Chemistry - Crude oil and fractional distillation steps

Step 1

The crude oil fed into and chamber and is heated until most of it turns into a gas.

Step 2

This gaseous mixture is passed into a fractional column, which is hot at the bottom and cool at the top.

Step 3

As the hot gases rise in the column, they cool. When a gas reaches a region with a temperature lower than its boiling point, it condenses into a liquid.

Step 4

Hydrocarbons with longer chains (more carbons) have higher boiling points and condense into a liquid and drain out of the column earlier.

Step 5

Shorter chain hydrocarbons have lower boiling points and stay as a gas longer, rising higher in the column before condensing.