ABSTRACT
Distillation profiles describe the volume of crude oil evaporating in a boiling point range and give refineries an idea of the amount of each finished product the crude oil will yield. The distillation profiles associated with crude oil are closely related to its density and molecular composition and serve as a unique identifier for crude oil. In the 1940s and 1950s the US Bureau of Mines carried out Hempel distillations on thousands of crude oil samples from the US and around the world. The distillation temperatures reported in the analysis must be corrected to 760 mm Hg pressure. All distillation profiles use approximations at various stages and approximating procedures that vary with organization and method. After the true boiling point (TBP) curve is plotted it is an easy matter to read off the approximate volume of products obtained from distillation.
