This process separates the different components of crude oil so that they can be further refined. Furthermore, many of the new sources of crude petroleum california, alaska, venezuela, and mexico have yielded heavier crude oils with higher. Fractional distillation how oil refining works howstuffworks. Crude oil refiniring cracking chemistry distillation. The resulting fractions have different uses depending on their properties, and some fractions are more useful than others. However, the basic categories of distilled products are. Petroleum refining petroleum refining visbreaking, thermal cracking, and coking.
A fractionating column is a hollow, vertical tower. The crude oil fractional distillation fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions, such as in separating chemical compounds by their boiling point by heating them to a temperature at which one or more fractions of the compound will vaporize. An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is transformed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel and fuel oils. Which are the products of fractional distillation of crude. The fractionating column is a tall cylinder, cooler at the top, hottest at the bottom. Ludwigs applied process design for chemical and petrochemical plants fourth edition, volume 2, 2010. Specific hydrocarbons are separated out of crude oil by the process of distillation, separating the gases from the liquids at different temperatures. The first step in refining crude oil is known as fractional distillation. When crude oil reaches the oil refinery it is a thick black, smelly liquid.
Learn complete crude oil refining process from distillation to cracking. The fractions at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling points than the fractions at the bottom. Refining petroleum entails both the removal of these impurities and also the separation of petroleum into its various components. Distillation oil refining crude oil, also called petroleum, is a complex mixture of carbon and hydrogen hydrocarbons, which exist as a liquid in the earths crust. Crude oil distillation an overview sciencedirect topics.
Just like when you boil water, the superheated oil mixture turns to a vapour, which enters the fractional distillation column. Theres no use of catalyst in distillation of crude oil. Treating and blending the fractions how oil refining. The various components of crude oil have different siz es, weights and boiling temperatures. Crude oil provides the starting raw material for making lots of different chemicals for a variety of uses. Jan 14, 20 crude oil distillation process complete. The diagram above presents a stylized version of the. Jul 16, 2016 crude oil is just a hydro carbon product which passes through different phases and physical changes during refining process. This video describe the complete distillation process in a refinery. Schematic diagram of a fluid catalytic cracking unit. The refining is done by separating all the different fuels and chemicals by fractional distillation in an oil refinery. You should use the words evaporated and condensed in. The next step in the process of refining oil is chemical processing. The distiller fills in wide, steel, cylindrical container at the start, then heats it, as time goes by the vapors are condensed.
Petrol and other fuels are produced from it using fractional distillation. In general, shorter chain hydrocarbons are more useful than longer chains. Atmospheric distillation typically sets the capacity. The experiment time depends on the age and experience of the students. Use the diagram to help you to explain how crude oil is separated into fractions. You should use the words evaporated and condensed in your answer. Step 1 in the refining process is to remove these contaminants so as to reduce corrosion, plugging, and fouling of equipment and. Animation description will help you to understand the things better. Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and a number of different compounds whose composition varies according to its place of occurrence. If you want to see the bigger picture involved in oil, get a new perspective with this course on exploring the complexities of globalization and how. This experiment simulates the industrial fractional distillation of crude oil in the laboratory. On the right, you can see several chemical processors.
During atmospheric distillation, it gets divided into 1. Crude oil is a complicated mixture consisting of a variety of different hydrocarbons and the particular composition is very variable depending on where it is found. Jun 15, 2016 crude oil is useless until we separate this mixture using fractional distillation. This is done by a process called fractional distillation. The uses of a fraction is related to its physical properties e. Distillation is merely a means of separating those components so it can do nothing to create more of one of them. Furthermore, it should be treated in order to obtain highly effective end products.
Cracking is used to convert long alkanes into shorter, more useful hydrocarbons. When this happens, all the crude oil evaporates and the vapour or gas rises through the column 2. In movies and television shows giant, oklahoma crude, armageddon, beverly hillbillies we have seen images of thick, black crude oil gushing out of the. The feed is further heated to about 320c as it passes through the heater pipe. This involves heating crude oil to about 350 degrees celsius, to turn it into a mixture of gases.
