cracking

(noun)

The thermal decomposition of a substance, especially that of crude petroleum, in order to produce petrol/gasoline.

Related Terms

  • alkane
  • radical

Examples of cracking in the following topics:

  • Reactions of Alkanes

    • Alkanes are generally unreactive, but can participate in oxidation, halogenation, and cracking reactions.
    • The complex alkanes with high molecular weights that are found in crude oil are frequently broken into smaller, more useful alkanes by thermal cracking; alkenes and hydrogen gas are also produced by using this method.
    • Thermal cracking is typically performed at high temperatures, and often in the presence of a catalyst.
  • Properties of Alkenes

    • Large amounts of ethylene are produced from natural gas via thermal cracking.
    • The factory of the Shukhov cracking process by the great Russian engineer and scientist Vladimir Shukhov (1853-1939) in 1934.
    • In petroleum geology and chemistry, thermal cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or heavy hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of carbon-carbon bonds in the precursors.
  • Methods of Generating Free Radicals

    • This cracking process is important in the refining of crude petroleum because of the demand for lower boiling gasoline fractions.
    • In practice, catalysts are used to lower effective cracking temperatures.
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