Fractionation is a separation process used in science and culinary arts to isolate specific elements from a compound mixture. The process involves heat, fillers, acids, or other separating factors to remove one or more elements from the mixture. It is used to purify mixtures and produce oils of different viscosities. The mixture is typically placed in a flask or containment apparatus and subjected to various methods depending on the blend. Fractionation is required to purify the most valuable or necessary element from the mixture.
Fractionation is a type of separation process used in many scientific disciplines; it is often seen in films showing scientists, surrounded by an array of glass tubes and burners, attempting to distill or purify a concoction. This process takes a mixture and, through heat, a filler, acid or other separating factor, removes one or more elements from the mixture. Often used to confirm the purity of – or extract an element from – a component in a mixture, fractionation aims to break up the mixture into separate, smaller parts so that the scientist can isolate a specific element he needs. While it’s used most often in science, fractionation is also used in the culinary world.
In any separation process, the scientist working on the mixture must derive one or more components from a mixture. This mixture can be solid, liquid, gaseous, isotopic, or any other type. The important aspect is that it is a compound mixture, with at least two elements, because a single element cannot be subjected to this fractionation process.
To initiate fractionation, the mixture is typically placed in a flask or some type of containment apparatus. The next part of the fractionation depends heavily on what the blend is. Some mixtures, such as plasma proteins, will be mixed with a plasma fluid and then placed in a centrifuge. Others will have the heat placed under one flask, so a rapidly boiling substance in the mixture can travel up a fractionating column and down a condenser in another flask. If the scientist is attempting to separate elements based on solubility, the mixture will crystallize and the less soluble element will appear more prominently.
Fractionation is required to purify mixtures. While individual elements cannot be fractionated, elements in nature are rarely found isolated without other elements. By fractionating the natural mixture, the scientist is able to purify the most valuable or necessary element from the mixture. For example, crude oil found on Earth is not as useful or valuable as processed oil. Crude oil is subjected to many chemicals to remove excess hydrocarbons and the purified oil is fractionated and used in the oil and fuel industry.
For culinary purposes, fractionation is employed as a method of producing oils of different viscosities. The oils typically subjected to this process, which tends to use crystallization as a fractionation method, are palm, coconut and palm kernel oil. Oils with different viscosities allow the chef to use the oil for different cooking applications.
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