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USGS1964

Water requirements of the petroleum refining industry

About 3,500 million gallons of water was withdrawn daily in 1955 for use by petroleum refineries in the United States. This was about 3 percent of the estimated daily withdrawal of industrial water in the United States in 1955. An average of 468 gallons of water was required to refine a barrel of crude oil, and the median was 95 gallons of water per barrel of crude charge; withdrawals ranged from 6.5 to 3,240 gallons per barrel. Ninety-one percent of the water requirements of the petroleum refineries surveyed was for cooling. One-third of the refineries reused their cooling water from 10 to more than 50 times. Only 17 refineries used once-through cooling systems. Refineries with recirculating cooling systems circulated about twice as much cooling water but needed about 25 times less makeup; however, they consumed about 24 times more water per barrel of charge than refineries using once-through cooling systems. The average noncracking refinery used about 375 gallons of water per barrel of crude, which is less than the 471-gallon average of refineries with cracking facilities. Refineries are composed of various processing units, and the water requirements of such units varied ; median makeup needs ranged from about 125 gallons per barrel for polymerization and alkylation units to 15.5 gallons per barrel for distillation units. Refinery-owned sources of water supplied 95 percent of the makeup-water requirements. Surface-water sources provided 86 percent of the makeup-water demand. Less than 1 percent of the makeup water was obtained from reprocessed municipal sewage.

Water Supply Paper↗

USGS1955

Water requirements of selected industries

The early industries in America generally were established when and where demands for the products of industry arose. Most of the early industries were so located that their increasing requirements for transportation, raw materials, market, labor, and water supply could be satisfied economically. Many of these original plant locations have continued as modern industrial centers and their output has increased manyfold in meeting the demands of our growing Nation. The recent and current industrial expansion and the trend toward the growth of chemical industries, many Of which are heavy users of water, has resulted in a tremendous increase in the total withdrawal of water for industrial use as well as a large increase in the per capita use of water. This increase in industrial water requirement has strained the capacity of the developed water supplies in many areas, and in some instances the adequacy of the potential water supplies is questionable. The Geological Survey is engaged in preparing and publishing a series of reports describing the developed and undeveloped water resources of many important industrial areas. This work was started initially at the request of the National Securities Resources Board as a means to insure that water supplies are adequate for our rapidly expanding industrial development. Although many factors contribute to establishing the feasibility or even the limits of future industrial development, the one relating to available water supply is extremely important. A knowledge of the water requirements of various industries is valuable therefore in planning the logical development in any area where water supply is a critical factor. Thus far very little suitable information on the water requirements of our major industries is available for general planning. An inventory of unit water-use values in industry therefore would be generally helpful and also might tend to stimulate water-conservation methods. To obtain such information, investigations

Water Supply Paper↗