Organic ChemistryTopic Summary
Topic Summary: Crude Oil & Fractional Distillation
Part of Crude Oil — GCSE Chemistry
This topic summary covers Topic Summary: Crude Oil & Fractional Distillation within Crude Oil for GCSE Chemistry. Topic 37: Crude Oil It is section 13 of 13 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 13 of 13
Practice
20 questions
Recall
0 flashcards
Topic Summary: Crude Oil & Fractional Distillation
Key Terms
- Crude oil — mixture of hydrocarbons
- Hydrocarbon — contains C and H only
- Fraction — group with similar bp
- Fractional distillation — physical separation by bp
Column Position Rules
- Top = small, low bp, flammable, runny
- Bottom = large, high bp, less flammable, viscous
- Hot at bottom, cool at top
- Gases exit at the very top
Fractions (top to bottom)
- Refinery gases (C1-C4) — heating/fuel
- Petrol (C5-C10) — cars
- Kerosene — jet fuel
- Diesel — vehicles/heating
- Bitumen — roads
Exam Checklist
- Physical process — no bonds broken
- Smaller = lower bp = higher up column
- Crude oil = finite, non-renewable
- Separated by boiling points