This can be done using one of three different methods, cracking, unification, and alteration. The oil refining process starts with a fractional distillation column. The refining process how oil refining works howstuffworks. Crude oil is composed of a complex mix of hydrocarbons, so the products formed from fractional distillation will also be a mix of these complex molecules. Gap fill worksheet question quiz crude oil and its fractional also 7 fractionq gif the many hydrocarbons in crude. Fractional distillation crude oil is a complicated mixture of hydrocarbons, with a varying composition depending on its source. How crude oil is formed how crude oil is separated using fractional distillation the process of fractional distillation some of the common products of. Fractional distillation and cracking are two such processes. Catalytic cracking is used to convert heavy hydrocarbon fractions obtained by vacuum distillation into a mixture of more useful products such as petrol and light fuel oil.
All of the fractions are processed further in other refining units. The primary purpose of the atmospheric distillation tower is to separate crude oil into its components or distillation cuts, distillation fractions for further processing by other processing units. In this technique even the material comes after the distillation is not of such a desi. Fractional distillation begins when the crude oil, which is a mixture of different. Crude oil is a major source of hydrocarbons that is used to produce fuels. In this process, the feedstock undergoes a chemical breakdown, under controlled heat 450 500 o c and pressure, in the presence of a catalyst a substance which. Those with the lowest boiling points evaporate first and those with the highest boiling points. Fractional distillation of crude oil petroleum refinery. Then, the vapor goes into the bottom of a fractionating column. Crude oil distillation is a large energy consumer and a large waste generator, so refiners need to balance the economics of processing crude oil to viable fractions. Once it enters the modern refinery, crude oil goes through a process called fractional distillation.
Cracking, in petroleum refining, the process by which heavy hydrocarbon molecules are broken up into lighter molecules by means of heat and usually pressure and sometimes catalysts. Atmospheric distillation primary fractional distillation distilling a crude oil starts by preheating the feed by exchange with the hot product streams. See how crude oil is converted in useful different fractions and how long chain hydrocarbons are converted in branched. What is the catalyst use in fractional distillation of. The uses of the fuel gas, lpg, refinery gas, gasoline, petrol, naphtha, paraffin, kerosene, diesel oil, gas oil, fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax and bitumen fractions are tabulated. The various components of crude oil have different sizes, weights and boiling temperatures. A crude oil refinery is a group of industrial facilities that turns crude oil and other inputs into finished petroleum products. Fractional distillationcrude oil is heated and passed into a fractionating tower, separating the complex mixture into fractions. Petroleum refining visbreaking, thermal cracking, and coking. Fractional distillation and cracking are two such methods. The fractional distillation of crude oil resource rsc. Pdf distillation process of crude oil researchgate. Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions.
Fractional distillation involves heating the crude petroleum, so that at. This page describes the separation of useful products from crude oil by the process of fractional distillation, part of the oil refining process in the petrochemical industry. Crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional distillation. For crude oil to be used effectively by modern industry, it has to be separated into its component parts and have impurities like sulfur removed. They are composed of several different processing units. The word petroleum is composed of two latin words petra means rock and oleum means oil. Crude oil distillation simplified process shows in animation that how crude oil process is separates the the crude oil in its basic components before refining them to end product. Very hot, vaporized crude oil is pumped into the bottom of the column and rises up through the perforations. Difference between fractional distillation and cracking. A petroleum refinery unit can be defined as a large factory complex. A refinerys capacity refers to the maximum amount of crude oil designed to flow into the distillation unit of a refinery, also known as the crude unit the diagram above presents a stylized version of the distillation process.
Fractional distillation of crude oil experiment oresome. Fractional distillation of crude oil refining uses of. State what must be done to the crude oil before it enters the fractionating column. Feb 28, 2016 fractional distillation and refining of petroleum 1. Fractional distillation separates a mixture into a number of different parts, called fractions a tall fractionating column is fitted above the mixture, with. While the process of refining crude oil is nowhere near as complex as the process for harnessing nuclear energy, it is still quite ingenious and offers an inside look at one of our most controversial, essential commodities.
In this online course, learn about the key subjects in science. It is during this part of the fractional distillation process that the crude oil gets separated. As the temperature of crude oil increases, different hydrocarbons are separated. Crude oil distillation is more complicated than product distillation, in part because crude oils contain water, salts, and suspended solids. Crude oil is useless until we separate this mixture using fractional distillation. Since world war ii the demand for light products e. Chen, in computer aided chemical engineering, 2016. Fractional distillation chemical process britannica. Cracking and alkenes crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes. The hydrocarbons in crude oil have different boiling points, according to the number of carbon atoms their molecules contain and how they are arranged. The primary process for separating the hydrocarbon components of crude oil is fractional distillation.
