The petroleum refining industry converts crude oil into more than 2500 refined products, including liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, kerosene, aviation fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oils, lubricating oils, and feedstocks for the petrochemical industry.
Distillation under atmospheric pressure is a crucial test method to characterize these refined products. It delivers important information about the tested sample in order to e.g. maximize the yield of different petroleum products obtained from crude oil, based on their boiling range characteristics. Moreover, the distillation behavior provides information about composition, properties, and behavior during storage and use, which affect the safety regulations as well as the handling and the performance of fuels and other hydrocarbon-based solvents.