What Are the Sources of Alkanes

Arrange the alkanes in each set in order of increasing boiling point  

The three major sources of alkanes throughout the world are the fossil fuels natural gas, petroleum, and coal. Fossil fuels account for approximately 90% of the total energy consumed in the United States. Nuclear electric power and hydroelectric power make up most of the remaining 10%. In addition, fossil fuels provide the bulk of the raw material for the organic chemicals consumed worldwide. 

Petroleum is a thick, viscous hquid mixture of literally thousands of compounds, most of them hydrocarbons, formed from the decomposition of marine plants and animals. Petroleum and petroleum-derived products fuel automobiles, aircraft, and trains. They provide most of the greases and lubricants required for the machinery of our highly industrialized society. Furthermore, petroleum, along with natural gas, provides close to 90% of the organic raw materials used in the synthesis and manufacture of synthetic fibers, plastics, detergents, drugs, dyes, and a multitude of other products. 

It is the task of a petroleum refiner) to produce usable products, with a minimum of waste, from the thousands of different hydrocarbons in this liquid mixture. The various physical and chemical processes for this purpose fall into two broad categories separation processes, which separate the complex mixture into various fractions, and re-forming processes, which alter the molecular structure of the hydrocarbon components themselves. 

Fractional distillation of petroleum.The lighter, more volatile fractions are removed from higher up the column and the heavier, less volatile fractions from lower down. 

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