The crude oil fractional distillation petroleum refinery. Crude oil cannot be used directly but it is the source of many useful products. The first stages in the processing of crude oil are described below. This continuous fractional distillation of crude oil into different useful fractions and the removal of undesirable impurities is called refining or processing of petroleum, the different fractions, thus, obtained contain hydrocarbons of different chain lengths. Making crude oil usefulfractional distillation and cracking. Newer techniques use chemical processing on some of the fractions to make others, in a process called conversion. The very longest alkanes have the strongest intermolecular forces and so dont boil, but exit the column at the bottom. Mar 23, 2016 learn complete crude oil refining process from distillation to cracking. A petroleum refinery is a process of chemical engineering in which natural crude oil is processed to obtain useful products. Fractional distillation of crude oil in an oil refinery and.
The majority of the use we get out of crude oil is as fuel. Crude distillation is the first process in the refining sequence and is vital to the profitability of refinery operations. Batch distillation and equipment using is like old fashioned spirit making. The bubble cap forces the oil vapor to bubble through liquid on the tray. Fractional distillation is useful for separating a mixture of substances with narrow differences in boiling points, and is the most important step in the refining process. Petroleum refining processes are the chemical engineering processes and other facilities used in petroleum refineries also referred to as oil refineries to transform crude oil into useful products such as liquefied petroleum gas lpg, gasoline or petrol, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel oil and fuel oils. Oil fields image gallery refineries turn crude oil into products such as gasoline and plastics. The fractions are separated by boiling point through a process called fractional distillation. Cracking is the most important process for the commercial production of gasoline and diesel fuel. At the refinery these are separated into fractions which are more useful. Fractional distillation is the method of separation in which product is taken to a specific boiling point where, one part is vaporized out by leaving the other.
Atmospheric distillation is the first and most fundamental step in the the refining process. What are physical changes in crude oil while refining. The fractional distillation process starts by heating up the material to over 400 degrees celsius in order to vaporize it. Cracking involves breaking large hydrocarbon chains into smaller chains, or cracking the chain into pieces. How does fractional distillation of crude oil work. The crude oil has to be pumped from tanks into a furnace for the distillation process, where it is heated to around 400 degrees celsius. Although the crude oil enters the fractionating column as a vapour or a gas, many of the fractions are collected as liquids. Fractional distillation organic chemistry, organic.
Crude oil distillers separate crude oil into fractions for subsequent processing in such units as catalytic reformers, cracking units, alkylation units, or cokers. Fractional distillation of crude oil while the technique of refining crude oil is nowhere close to as complex as the method for harnessing nuclear vitality, it is still fairly ingenious and presents an inside look at considered one of our most controversial, important commodities. Past paper questions crude oil, fractional distillation. But yes after distillation of crude oil the differen. Which are the products of fractional distillation of crude oil. Best available tech reference document for the refining oil. Making crude oil useful fractional distillation and cracking. Hot crude oil over 300 o c is pumped in at the bottom. Teachers will need to assess whether this activity can be done as a class experiment or as a demonstration. This importance has grown with the advent of cleaner fuels. Fractional distillation involves the higher boiled fractions collect near the bottom of the column while the lower boiling temps rise to the top of the fraction tray. Refinery crude oil distillation process complete full hd. Crude oil is a fossil fuel and one of the most important substances in the world. Crude oil is used to produce many useful materials.
The inside of a fractional distilling column has sets of perforated trays. The hot feed enters the fractionators, which normally contains 3050 fractionation trays. Since crude oil is a mixture of different components, it should be processed to obtain a better product that has no impurities. Well look at the refining process in a broader view and then break down the steps involved in fractional distillation.
As the vapour rises, it cools at different temperatures, depending on its composition. You basically heat crude oil up, let it vaporize and then condense the vapor. Crude oil has many compositions, some is black, thick and tar like, while other crude oils are lighter in color and thinner. A year 7 or equivalent group needs about 50 mins and a year 12 or. As the vapour goes up the column, the temperature decreases 3. Distillation is a unit operation physical process while catalysts are used to change the rate of a chemical process in unit processes. A refinerys capacity refers to the maximum amount of crude oil designed to flow into the distillation unit of a refinery, also known as the crude unit. Fractional distillation is only the first step in the oil refining process. Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts fractions by heating them to a temperature at which several components evaporate.