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Petrolium and Cracking hydrocarbons - Coggle Diagram
Petrolium and Cracking hydrocarbons
Petroleum, a fossil fuel
Made up of the remains of animals that fell to the ocean floor and got buried under thick rock sediment
High pressure and temperature over millions of years converted them into petrolium
Natural gas and coals are also examples of fossil fuels
Contents of petroleum
Petroleum contains hundreds of different organic compounds (containing hydrogen and carbon)
A hydrocarbon contains only hydrogen and carbon
3-methyl pentane (C6H14)
Cyclohexane (C6H12)
Pentane (C5H12)
Uses of petroleum
Used in cosmetic products
Burnt for heat :
Fuel for cars, trucks, planes and ships
It is non-renewable and we will run out of petroleum one day
Refining petroleum
Petroleum as a whole isn't useful, however the fractions within petroleum are extremely useful
Method (lab)
Heat the petroleum such that individual compounds start to evaporate
As hot vapour rises, monitor the thermometer reading. Vapour will condense in the cooling tube.
Replace test tube under condensing tube at 100, 150, 200 and 300 degrees celcius
Method (Refinery)
Carried out in a fractional distillation column which is very hot in the base and cooler towards the top
Petroleum pumped in the base
Smaller compounds boil off first and rise to the top of the tower.
Others rise according to their boiling points and condense.
The larger the molecules, the more the viscosity, the lower their flammability.
Cracking hydrocarbons
After being separated by fractional distillation, fractions need further treatment before they are used.
Some contain impurities such as sulphur
Some are further separated into single compounds
Some molecules are cracked (broken into smaller molecules) by thermal decomposition
requirements include a hydrocarbon, a catalyst and the apparatus provided below
Properties of the product are different from the reactant hydrocarbon
Importance of cracking includes that it is the most efficient and best use of petroleum and cracking always produces short chained compounds a carbon-carbon double bond
