What is Fractional Distillation?
The process of separating crude oil in order for humans to take advantage of the products produced. It happens in the fractionating tower, liquids are heated which causes them to "fractionate". In the refining process, the longer the hydrocarbon molecule, the higher the temperature it takes to boil it out of crude oil. The temperature needed to boil out gasoline might be only 40 Celsius while a temperature of over 400 Celsius might be needed for heavy gas oil. This means that many useful hydrocarbons are separated. |
