Petroleum Distillation and adulterants in petroleum products.

Octane number : This determines the auto ignition resistance of a spark- ignition engine fuel
(anti-knock index). Auto-ignition happens due to compression. This is basically volume percentage
of iso-octane in a mixture containing iso-octane and n-heptane having similar anti-knocking
characteristic in a variable compression- ratio engine.

It is the measure of performance of a motor fuel. This is directly proportional to compressibility of

In diesel engines the ideal fuels are with lower octane numbers (0-5) and higher cetane numbers
(40-55). But gasoline with higher octane numbers (85-90) and lower cetane number (0-5 is good.

Cetane number: This is defined as the time lag between injection in hot air and auto-ignition,
although this is not related in gasoline applications (spark ignition). This is a measure of delay of
fuel's ignition. It also measures time period between the start of injection and start of combustion of
the fuel. Fuels having larger cetane numbers usually have lower ignition delays. Octane Number
for diesel varies in the limit 15-25.

Fractional distillation of Petroleum

Fractional distillation is a separating process of hydrocarbon components of the crude oil. This is
different from distillation only in the context that it separates a mixture into different fractions. In the
set-up it consists of a long column fitted above the mixture. The column consists of several
condensers at different heights. This is cold at top and hot at bottom. Therefore, high boiling points
substances condense at the bottom and low boiling points substances at the top. Similar to distillation,
fractional distillation is also based on the principle that different substances in a mixture have
different boiling points and can be separated.
Components of crude oil differ in sizes, weights and boiling temperatures so, initial step is
separation of these components. As they have different boiling temperatures, fractional distillation
is best process for separation of these components.

Procedure of fractional distillation is as follow:

 Initially, the crude oil is heated to a temperature of 1112°F / 600°C. The mixture heats up and
form gases or vapours.
 The formed vapours then moves down to the bottom of the column.
 The trays at bottom have holes that allow the movement of vapour.
 The top most segment of the column is cold and bottom is hot, therefore vapour rises in the
column and gets cooled.
 A substance in the vapour when reaches a height with temperature equal to the boiling point
of the substance, it get condensed and liquid is formed. This is then collected by trays.

The two fractions collected are: light fractions having gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oils and heavy
fractions containing lubricating oils and heavy gas oil. Asphalt cement, waxes, and feedstock are
residual compounds from the distillation tower.

Various Fractions and their Properties

Further refining of these products is done generate materials more common to everyday life. The ten
main products of petroleum/crude oil are;

a) Asphalt: Asphalt is commonly used to make roads. It is colloid solution of asphaltenes and
maltenes and separated from other components by fractional distillation. Once collected, is processed
in a de-asphalting unit. In which it reacts with oxygen and become harder. It is usually stored and
transported at around 300° Fahrenheit.

b) Diesel: It is that fraction of petroleum which can be used as a fuel in a diesel engine. Diesel is
produced by fractional distillation between 392° to 662° Fahrenheit. The density of diesel is more
than gasoline and it is easy to refine it from crude oil. One of its major use is in transportation.

c) Fuel Oil: Any liquid petroleum that burned to generate heat comes under the category of Fuel oil. It
is also a heaviest commercial fuel produced. It is classified as diesel, light, gasoil, heavy and residual
fuel oil. Among them heavy and residual fuel oils are also called bunker or navy special fuel oil.

d) Gasoline: Half of the crude oil is converted into gasoline. It is mainly used in car engines or
internal combustion engines. It is made up of naphthenes, paraffins and olefins. The specific ratios
will depend on the refinery processes. Gasoline is enhanced with iso-octane and ethanol in order to
use in cars. Gasoline can be petrol, petroleum spirit, gas, petro-gasoline, and mogas.

e) Kerosene: It is collected through fractional distillation between 302° and 527° F of temperature. It
is clear and thin combustible liquid used as heating fuel (jet fuel).

f) Liquefied Petroleum Gas: This is mixture of gases used in heating appliances, aerosol propellants,
and refrigerants. Different kinds of liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, are propane and butane. The
composition of LPG evaporates at normal atmospheric pressure and hence this is kept in pressurized
containers like cylinders as liquid under pressure hence known as LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).

g) Lubricating Oil: It consists of base oils and additives. Mineral oils are made by unique processes
known as catalytic dewaxing, solvent extraction, isohydromerization and hydrocracking. They are
used in between the surfaces to reduce friction. Motor oil is commonly known lubricating oil used for
protection of moving parts of internal combustion engine.

h) Paraffin Wax: It is a white, waxy solid at room temperature. It is odourless and tasteless.
Depending on several factors the melting point of the paraffin wax is around 117° to 147° Fahrenheit.
It is used as electrical insulator and used in drywalls to insulate buildings.

i) Bitumen: It is a thick, black sticky material. During refining process it is formed at bottom of the
column because its boiling point is very high (977° Fahrenheit) and it does not rise in the distillation
chamber. This is used in waterproofing roofs, boots, paving roads, hard drives in computers and
dishwashers.

j) Petrochemicals: These are chemical products such as ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene and
xylene made by raw materials of petroleum.

Common adulterants of petrol

The common adulterants in petroleum products.

Octane number and cetane number.

Write the fractional components of petroleum during distillation, procedure and their properties