Burning/cracking hydrocarbons

  • Complete combustion

    • Hydrocarbon + O2 → CO2 + H2O

    • Blue flame

  • Incomplete combustion

    • Hydrocarbon + O2 → CO + H2O

    • Not enough oxygen

    • Yellow flame

  • When balancing combustion always do

    1. Carbon

    2. Hydrogen

    3. Oxygen

  • Cracking

    • Breakdown of long hydrocarbon chains to make shorter chains as they are more useful and are more in demand.

    • Harvey fraction of crude oil is heated to vaporise, the vapour is then either passed over a hot catalyst or mixed with steam and heated to a very high temperature

    • Thermal decomposition process

    • Products of cracking must be either alkene or alkane, can have more than 2 products.