Chemistry Of Petroleum three: Distillation Of Hydrocarbons

To introduce how hydrocarbons in crude oil are distilled and treated within the refinery process to produce helpful supplies.

This lesson is the third in a series of classes about the chemistry of petroleum that are intended for upper-degree chemistry students within the eleventh and 12th grades. Try to be an skilled chemistry trainer to show these lessons. The goal of those lessons is to introduce excessive-school college students to the usage of oil as an energy supply in today’s excessive-tech world. In the Chemistry of Petroleum 1: What are Hydrocarbons? college students will discover hydrocarbons, the molecular foundation of petroleum, and be taught to tell apart between organic and inorganic compounds.

On this lesson, the Chemistry of Petroleum three: Distillation of Hydrocarbons, college students will likely be launched to the distillation and therapy processes by which petroleum is refined to produce useful gas oils.

This explicit lesson gives the opportunity to address quite a lot of misconceptions that college students have in regards to the physical world. Generally, terminology can inadvertently cause college students to develop such misconceptions. The time period “fossil fuelcan typically be deceptive because it implies that crude oil is manufactured from or derived from fossils. During the motivation part of this lesson, it could also be helpful to clarify the difference between a true fossil and fossil fuels. Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of life varieties from the past, often via the process of permineralization. Fossil fuels are produced from decayed natural matter that has modified chemically over geologic time due to high ranges of heat and strain. The time period “fossil fuelis used for substances akin to coal, natural gas, and crude oil or petroleum, because the organic life forms lived thousands and thousands of years in the past.

One other false impression among students is that crude oil is composed of individual molecules of diesel, kerosene, and the opposite refined products. This false impression could emerge if college students think of the refinery course of as a sieve through which these products are sorted out from crude oil. The analogy of a sieve is an efficient one if college students understand that the refined products are usually not particular person molecules, however a collection of chemically similar molecules. In other words, there is no such thing as a single molecule generally known as diesel, or kerosene, or gentle gases, with a selected chemical formula. In contrast, water is a molecule defined by a selected chemical formulation of H2O. Diesel, alternatively, is a mixture of various molecules that share the same properties. The chemical property that is essentially utilized to kind the varied hydrocarbons in crude oil is boiling level. The sieve in the refining process separates hydrocarbon molecules of comparable size—and therefore, related chemical properties. Particular collections of similarly sized hydrocarbon molecules are generally known as diesel, kerosene, mild gases, and the opposite numerous refined merchandise.

When watching Oil Refining: A closer Look, it is helpful to additionally tackle that the composition and appearance of crude oil will range depending upon its supply. The interactive shows a thick, black, liquid substance; however, crude oil will be brown, yellow, or even green relying upon its chemical composition. It additionally might be found in a semi-solid type that doesn’t move simply till after it’s heated or diluted.

Analysis shows that students have many misconceptions about heat, temperature, and phase changes corresponding to boiling. (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, p. 337.) A easy misunderstanding that students may have is that a substance can change phases (i.e., from liquid to gas), while nonetheless remaining intact in its chemical composition. Within the steam furnace animation in the distillation process, level out to college students that the molecular construction of hydrocarbons does not change when they modify part from liquid to gas. It is also essential to point out that this phase change just isn’t a perform of temperature alone. The boiling point of a liquid is decided not only by heat, but additionally by the atmospheric strain across the liquid. In the development section of the lesson, a possibility is supplied to discuss why water boils at a lower temperature at high altitudes. This will assist to clarify the misunderstanding that boiling level is a perform of a temperature reading.

Start by reviewing what crude oil is, how it is formed, and its relevance to human lives by having college students use their Oil Refining pupil esheet to observe the introductory animation from Oil Refining: A better Look. The movie has an accompanying script which you could print out. The narrator speaks rapidly, so it’s a good suggestion to read the script after watching the film the primary time. After reading the script, students can watch the movie a second time, which will facilitate understanding.

Provide the Understanding Crude Oil scholar sheet to students as they watch the animation. They should reply the questions on this sheet.

Question 9 gives a chance to explain how petroleum rises to the surface over time. To assist solidify this idea with students, have them do a fast activity with vegetable oil and water (you’ll be able to do that as a demonstration in case you want). They should first pour the vegetable oil into a clear glass, beaker, or cylinder. Ask students:

– What occurs when oil and water are mixed?

Now ask college students to pour the water on prime of the oil. The two phases will separate shortly. Ask college students:

– Which part is now on top?

