DESTRUCTIVEDISTILLATION

Destructive distillation

Destructive distillation is the chemical process involving the decomposition of feedstock by heating to a high temperature; the term generally applies to processing of organic material in the absence of air or in the presence of limited amounts of oxygen or other reagents, catalysts, or solvents, such as steam or phenols. It is an application of pyrolysis. The process breaks up or 'cracks' large molecules. Coke, coal gas, gas carbon, coal tar, ammonia liquor, and "coal oil" historically, are examples of commercial products of the destructive distillation of coal.

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destructive distillation

Noun

  1. The heating of a material, such as coal or wood, in an inert atmosphere, at a high temperature such as to cause decomposition; the principal products include oils and tars from which many useful organic compounds may be obtained; town gas and coke were obtained in this way.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: destructive distillation
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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