Uses and Cracking of Crude Oil

Crude oil has various uses in modern life

• Uses as fuel for transport

• Petrochemical industry uses some of the hydrocarbons as a feedstock to make new compounds for uses in things like polymers, solvents, lubricants and detergents

• All products are examples of organic compounds

Cracking means splitting up long-chain hydrocarbons

• Short-chain hydrocarbons are more useful than long-chain hydrocarbons as they can make fuels so long-chains are cracked and broken into a short alkane and an alkene
• Alkenes are used as a starting material when making lots of other compounds and polymers

There are different methods of cracking

• Cracking is a thermal decomposition reaction-breaking molecules down by heating them
• Catalytic cracking
  • Heat long-chain hydrocarbons until they are vaporised
  • Vapour is then passed over a hot powered aluminium oxide catalyst
  • Long-chain molecules are split apart on the surface of the specks of catalyst
• Steam cracking
  • Heat long-chain hydrocarbons until they are vapourised
  • Mix them with steam and heat them to a very high temperature