Crude oil fractionation is the primary separation step in a refinery, physically splitting crude into boiling-range cuts for downstream upgrading. It sits at the front of the refining value chain and ...

Engineers developed a membrane that filters the components of crude oil by their molecular size, an advance that could dramatically reduce the amount of energy needed for crude oil fractionation.

Separating crude oil into products such as gasoline, diesel, and heating oil is an energy-intensive process that accounts for about 6% of the world's CO 2 emissions. Most of that energy goes into the ...