v. [f. FRACTION + -ATE3.] trans. To separate (a mixture) by distillation or otherwise into portions of differing properties. Hence Fractionated ppl. a.; Fractionation, the action of fractionating.
1867. W. R. Bowditch, Coal Gas, 5–6. These heavy oils were obtained by passing the gas over carefully fractionated pure light coal oils.
1878. Kingzett, Anim. Chem., 210. It may generally be separated from that substance by a process of fractionation carried out with the mother liquors.
1894. Nature, L. 23 Aug., 410/2. By fractionating Russian petroleum the author had obtained hydrocarbons of constant boiling point, whose vapour densities point to their all containing carbon atoms of the weight 6.
