This oil refinery is located in Schwedt, Brandenburg.
Image: dpa
In order to use crude oil, it must first be broken down into its component parts. So far, this has been an energy-intensive and climate-damaging process. Gentler methods are now being tested.
TDespite the many efforts to replace petrol, diesel and kerosene with synthetic fuels or electric drives, fuels made from crude oil will continue to play a major role in the coming decades. The chemical and pharmaceutical industries also continue to depend on crude oil to manufacture their products. In order to meet global demand, huge amounts of oil are produced every day, in 2021 it was almost 90 million barrels. Because crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, it must first be broken down into its various components. This is done in the refineries using fractional distillation – an extremely energy-intensive process that is estimated to be responsible for around one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year.
In order to reduce the ecological footprint and energy consumption, the petroleum companies are desperately looking for economical and climate-friendly processes. The separation of the crude oil fractions with special organic membranes is very promising. So far, membrane processes have not been able to establish themselves, unlike, for example, in the desalination of seawater using reverse osmosis. This is mainly due to the lack of efficient, cheap and stable porous filter materials. But that could possibly change soon thanks to research from various groups.