Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil
The most widespread use of Fractional Distillation is in the distillation of Crude Oil. Fractional distillation separates various components of crude oil. Crude oil contains substances such as
- Paraffin Wax
- Gasoline
- Diesel
- Naphtha
- Lubricating Oil
- Kerosene
Fractional Distillation separates these components efficiently. For this process, crude oil is added to the chambers and then heated with high-pressure steam. When the mixture starts to boil and vapours are formed the vapour then rises up in the fractional distillation column. These columns have various plates that have holes which allow the vapour to pass through them. The temperature at the top of the fractionating column is kept low. Now, the components with the highest boiling point will condense in the lower part of the column while components with low boiling points will condense at the top.
The condensed vapours are then removed from the column and then collected to get the required components.
Learn More, Fractional Distillation of Petroleum
Fractional Distillation
Fractional Distillation is a technique used in the separation of miscible liquids. The process requires repeated distillations and condensations of the mixture. The separation of the mixture happens when the mixture is heated at a certain temperature where fractions of the mixture start to vaporize and are collected separately. Fraction Distillation works on the liquid that has liquid mixed together with different heat of vaporization. Petroleum Oil is distilled into Petrol, Diesel, Petroleum Jelly, etc. using the Fractional Distillation method.
In this article, we will learn about fractional distillation in chemistry, the fractional distillation definition, the fractional distillation process, and others in detail.
Table of Content
- Fractional Distillation Definition
- Principle of Fractional Distillation
- Fractional Distillation Procedure
- Applications of Fractional Distillation
- Difference between Simple Distillation and Fractional Distillation