Atmospheric distillation is the basic unit in crude oil refining; historically speaking it appeared at the end 19th century.

Because of its upstream from all the other units, it is the one that handles the largest product quantity and plays a key role in proper refinery operation. The units capacity ranges from 300 000 t/year to over 10 million tons a year and its coats was in the neighborhood of $120 to 150 million in 1994 for 10 Mt/year unit