Crude Oil And Hydrocarbons Flashcards
Hydrocarbons
Compounds that contain hydrogen and carbon atoms only
What is crude oil
A finite resource that is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons
What is crude oil an important source of
Fuels and feedstock for the petrochemical industry
What are alkanes
Saturated (carbon atoms bonded to the maximum amount of hydrogen atoms) hydrocarbons
What are the similarities in hydrocarbons in a fraction?
Numbers of hydrogen and carbon atoms in their molecules, boiling points, ease of ignition and viscosity
How many carbon atoms do the hydrocarbons in gases fractions have and what are their features
1-4 they have boiling points below room temperature, they are flammable and have a low viscosity
What is cracking
A reaction in which longer saturated hydrocarbon molecules are broken down into smaller more useful molecules some of which are unsaturated
What is catalytic cracking
Uses a temperature of approximately 550°C and a catalyst known as Zeolite which contains aluminium oxide and silicon oxide
What is steam cracking
Temperature of over 800°C and no catalyst
Why is cracking important?
It helps to match the supply for fractions with the demand for them and it produces keens which are useful as feed stock for the petrochemical industry
Alkene features compared to alkanes
They are unsaturated and more reactive
What is the supply
How much of a fraction an oil refinery produces
What is the demand
How much of a fraction customers want to buy
What do alkenes do with bromine water and what does this test
React with it to turn it from orange or brown to colourless and it tests for a double C-C bond in a molecule
Where in the fractioning column will the longest hydrocarbons condense
At the bottom
