• Alkanes are obtained from the?fractional distillation?and?cracking?of crude oil

Fractional distillation of crude oil

• Crude oil is a?mixture?of hydrocarbons containing?alkanes,?cycloalkanes?and?arenes?(compounds with a benzene ring)
• The crude oil is extracted from the earth in a drilling process and transported to an oil refinery
• At the oil refinery the crude oil is separated into useful fuels by fractional distillation
  • This is a separating technique in which the wide range of different hydrocarbons are separated into fractions based on their boiling points

Crude oil is initially separated into fractions with similar boiling points in a process called fractional distillation

Cracking of crude oil fractions

• However, the smaller hydrocarbon fractions (such as gasoline fractions) are in high demand compared to the larger ones
• Therefore, some of the?excess?heavier fractions are broken down into smaller,?more?useful?compounds
• These more useful compounds include?alkanes?and?alkenes?of?lower?relative formula mass (Mr)
• This process is called?cracking

The heavier fractions that are obtained in fractional distillation are further cracked into useful alkane and alkenes with lower Mr?values

• When a large hydrocarbon is cracked, a?smaller?alkane?and?alkene?molecules are formed
  • E.g.. octane and ethene from decane

   

Long hydrocarbon fraction is cracked into two smaller ones

• The?low-molecular mass?alkanes?formed make good fuels and are in high demand

• There are two types of cracking:
• Thermal cracking?requires high temperatures (up to 1000?oC) and high pressure (up to 70 atmospheres) and produces alkanes and a lot of alkenes
• Catalytic cracking?uses a lower temperature (around 450?oC) and slight pressure in the presence of a catalyst such as a zeolite or aluminium oxide to produce mainly aromatic hydrocarbons

Reforming alkanes

• Many vehicles run on petrol or diesel which are both a mixture of alkanes along with other hydrocarbons, impurities and additives
• Many of the alkanes in these fuels are straight chain alkanes
• These straight chain alkanes are more likely to explode, rather than combust, inside the engine
  • This is known as?knocking?and makes the combustion less efficient
• To reduce this straight chain alkanes are?reformed?into:
  • Branched alkanes, e.g. octane → 2,5-dimethylhexane

CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3?→ CH3CH(CH3)CH2CH2CH(CH3)CH3

• • Cycloalkanes, e.g. hexane → cyclohexane

CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3?→ C6H12?+ H2

• Reforming often uses a platinum catalyst