What is fractional distillation and how does it work.

Fractional distillation uses a fractional distillation tower, split into different layers each with a different temperature. It is used to sperate crude oil into the many different fuels used commonly in everyday use and it is also commonly used to seperate liquified air.
It works by seperating the fractions to different temperatures, hotter at the bottom, and cooler at the top. What this does is allows only the more volatile fuels to be turned into a gas at each stage, and the less volatile stay as a liquid at the current stage of the process.

Answered by Chemistry tutor

2028 Views

See similar Chemistry GCSE tutors

Related Chemistry GCSE answers

All answers ▸

The composition by mass of a compound is: C=36.4%, H=6% and F=57.6%. Calculate the empirical formula. If the RFM is 66, what is the molecular formula?


What is a covalent bond?


Calculate the percentage by mass of nitrogen in an ammonia molecule (NH​​​​​​​3) . Take the relative atomic masses of hydrogen and nitrogen to be 1 and 14 respectively.


What is the difference between and exothermic and endothermic reaction and how can you tell the difference?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning