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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Refining & Petrochemicals

Distillation

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

/ˌdɪstɪˈleɪʃən/nounCommon term

In oil, gas & mining, distillation means: The first main step in refining: crude oil is heated, and its vapours rise in a tall column and condense at different heights into fractions such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel.

In Turkish: damıtma, distilasyon

How it is used

Refinery staff talk about the crude distillation unit (CDU), atmospheric distillation and vacuum distillation. The products are called fractions or cuts, and the heavy part left at the bottom is the residue.

Example sentences

  1. The crude distillation unit is the heart of the refinery.

  2. Heavy residue from atmospheric distillation goes to the vacuum unit.

Common collocations

  • crude distillation unit (CDU)
  • atmospheric distillation
  • vacuum distillation
  • distillation column
  • refineryAn industrial plant where crude oil is heated, separated and chemically changed to make products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG and asphalt.
  • crackingA refining process that breaks large, heavy hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, lighter ones, turning low-value heavy oil into more gasoline, diesel and other products.
  • crude oilOil in its natural state as it comes out of the ground, before it is refined into fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
  • feedstockThe raw material fed into a refinery unit or chemical plant to be processed, for example crude oil for a refinery or naphtha for a petrochemical plant.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Refining & Petrochemicals

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