fractional distillation

how can the hydrocarbons in crude oil be seperated

fractional distilation

first step in fractional distilation is to

heat the crude oil up until it`s mostly in a gaseous state

now it`s in a gaseous state you can

pass the crude oil into a fractionating column very hot at bottom and cool at top

the hydrocarbons with longest chains have the highest

boiling point

this means longer chained hydrocarbons will condense into liquid and drain out the coloumn faster as

their boiling point is high and once they`ve passed into a area lower than their boiling point they can no longer stay in a gaseous state

this means that the shorter chains with lower melting points will drain out when

they are higher up in the cooler section of the coloumn

this method seperates the crude oil into fractions each fraction contains

hydrocarbons with similar amount of carbon atoms

in the order very hot to cool list types of hydrocarbons that get fractioned and amount of carbon atoms they have

heavy fuel oil(40) —→ diesel(20) —→ kerosene (15) —→ petrol(8) —>LPG(3)