HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 10.1 Crude-Oil Distillation

Distillation is one of the oldest techniques used by chemists, but using it to refine crude oil began when the first crude-oil well was drilled in 1859. The site of this well was Titusville, Pennsylvania. The reserve tapped was called rock oil, and it led to the construction of stills that operated on the same principle as the distillation towers described in the text. Demand for petroleum products soared after the turn of the century, with the invention of the internal combustion engine and the wide availability of cars. Thermal distillation techniques predominated until the 1930s, when catalytic techniques emerged. 

Source Petroleum Refining. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed February 15, 2005. URL http //search.eb.com/eb/article7tocId = 9110685. 

16 h extraction). Bottom Dynamic headspace enrichment (80°C, 15 min extraction). Reprinted with permission from Ren, Q., and W. Bertsch, 

Many of the patterns shown here are similar to accelerant patterns. Total ion chromatograms of common household products compared with mineral spirits and diesel fuel. Reprinted with permission from Lentini, J. J., et al., The Petroleum-Laced Background, Journal of Forensic Sciences 45 (2000), 968-989. Copyright 200, ASTM International. 

An officer submitting fire debris requests that you analyze it for the presence of gasoline with ethanol. Would you use GCFID or CCMS  

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