The third stage of the upgrading process is distillation. Bitumen is a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds. Distillation is a very common industrial process that can be used to sort liquids and gases into their component parts. A distillation, or fractionating tower works because different substances boil at different temperatures. The temperature inside the tower varies, with the hottest temperatures at the bottom and the coolest at the top. The lightest hydrocarbons with the lowest boiling points travel as a vapour to the top of the tower. Heavier and denser hydrocarbons with higher boiling points collect as liquids lower in the tower. The gas vapour condenses into heavy and light gas oils, kerosene and naptha.
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