Britannica AI Icon

fractional distillation

chemical process
Also known as: differential distillation

Quick Summary

Fractional distillation is a chemical process used to separate components of a liquid mixture based on their different boiling points. This method is particularly useful when the boiling points of the substances are close together.12

The process involves heating the liquid mixture, causing it to vaporize. The vapor then rises through a fractionating column, where it cools and condenses. As the vapor moves up the column, it repeatedly vaporizes and condenses, with the more volatile components (lower boiling points) concentrating at the top and less volatile components (higher boiling points) at the bottom. This allows for the separation of the mixture into different fractions.13

A primary application of fractional distillation is in petroleum refining, where crude oil is separated into various products like gasoline, kerosene, and lubricating oils. It is also used in laboratories to purify chemical products.132

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.