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Fractional distillation separates mixtures into component products by heating and vaporizing them through a column where they condense at different temperatures. It is used in industrial chemistry and laboratories, and requires equipment that varies in size and composition. Chemists can specialize in distillation techniques for specific materials.
Fractional distillation separates mixtures into component products in a single distillation column. It involves heating a mixture to vaporize it and force it through the column, where various products will condense and precipitate in response to changes in temperature. This technique is widely used in industrial chemistry for processing products such as crude oil and air. The method can also be applied in experimental settings to distill samples of interest.
The fractional distillation process can be used in any environment where a blend includes a blend of components with similar, but not identical, vapor points. Conventional distillation may not be adequate for the needs of such blends or may require multiple steps to extract the desired components. With unknown makeup mixes, a chemist can run a few simple tests on a sample to determine what’s in it and decide how to separate it. The best option may depend on how the sample will be used.
The equipment heats the mixture during fractional distillation, boiling it and releasing steam. The steam rises through a column lined with trays. As it cools, it condenses and each tray catches a different condensation. Materials that condense at relatively high temperatures fall first. As the mixture cools steadily, other compounds condense to the top of the column. The system can drain each tray separately to capture spirits. This allows recovery of all useful components in the mixture.
The type of equipment required can vary in size and composition, depending on the type of materials being processed. Facilities such as oil refineries must recover as much as possible from each barrel of oil and have large distillation plants that can handle very large volumes of material. In a laboratory setting, the equipment may be relatively small, as the samples are usually not very large. A desktop fractional distillation unit may be an option for some laboratory settings.
Students in chemistry classes can learn about fractional distillation and have the opportunity to practice it in a laboratory setting. The technology is used in a wide variety of industries, and chemists may specialize in distillation techniques used with particular materials. Petroleum chemists, for example, study this process and techniques such as cracking to break up the hydrocarbon chains in crude oil. Cracking can be used to change the chemical composition of the oil to extract more useful components.
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