The idea of Distillation was first heard of by Jabir Bin Hayyan’s scientific research between (721,
815)[1]. Only after world war || did his research and discovery of distillation become so useful,
and became one the only reasons so many countries actually have income today. The problem
started in the 1850s when the Americans needed something to keep their oil lamps running
instead of using whale blubber, which was becoming rare and expensive. They needed
something that would burn sufficiently and correctly and that they had a lot of. They knew that
Crude oil could be used to burn the Oil lamps but the Crude oil also came with other types of
fuels such as kerosene and Diesel and petrol, and not all those types of oils were stable to allow
the oil lamps to burn the way they wanted them too. This was because they had different boiling
points. The problem with crude oil was that it contains many different hydrocarbons such as
kerosene, diesel and petrol, all mixed together and crude oil is nearly useless without all the
different hydrocarbons being separated from each other. They had to find a way to separate the
different types of chemicals, and this is where Jabir Bin Hayyan's distillation invention was used
for the benefit of distillation of crude oil. Without a way to distillate the Crude oil we never would
have been able to use them in the Daily products we use today.
Thanks to Jabir bin Hayyan’s invention we have used his scientific discovery of distillation to
separate the compounds of Crude oil to fuel the oil lamps that was the first priority back in the
1850’s, for electricity wasn’t popular then. Now the demanding of the chemicals of crude oil are
being used world wide, it’s a global problem that the Crude oil does not run out because its being
demanded world wide for different products being made every day. The only reason the crude oil
is such a demand around the world is because science has helped us to discover distillation,
which we evolved into what we call fractional distillation today.
Fractional Distillation works through the advantage of taking use of the different boiling points of
different molecules in the crude oil itself. First of all, what is crude oil? Crude oil is a layer of
decomposed and fossilized marine life, plants and trees under ground buried under a layer of
earth.
Big machines extract the crude oil many meters from beneath the ground, up to the surface and
pump the oil into the factory were the Fractional distillation begins. They boil the crude oil to
nearly 400 degrees Celsius in a furnace. Then they go through a tube into the first section of the
fractional column and because the different molecules in the crude oil boil at different boiling
points, all the other chemicals rise through the first section to the second column. The larger the
chain of hydrocarbon, the higher the boiling point. After the different molecules separate in the
different chambers and de-condense, they go through the different tubes at the different
chambers of the fractional column. Thus separating the different hydrocarbon molecules that the
crude oil was made of. The different components of crude oil after the fractional distillation
process is done the different elements that come out are, Bitumen, Oil, Diesel, Kerosene,
Mactha, Petron and cases such as Methane and Bethane that are eventually burned off if not
used.
There are many benefits to Fractional distillation. First of all, if it wasn’t for the separation of the
molecules we wouldn’t be able to have the different products we get from crude oil like Bikes,
plastic, petroleum, fueling cars, polyester, synthetic cloths, polymers, laptop covers, pens, inc,
metal, car’s, airplanes. Which brings me to my second benefit. Transportation, without the fuels
from Crude oil we never would have evolved into using crude oil for transportation, like kerosene
for planes, and petrol and diesel for cars, for engine boats, for busses. The use of the fractional
distillation helped evolve the way we get around in our every day life. In many countries that had
high poverty and low income, the discovery of Crude oil was like finding a gold mine. They sell
them now to different countries, which don’t have it, to fuel, their cars and use it to make different
products. Now different economies are thriving and people are finding new employment jobs and
schools and hospitals are being built because the country can now afford it.
Although there are many pros about the fractional distillation process, there are also limitations to
its creation. First of all, there are gases such as Methane and Bethane that were used when they
are extracted form the crude oil, but the excess of the gasses are burned off because they don’t
need them, if they burn them they are releasing a lot of pollution into the air which hurts the ozone
layer and global warming becomes the major problem we are facing today already, because of all
the burning of chemicals and unwanted gases, the pollution increases and destroys the
environment. Second of all, not only is it polluting the air around us and destroying the
environment, it is also harming us, breathing all the toxic fumes that come out of the burning
gases at the top of the Fractional column can harm your lungs, and give you cancers even cause
brain damages [2]. Third of all, the expense that they cost to firstly pump the crude oil from under
the ground, then heating it in a furnace, and then creating the fractional column that costs a lot.
“Compared to simple distillation and other types of distillation, fractional distillation is relatively
expensive -- especially the initial cost of buying the fractionating column. The fractionating column
used in oil refineries usually has damage to it due to high heat conditions. Replacement of
components is also quite expensive.” ([3] Read more: The Advantages & Disadvantages of
Fractional
Distillation
|
eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/info_8513450_advantagesdisadvantages-fractional-distillation.html#ixzz1aUhiZht4)
The environment is effected by the creation of Fractional distillation because of the pollution
created when the gasses that are released into the air. There is too much CO2 (carbon dioxide)
in the air, and the gasses that are released harm the ozone layer and allow the rays of sunlight to
come onto the earth unprotected from the ozone layer. This causes the heating of the earth to
rise, and Global warming takes place. Global warming causes the ice caps to melt, and the water
level rises and that affects the humanity of earth itself and many trees will die because the fresh
water will mix with the salty water and in that context we are harming the environment badly.
The scientific discovery of Fractional distillation helped them to use the diesel and petrol to fuel
the different forms of transportation they sue today, this would have given opportunities for
socialization, thus meaning people had time to be social. Conversing with other traditions and
cultures. This influenced the different cultures, now that it is easier to get around the different
countries easily more people are traveling, even for the pleasure of it, this leaves room to learn
about peoples traditions and cultures. This influences peoples cultures, and when people come
back from different countries with ornaments and souvenirs this influences trade as well, people
begin to bring things from other countries and selling them for more, another source of income for
different companies allowing space for jobs and employment. And all of this because if the
scientific discovery Jabir bin Hayyan made about distillation.
Bibliography:
[1] "Jābir Ibn Hayyān." Jabi Ibn Hayyan-wikipedia, The... Wikipedia.org. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jābir_ibn_Hayyān>.
[2] "Harm from Toxic Chemicals." Http://www.hesperian.info/assets/EHB/16_Chapter16.pdf. The
Community Guide to Environmental Health. Web.
<http://www.hesperian.info/assets/EHB/16_Chapter16.pdf>.
[3] Kinyanjui, Loise. "The Advantages & Disadvantages of Fractional Distillation." The Advantages &
Disadvantages... Ehow.com. Web. 7 Oct. 2011. <http://www.ehow.com/info_8513450_advantagesdisadvantages-fractional-distillation.html>.
"Fractional Distillation Definition." Definition- Chemisty Glossary D... Http://www.About.com. Web. 8
Oct. 2011. <http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryglossary/a/deffractdistill.htm>.
"Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil." Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil. CHM 110 - CHEMISTRY AND
ISSUES IN THE ENVIRONMENT. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/onlcourse/chm110/outlines/distill.html>.
Pictures:
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Crude_Oil_Distillation.png
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