Öljytislaukset

Öljytislaukset, often translated as oil distillation, is a process used to separate components of oil based on their boiling points. This technique is fundamental in various industries, particularly in refining crude oil and processing essential oils.

The principle behind oil distillation relies on the fact that different substances within a mixture will vaporize at different temperatures. In a distillation apparatus, the oil mixture is heated. As the temperature rises, components with lower boiling points will turn into vapor first. This vapor rises and is then cooled in a separate chamber, causing it to condense back into a liquid. This condensed liquid, now enriched in the lower-boiling-point components, is collected. The remaining liquid in the heating vessel will be richer in components with higher boiling points. This process can be repeated multiple times or conducted in fractional distillation columns to achieve a more precise separation of various oil fractions.

In petroleum refining, fractional distillation is crucial for separating crude oil into useful products like gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, and lubricating oils. Each of these products has a specific range of boiling points. For essential oils, distillation is used to extract aromatic compounds from plant materials. Steam distillation is a common method here, where steam is passed through the plant material, vaporizing the volatile oils, which are then condensed and collected. The purity and yield of the extracted oils depend heavily on the precise control of temperature and pressure during the distillation process.