Diesel is separated from crude oil by fractional distillation
This video takes you through the fractional distillation of crude oil - creating 4 separate fractions - naphtha, petrol (gasoline), paraffin (kerosene) and diesel. These fractions are examined to The substances in crude oil can be separated using fractional distillation because they have different boiling points. The crude oil is evaporated and its vapors allowed to condense at different temperatures in the fractionating column. Each fraction contains hydrocarbon molecules with a similar number of carbon atoms.