Experiment 12 — Splitting Crude Oil

Topic: Chemistry · Class 8 · Coal and petroleum: fractional distillation

Aim: Collect the petrol fraction cleanly (it boils between about 70 °C and 120 °C).

Daily: Every litre of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG in India begins in a refinery column like this one — at Jamnagar, Mathura or Paradip — separating one black liquid into a dozen useful products.

Question: Why can crude oil be separated into fractions at all?

Exp: Fractional distillation separates liquids by boiling point.

Question: Which fraction of crude oil boils at the lowest temperature?

Exp: Lightest fractions come off first.

Question: Petroleum and coal are called exhaustible because they…

Exp: They take millions of years to form.

Question: The condenser in a distillation is needed to…

Exp: Otherwise the product escapes as vapour.

Question: Bitumen from petroleum is used for…

Exp: It is the heaviest fraction of all.