as well as undesirable organic compounds from the crude. Conventional secondary recovery methods such as water and gas injections helped to increase the productivity of the well...

To assess health risks in agricultural workers associated with environmental exposure to pollutants released from a petroleum refinery and from traffic, we performed a cross-sectional study that included 119 randomly selected subjects divided in two groups. Group 1 included 60 agricultural workers living in a rural community near the petroleum refinery and a motorway overpass, whereas Group 2 c...

To evaluate the hypothesis of increased kidney cancer risk after exposure to hydrocarbons, especially those present in gasoline, we conducted a case-control study in a cohort of approximately 100,000 male refinery workers from five petroleum companies. A review of 18,323 death certificates identified 102 kidney cancer cases, to each of whom four controls were matched by refinery location and de...

An update of a cohort study of 14,074 employees at the Richmond and El Segundo refineries of Chevron USA in California was conducted to further examine mortality patterns. The update added six years of follow up (1981-6) and 941 deaths. As in the previous study, mortality from all causes (standard mortality ratio (SMR) = 73) was significantly lower among men compared with the general United Sta...