Petroleum is a mixture of crude oil and natural gas, which is refined to create gasoline, diesel, and fuel oil. The refining process separates hydrocarbon chains through distillation, with lighter chains forming gasoline and heavier chains forming diesel and fuel oil. Gasoline is lighter and more volatile than diesel, while fuel oil is heavier and ideal for residential heating.
Gasoline, diesel and fuel oil are all petroleum products. Petroleum is a mixture found in the earth, made up of crude oil and natural gas. While petroleum products fuel the modern world, crude oil is of little use until it is refined. It is the refining process that converts crude oil into gasoline, fuel oil and diesel.
Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that are chained together in different lengths. These chains have different characteristics and properties and form the basis for the individual products created from crude oil. In order to convert these hydrocarbon chains into gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum products, they must be separated from the other chains.
Crude oil is separated into these different chains through distillation. During distillation, crude oil is heated in a distillation column. The collection trays are placed at different heights in the column. As crude oil is heated, the vapors formed through the boiling process rise up the column. Lighter chains take longer to condense and collect in trays towards the top and heavier chains condense faster and collect in trays towards the center and bottom of the distillation column. Once separated, they are further processed through various processes to create the different petroleum products.
Gasoline is made up of shorter and lighter hydrocarbon chains than diesel or fuel oil. Gasoline is light, highly volatile and evaporates quickly. These qualities help petrol engines have more power and acceleration than an equivalent diesel engine. However, petrol is not as efficient a fuel as diesel or fuel oil. Petrol produces approximately 124,000 British thermal units (BTU) of energy per gallon (3.79 litres) while a diesel engine produces approximately 139,000 BTU of energy per gallon (3.79 litres).
Diesel is a heavier medium weight product than petrol. It looks like oil and is often referred to as diesel. It does not evaporate quickly nor is it as volatile as gasoline. It takes less refining from crude oil to make diesel, which often makes diesel less expensive than gasoline. The increased mileage and lower cost make diesel a popular fuel choice in many parts of the world.
Fuel oil used for home heating is slightly heavier than diesel but shares similar properties and is considered a middle distillate like diesel. Residential fuel oil produces about the same amount of BTUs as diesel fuel and has low volatility making it ideal for residential heating. Fuel oil used in large industrial applications such as electric power generators is considered residual fuel oil and is heavier than petrol, diesel and domestic heating oil.
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