Fractional Distillation

Key Stage 4

Meaning

A diagram of a Fractional Distillation tower used to separate different oils in Crude Oil.

Fractional distillation is a technique which can be used to separate two or more solvents from solution.

About Fractional Distillation

Fractional Distillation can be used for:

• Separating a solution to recover multiple solvents.

Fractional Distillation cannot be used for:

• Separating two solutes from each other in solution - Chromatography
• Separating an insoluble solid from a soluble solid - Filtration

Fractional Distillation relies on the different boiling points of liquids. By heating all liquids beyond their Boiling Point they can be turned into a gas. Each gas can then be cooled and condensed in tubes kept just below the boiling point of each fraction.

Crude Oil is separated using fractional distillation.