Refining of petroleum is carried out using which one of the following techniques?
Evaporation
Fractional distillation
Separating funnel
Sublimation
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This question was previously asked in
UPSC NDA-1 – 2022
Refining of petroleum (crude oil) is done by separating its various components based on their different boiling points. This process is called fractional distillation.
Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons with varying chain lengths and boiling points. Fractional distillation involves heating the crude oil and separating the vapours into different fractions at various levels of a fractionating column based on their condensation temperatures. Lighter fractions with lower boiling points rise higher in the column, while heavier fractions with higher boiling points condense lower down.