Fractional distillation

Making it useful

If crude oil is this gloopy mixture of both useful and useless hydrocarbons, how can we separate them all out?

Crude oil is not easy to burn so the different parts that make up the mixture are separated out.

This can be achieved by fractional distillation.

This relies on the different chemicals becoming gases at different temperatures.

Crude oil is heated strongly to evaporate it, the hot vapours are piped into the bottom

The column is hottest at the bottom and coldest at the top

The vapours rise through the column and cool down

The vapours turn to liquid when they reach a part that is cool

The liquid falls into a tray and is piped away