Fuels
What is a hydrocarbon?
Hydrocarbons only contain hydrogen and carbon atoms. There are two main chemical
families of hydrocarbons - the alkanes and the alkenes. Thousands of synthetic
products can be manufactured from hydrocarbons with many different properties.
What is crude oil?
Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons with small amounts of other
chemicals such as sulphur. The crude oil is useless as a mixture and must be
sent to an oil refinery to be separated. Crude oils from different parts of the
world, or even from different depths in the same oilfield, contain different
mixtures of hydrocarbons and other compounds. This is why they vary from light
colored volatile liquids to thick, dark oils.
What is natural gas?
Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons with small molecules. These molecules
are made of atoms of carbon and hydrogen. For example, natural gas used in the
home is mainly methane, CH 4.
