YOUR TASK:

identify data sources, gather, process and analyse information from secondary
sources to identify the industrial separation processes used on a mixture obtained from the
biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere or atmosphere and use available evidence to:
identify the properties of the mixture used in its separation
identify the products of separation and their uses
discuss issues associated with wastes from the processes used

Industrial Separation of petroleum

Write some keys words below that you can use in your Google search to obtain relevant information
on the subject.

Methods of separating Petroleum

Read the information sheet Processing Skills and identify some of criteria that needs to be
accounted for when collecting and evaluating information from secondary sources.

Intended audience- The group of people for whom the information was written.
Authority- That which supports and/or substantiates the reliability and validity of
the information.
Authenticity- This means that the information is accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
Currency- Currency Means how up-to-date the source of information is. Is it a
recent article?
Relevance- The information needs to refer in some manner to the topic you are
investigating.

1. Access the following online resources plus your own research:

Resource 1 Resource 2 Resource 3 Resource 4 Resource 5

Resource 6 Resource 7 Resource 8 Resource 9 Resource 10

Describe the substance petroleum, also known as, crude oil (include its composition).
Petroleum is a complex mixture of organic liquids called crude oil and natural gas, which occurs
naturally in the ground and was formed millions of years ago. Petroleum is mixture of
hydrocarbon molecules. The molecules are of different sizes and have a different number of
carbon atoms.

Describe the method of separation used for petroleum.

1. You heat the mixture of two or more substances (liquids) with different boiling
 points to a high temperature. Heating is usually done with high pressure steam to
temperatures of about 1112 degrees Fahrenheit / 600 degrees Celsius.
2. The mixture boils, forming vapor (gases); most substances go into the vapor phase.
3. The vapor enters the bottom of a long column (fractional distillation column) that
is filled with trays or plates. The trays have many holes or bubble caps in them to allow
the vapor to pass through. They increase the contact time between the vapor and the
liquids in the column and help to collect liquids that form at various heights in the column.
There is a temperature difference across the column.
4. As the vapor rises through the trays in the column, it cools.
5. When a substance in the vapor reaches a height where the temperature of the
column is equal to that substance's boiling point, it will condense to form a liquid.
6. The trays collect the liquid and the collected liquid fractions may pass to
condensers, which cool them further, and then go to storage tanks, or they may go to other
areas for further chemical processing

Identify the property of the petroleum/crude oil mixture that allow its separation.
Fractional distillation differs from distillation only in that it separates a mixture into a number of
different parts, called fractions. A tall column is fitted above the mixture, with several condensers
coming off at different heights. The column is hot at the bottom and cool at the top. Substances
with high boiling points condense at the bottom and substances with low boiling points condense
at the top.
The different boiling points of the substances in crude oil can be separated using fractional
distillation. The crude oil is evaporated and its vapours allowed to condense at different
temperatures in the fractionating column.

Complete the following table, which describes the uses of the 'fractions' that are obtained via the
fractional distillation of petroleum.
Fraction (product of Boiling Point (C) Uses
separation)
210 Petroleum products include
transportation fuels, fuel oils
for heating and electricity
generation, asphalt and road
oil, and feedstocks for making
the chemicals, plastics, and
synthetic materials that are in
nearly everything we use
today.

Identify the wastes produced during the fractional distillation of petroleum. Are there wastes
associated with this separation technique? If so, what are they?
No

Evaluate the relevance of each source for this area of investigation in the table below.
[Ensure you do this for all websites that you access, especially those that are not relevant]

Article Title Relevant/Irrelevant Reasons for your decision

Refining of Petroleum
How Oil Refining Works
The Fractional Distillation of
Oil and the Uses of the
Fractions.
Petroleum Refining and
Petroleum Fuel Manufacturing
in Australia
Fractional Distillation of
Petroleum
Relevant This website speaks about the
composition of petroleum.
Relevant This website speaks about the
process of separating
petroleum through fractional
distillation.
Relevant The website speaks about the
uses and functions of these
fractions.
Not Relevant Speaks about the impact of
petroleum on the market.
Relevant The website speaks about the
chemical composition of
petroleum.