In producing Oxygen through fractional distillation, what is removed first?

In the process of producing oxygen through fractional distillation, nitrogen is removed first because it has a lower boiling point compared to oxygen. Fractional distillation exploits the different boiling points of gases to separate them. Nitrogen has a boiling point of approximately -196 degrees Celsius, while oxygen boils at around -183 degrees Celsius.

During the distillation process, the air is cooled and liquefied, and as the temperature rises, nitrogen vaporizes first due to its lower boiling point. This allows nitrogen to be separated from the rest of the air mixture before oxygen is distilled. Understanding the boiling points is crucial for effective separation, and nitrogen’s position as the first gas to be removed is fundamental to the process of obtaining pure oxygen through this method. This technique ensures that a high purity of oxygen can be achieved by minimizing the presence of nitrogen in the final product.