Crude Oil

What is crude oil?

A substance that is not very useful but can be separated into different hydrocarbons that are.

How are hydrocarbons separated in crude oil?

Fractional distillation

What determines how each hydrocarbon molecule will be separated?

Their size and length

What do most fractions contain?

Alkanes which are compounds of carbon and hydrogen with only single bonds between them

What is used to separate crude oil?

A fractionning column

What temp is the top of the fractioning column?

Cool - 25 degrees celcius

What temp is the bottom of the fractionning column?

Hot - 350 degrees celcius

What is the order from top to bottom of the fractioning column?

Refinery gases, gasoline, kerosine, diesel, fuel oil and bitumen

What is a use of refinery gas

Cooking and heating

What is a use of gasoline

fuel for gas

What is a use of kerosene

air craft fuel

What is a use of diesel

fuel for cars, lorries and buses

What is a use of fuel oil

fuel for ships and power stations

What is a use of bitumen

surfacing roads

How many carbon atoms does refinery gas have

1-4

How many carbon atoms does gasoline have

4-12

How many carbon atoms does kerosene have

12-16

How many carbon atoms does diesel have

14-18

How many carbon atoms does fuel oil have

19-25

How many carbon atoms does bitumen have

more than 70

Acronym for remembering the fractions

Rory Gilmore Kills Dean For Books

What is the boiling point for refinery gas

below 25

What is the boiling point for gasoline

40-100

What is the boiling point for kerosene

150-240

What is the boiling point for diesel

220-300

What is the boiling point for fuel oil

250-320

What is the boiling point for bitumen

more than 350

What happens to viscosity as you go down the fractions

it increases

What happens to volatility as you go down the fractions

it decreases

What is fuel

a substance that, when burned, releases heat energy

What does the combustion of fossil fuels cause

atmospheric pollution

How are non-renewable fossil fuels are obtained from crude oil?

Fractional distilation

What does the burning of fossil fuels release?

carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulfur

What is complete combustion

Complete combustion occurs when there is excess oxygen

What is incomplete combustion

Incomplete combustion occurs when there is insufficient oxygen to burn. It occurs in some appliances such as boilers and stoves as well as in internal combustion engines. The products of these reactions are unburnt fuel (soot), carbon monoxide and water. Methane for example undergoes incomplete combustion in an oxygen-poor environment:

What does incomplete combustion result in?

unburned hydrocarbons and carbon particulates

Why is carbon monoxide dangerous?

Carbon monoxide is a toxic and odourless gas which can cause dizziness, loss of consciousness and eventually death. The CO binds well to haemoglobin which therefore cannot bind oxygen. Oxygen is transported to organs.

When are nitrogen oxides formed?

when nitrogen and oxygen react in the high pressure and temperature conditions of internal combustion engines and blast furnaces

What are adverse effects of nitrogen oxides?

acid rain as well as producing photochemical smog and breathing difficulties, in particular for people suffering from asthma.

What is acid rain?

Acid rain causes corrosion to metal structures, buildings and statues made of carbonate rocks, damage to aquatic organisms. It pollutes crops and water supplies, irritates lungs, throats and eyes

How is acid rain formed?

From sulfuric acid or nitrogen dioxide

How is acid rain formed (sulfuric acid)

The sulfur dioxide produced from the combustion of fossil fuels dissolves in rainwater droplets to form sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is one of the components of acid rain which has several damaging impacts on the environment

How is acid rain formed (nitrogen dioxide)

Nitrogen dioxide produced from car engines reacts with rain water to form a mixture of nitrous and nitric acids, which contribute to acid rain. Nitrogen dioxide gas reacts with rain water and more oxygen to form nitric acid. When the clouds rise, the temperature decreases, and the droplets get larger. When the droplets containing these acids are heavy enough, they will fall down as acid rain

What is cracking?

Cracking is an industrial process used to break low demand, long chain hydrocarbon molecules into more useful, small chain hydrocarbon molecules.

What are the conditions for cracking?

Catalytic cracking involves heating the hydrocarbon molecules to around 600 – 700 °C to vaporise them

The vapours then pass over a hot powdered catalyst of aluminium oxide

This process breaks covalent bonds in the molecules as they come into contact with the surface of the catalyst, causing thermal decomposition reactions

What are the products of cracking?

The molecules are broken up in a random way which produces a mixture of shorter alkanes and alkenes

What is an alkane?

Alkanes are saturated molecules containing carbon-carbon single bonds only

What is an alkene

Alkenes are unsaturated molecules containing carbon=carbon double bonds

What is supply in terms of fractional distilation?

how much of a particular fraction can be produced from refining the crude oil

What is demand in terms of fractional distilation?

how much customers want to buy

Mnemonic for remembering how acid rain is formed for sulphuric acid

Cool - combustion

Fuckers - fossil fuels

Dogs - dissolve

Read - rainwater

Super articles - sulfuric acid

Calling - component

Eagles - evaporates