Why fractional distillation

Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph. Chemistry Expert. Helmenstine holds a Ph. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter. Updated February 19, Simple Distillation Fractional Distillation Uses Separating relatively pure liquids that have large boiling point differences.

Also separating liquids from solid impurities. Isolating components of complex mixtures with small boiling point differences. Advantages Faster Requires less energy input Simpler, less expensive equipment Better separation of liquids Better at purifying liquids containing many different components Disadvantages Only useful for relatively pure liquids Requires a large boiling point difference between components Doesn't separate fractions as cleanly Slower Requires more energy More complicated and expensive setup.

Featured Video. Long-chain hydrocarbons condense at the bottom and are collected as liquids. Short-chain hydrocarbons have lower boiling points. They pass up the column and condense at lower temperatures nearer the top.

Collection The fractions are collected. Gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, and jet fuel are some of the different fractions produced by an oil refinery. It is assumed that readers have previously performed a simple distillation, so in this section are described differences between simple and fractional distillation.

Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Prev NEXT. Environmental Science. Energy Production. You heat the mixture of two or more substances liquids with different boiling points to a high temperature. The mixture boils , forming vapor gases ; most substances go into the vapor phase. The vapor enters the bottom of a long column fractional distillation column that is filled with trays or plates. The trays have many holes or bubble caps like a loosened cap on a soda bottle in them to allow the vapor to pass through.

They increase the contact time between the vapor and the liquids in the column and help to collect liquids that form at various heights in the column. There is a temperature difference across the column hot at the bottom, cool at the top.