Overland petroleum processor

A petroleum processor in combination with a plurality of railroad cars, said processor comprising:

• (a) a crude heater capable of burning various petroleum products, said heater providing the primary heat for fractionation separation;
• (b) a modular, crude fractionation unit with means for connecting said modular fractionation unit to said heater, said fractionation unit including a plurality of fractionation vessels mounted on said railroad cars, wherein said vessels are specifically designed to meet railroad height, width and weight requirements, a control system of valving and piping with means for connecting each of said vessels disposed on a respective railroad car one to the other in series and for serially connecting the downstream vessel and the upstream vessel disposed on adjacents ones of said railroad cars so as to enable variance of the total effective number of fractionation vessels in order to effect the desired separation of a selected crude oil.
• (c) said unit further comprising a plurality of heat exchangers and coolers and means for connecting said heat exchangers and coolers to said fractionation vessels to provide cooling for and heat recovery from the separated products of fractionation;
• (d) computer means for operating said control system and performing simulation of a multi-component fractionation to determine the required number of said vessels to effect the desired separation;
• and,
• (e) a utility module mounted on a separate one of said railroad cars and means for connecting said utility module to said heater, said crude fractionation unit, and said computer means to provide the necessary electrical power for operation thereof.