A glossary of common terms and abbreviations used in the industry, with links to more in-depth articles on key words
T50 - a measure of distillation profile. The temperature at which 50% of a hydrocarbon stream vaporizes
T90 - a measure of distillation profile. The temperature at which 90% of a hydrocarbon stream vaporizes
Tail gas treating unit - (TGTU) a process unit that treats remaining sulfur in the tail gas off the sulfur recovery unit
TAME - (Tertiary amyl ethyl ether) an oxygenate gasoline blendstock produced by reacting methanol with an amylene (five carbon olefin)
TAN - (Total acid number)a measure of the corrosiveness of the crude due to the presence of acids, particularly naphthenic acids
Tank farm - a collection of crude oil and/or refined product storage tanks
Tank wagon - a truck designed for delivery of liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel from fuel terminals to retail stations
Tapis (crude) - a light, sweet crude oil produced in Malaysia
Tar sands - deposits of oil in the form of small amounts of bitumen covering fine grains of sand
TBA - (an isomer of butanol. It is used as a finished refined product, an oxygenate blendstock in gasoline blending and an intermediate feedstock in the production of MTBE and ETBE
TDP - (Toluene disproportionation) a conversion process that converts toluene to a mix of xylenes and benzene
Technical support - the engineers who provide support to day to day operations in a refinery
Technology licensing - the business of selling process technologies to refiners
TEL - (Tetra-ethyl lead)Tertiary butyl alcohol) a gasoline additive that was widely used to improve gasoline octane
Tengiz (crude) - a light, sweet crude grade produced in Kazakhstan
Terminal - a facility used to gather, store, transload, and/or distribute crude oil and refined products
Terra nova (crude) - a medium, sweet crude grade produced in Canada
Tertiary amyl ethyl ether - (TAME) an oxygenate gasoline blendstock produced by reacting methanol with an amylene (five carbon olefin)
Tertiary butyl alcohol - (TBA) an isomer of butanol. It is used as a finished refined product, a gasoline oxygenate blendstock and an intermediate in the production of MTBE and ETBE
Tetra-ethyl lead - (TEL) a gasoline additive that was widely used to improve gasoline octane
TGTU - (Tail gas treating unit) a process unit that treats remaining sulfur in the tail gas off the sulfur recovery unit
Thermal cracking - a conversion process for cracking resid using only heat, no catalyst
THUMS (crude) - a heavy, sour crude grade produced in the US
Thunder horse (crude) - a medium, sour crude grade produced in the US
Tier-3 (gasoline) - the gasoline sulfur regulation introduced in the US in 2017 reducing the maximum average sulfur content of gasoline to 10ppm
Time charter - a tanker charter for a period of time beyond a single voyage
Toluene - a hydrocarbon with 7 carbon atoms that contains an unsaturated aromatic ring structure, plus one additional carbon atom. Essentially benzene plus an extra carbon
Toluene disproportionation - (TDP) a conversion process that converts toluene to a mix of xylenes and benzene
Topped crude - the heaviest of the distillation cuts out of the atmospheric distillation tower
Topping - a very simple (low complexity) refining configuration consisting only of atmospheric distillation and hydrotreating
Total acid number - (TAN) a measure of the corrosiveness of the crude due to the presence of acids, particularly naphthenic acids
Transload - to shift a crude oil or refined product cargo from one mode of transportation to another
Transmix - a mixture of refined products (typically gasoline and diesel) that is created at the interface of different product batches on a pipeline and must be separated and re-processed
Tray - the levels in a distillation tower at which hydrocarbons re-condense resulting in separation based on boiling point
Treating processes - process units focus an improving the quality of a hydrocarbon stream without changing the product mix of the refinery
Troll (crude) - a medium, sweet crude grade produced in Norway
Truck rack - the loading facility for tank trucks at a fuel terminal
Turnaround - (TA) a major maintenance event for a refinery process unit where the unit is taken out of service and opened up for cleaning, repair and enhancement
Tupi (crude) - is a heavy, sour crude grade produced in Brazil