Clarify to students that vegetable oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons from plants, just like kerogen. Be sure that college students perceive that vegetable oil isn’t a fossil gas like kerogen because it is not produced from natural matter tens of millions of years old that experienced high pressures and temperatures over time. Tell students that if the top of the glass represented the bottom, the oil would be sitting on the surface of the earth and would finally evaporate or be damaged down by micro organism. Place your hand over the top of the glass and inform college students that it represents non-porous rock, corresponding to shale. Explain that in petroleum exploration, a rock that holds again the petroleum from popping out in the direction of the floor is named a cap rock or seal rock. As a result of the cap rock is non-porous, the petroleum fills up beneath it like a reservoir. The rocks directly below the cap rock are porous, because the petroleum was in a position to maneuver by way of these rocks. In petroleum exploration, scientists look for these cap rocks above porous rocks to seek for deposits. If out there, pass around a pattern of shale rock, pointing out that it has no pores or openings. A glazed tile can also characterize a non-porous cap rock. Permit college students to pour vegetable oil onto the rock or tile to see that it’s going to merely roll off and never be absorbed, simply as with a cap rock.

Have students proceed to the following a part of the interactive, “Let’s Distill.It is recommended to go through the 5 hotspots together as a class. This will be sure that college students all perceive the essential ideas round distillation and treatment of petroleum.

Level out the yellow barrel labeled “crude oil Inform college students that once the petroleum has been extracted from the bottom, it is sent to refineries. The interactive simulates and describes the varied chemical processes that petroleum undergoes in order to make helpful merchandise.

– What is crude oil composed of?

Click on the “Dump Crude Oil” button after which roll over the hotspot and read the description. Discuss with students that crude oil is made up of different compounds. Make sure that students don’t assume that the assorted compounds are floating around inside crude oil, however that crude oil itself is the gathering of these compounds. Tell students that crude oil will differ in its composition depending on its geographic location. Basically, it is composed of a combination of straight-chained hydrocarbons and ringed hydrocarbons. Point out that there are some sulfur and nitrogen compounds blended with the hydrocarbons as effectively. Remind college students that kerogen also contained sulfur and nitrogen.

Click on on the “Dump Crude Oilbutton once more. Ask college students:

– Where does the crude oil go?

Before proceeding, provide every scholar with a desk of hydrocarbon boiling factors from Boiling Points and Constructions of Hydrocarbons. Ask college students:

– Once you look at the “nameand “molecular formulacolumns, what sample do you notice as you go down?

Overview the idea of boiling level with college students by having them do a fast hands-on exercise of boiling water with a thermometer positioned in the water. Have students deliver some water to a boil. As soon as it reaches the boiling point, ask them:

– What is going on to a substance when it starts to boil?

Students ought to place the thermometer into the boiling water and skim the temperature. A standard misconception among college students is that the temperature of a boiling substance increases because it boils. To help appropriate this misconception, enable college students to see that the temperature of the boiling water stays at a hundred degrees Celsius because it boils. Another common false impression is that the boiling level is when a liquid turns into gas, and never vice versa. It is crucial to handle that boiling point is a section change between liquid and gas. It’s the purpose when a liquid turns into gas and a gas turns into liquid. Level this out to college students by showing that the boiling water may be considered as liquid turning into gas, or gas turning into liquid.

Inform students that on Mount Everest, water boils at 69 levels Celsius. Ask students:

– What makes the summit of Mount Everest completely different from sea stage?

Evaluate with college students that the boiling level of a substance just isn’t a perform of temperature alone. What determines when a substance will change from liquid to gas is each temperature and the surrounding atmospheric strain. College students are sometimes aware, via their lived expertise, that a change in temperature will alter a substance’s section. For example, water placed in the freezer adjustments into ice, and water that’s heated to a hundred degrees Celsius boils and becomes a gas. Nonetheless, they usually do no make the connection that strain is equally as important in figuring out the section of a substance. To assist make this point extra clear, ask students to imagine a balloon that comprises air molecules. Inform college students that temperature is a measure of heat. If the balloon is heated, the kinetic energy of the molecules contained in the balloon additionally increases and they start to break away from one another and move quicker. Ask college students:

– What’s going to occur to the dimensions of the balloon because the heat and corresponding kinetic power of the molecules enhance?

The barrier of the balloon represents the exterior air pressure. It holds the air molecules back from increasing out any additional. Sooner or later, because the heat will increase, the balloon will burst. That bursting represents boiling because at that point, the pressure contained in the balloon turns into equal to the stress outside of the balloon. Similarly, a liquid boils when its internal strain is equal to the atmospheric pressure.

