APPLICATION AND THE

BENEFIT

Petrochemical industries

Extractive distillation (ED)

ED is a vapor-liquid process operation that
uses a third component, or solvent, to effect a
chemical separation.
The extractive agent and agent-induced less
volatile component flow to the bottom of the
distillation column.
The non-extracted species are distilled to the
top of the extractive distillation tower.

 to separate close-boiling mixtures.

Benzene, toluene and xylene
recovery and purification from
aromatics-containing feedstocks.
Styrene recovery from pyrolysis
gasoline.
Sulfur removal from cracked gasoline
stock.

Distillation of crude oil

When the refinery is close to the oil field, the oil
and gases are pumped from the field to the
refinery either together or in separate pipes.
Where the oil is found well away from where it is to
be refined, the gases are removed and either used
as a fuel or for chemical manufacture or, where
this is not economically viable, they are flared.
Flaring is where the gases are simply burnt at the
oil field.

 Methane and ethane are separated from the

other gases by fractionation.
propane and butane are separated by
distillation.
The crude oil is then transported to a refinery
by a variety of means.
In the refineries the oil is distilled into liquid
fractions with different boiling points which
are then further processed.

 The high boiling point residue from the crude

oil is then transferred to another column and
distilled under vacuum;
lowering the pressure reduces the boiling
point and ensures constituents distil at
temperatures below their decomposition
temperature.
From this process, lubricating oils and waxes
are obtained.
The final residue from the process is bitumen.

Oil and gas industries

PETROLEUM
Petroleum is a complex mixture of
organic liquids called crude oil and
natural gas, which occurs naturally in
the ground and was formed millions
of years ago. Crude oil and natural
gas are of little use in their raw state;
their value lies in what is created
from them: fuels, lubricating oils,
waxes, asphalt, petrochemicals and
pipeline quality natural gas.

Fractional distillation
separate hydrocarbons from petroleum, allowing
those of lower molecular mass to boil off and be
collected first.
Natural gas, ether, naphtha, tar and gasoline
separates from petroleum.
About 95% of all industrial separation processes
involve distillation, which consumes large amounts
of energy; for that reason, ever more efficient forms
of distillation are continually being researched.

Equipment Type
Distillation equipment includes two
major categories, trays and packing.
Trays force a rising vapor to bubble
through a pool of descending liquid.
Packing creates a surface for liquid to
spread on. The thin liquid film has a
high surface area for mass-transfer
between the liquid and vapor.

Food industries

 Distillation enables the separation and

purification of volatile food products from
aqueous blends.
Distillation can be used to separate
flavours or essential oils, but is mainly
used either for the production of potable
alcohol or spirits, or for the industrial
production of alcohol from agricultural raw
materials (e.g. fruit, grain), which can then
be used in alcoholic beverages (liquors)

 The process takes place in two basic types of

equipment: the
(a)pot still and the
(b)column still.
Stills may be operated singly or in groups. The
addition of heat enables the separation of
alcohol/aqueous compounds from the initial
liquid feed in the still. Condensed aqueous
alcohol is removed as a liquid spirit from the
head of the still, whilst a residual stream is
discharged from the base