Going again to the example of Mount Everest, inform college students that water boils at a lower temperature on the mountain (69 levels Celsius) as a result of at that point, its strain is equal to the low atmospheric stress on Mount Everest. As you descend from Mount Everest and are available to sea degree, the atmospheric stress is more, so correspondingly more heat is needed to cause boiling (a hundred levels Celsius).

Return again to the table of hydrocarbon boiling factors from Boiling Factors and Buildings of Hydrocarbons. Ask college students:

– Why do you assume that the boiling point of alkanes is related to the size of the molecules?

Level out that pentane through dodecane are liquid at room temperature. Ask college students:

– Of the eight alkanes, which one has the best boiling point?

Compare dodecane to a long spaghetti strand. Resulting from its longer length compared to that of a smaller pentane molecule, dodecane molecules will wrap round each other, making it tougher to separate them because of those sturdy forces.

– If all these alkanes were combined collectively in a pot, and the temperature was elevated to 250 degrees Celsius, what would occur to all these alkanes?

Return back to the Refinery Equipment manufacture interactive. Remind students that crude oil or petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbons. The oil is now within the furnace and will probably be heated. Click on “Start Furnace” and roll over the hotspot and have students concentrate on a single hydrocarbon molecule. Ask college students:

– If all of the hydrocarbons are superheated, what part will they go into?

Point out that the furnace has now superheated the crude oil parts which are now in vapor type. Indicate that the vapor has now traveled to the distillation column the place the vapor rises. Point out the temperature gradations on the aspect of the distillation column.

Roll over the hotspot on the left side of the distillation column and level out that the animation reveals two totally different hydrocarbon molecules—methane and cyclopentane. Ask college students:

– Which one could have a decrease boiling level?

Roll over the hotspot at the highest right corner of the distillation clumn. Show college students that all the smaller chained hydrocarbons accumulate greater up in the distillation column. The collections of these related hydrocarbons are called fractions. Examples of lighter fractions are gasoline and naphtha. Rolling over the hotspot at the decrease proper corner of the distillation column will show students heavier fractions, such as diesel.

Naphtha is a group of hydrocarbons within the C5, C6, and C7 vary. These hydrocarbons are all very light, easily vaporized, and type a transparent liquid. Eventually, after therapy, naphthas are used as solvents in dry cleansing, paint, and different industries that want fast-drying products. Gasoline is a collection of hydrocarbons in the C7 and C11 range. Diesel is composed of hydrocarbons in the C16 vary. As a result of they are larger hydrocarbons, their boiling point is much larger and will condense into liquid decrease within the distillation column the place the temperature is increased. Make it possible for college students understand that the collected fractions aren’t one molecule, however relatively a set of hydrocarbons of related size, and thus, comparable boiling level temperatures.

Inform students that distillation is the primary a part of the petroleum refining process. The fractions should now endure therapy for two reasons. First, the hydrocarbon fractions still have substances in them reminiscent of sulfur, which have to be removed. Second, a number of the longer hydrocarbon fractions must be chemically altered and shortened into smaller chains with a view to change into extra useful merchandise.

To assess students’ understandings of the principle ideas coated in this lesson, ask them to complete the Assessing Our Understanding of Crude Oil student sheet. Inform college students that the ten questions handle misconceptions that most of the people has about crude oil. Have college students complete the sheet individually. As soon as all the students have chosen their solutions, ask college students to work in small groups and share their responses to every query with their group members. Every group should resolve on their collective reply to every query. Provide classroom time for scholar groups to share with each other. Encourage students to debate misconceptions and why these misconceptions would possibly exist in most people. For teachers, this can also be a superb opportunity to assess if students are understanding the primary concepts by way of the lessons. The Assessing Our Understanding of Crude Oil instructor sheet provides answers to the questions.

Discover the usage of vegetable oil, used within the motivation section of this lesson, as a gas itself. The Bio-Gas Project, from the Power Efficiency and Renewable Power site, supplies an extensive, two-week curriculum through which students learn to make their own biodiesel gas from waste vegetable oil.

To further emphasize the connection between the boiling point of a substance and atmospheric strain, use NASA’s lesson, Testing Your Speculation by Boiling Water Beneath Its Boiling Temperature.

Acid Rain: Results Felt By way of the Meals Chain, from National Geographic, supplies details about the fundamental causes and results of acid rain, together with images and what people can do to lower its prevalence.

Toluene EquipmentLocal weather Change: Fundamental Information, from the U.S. Environmental Safety Agency, gives complete information on the problem of worldwide warming and climate change.

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