Kerosene



Background

Kerosene is an oil distillate commonly used as a fuel or solvent. It is a thin, clear liquid consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons that boil between 302°F and 527°F (150°C and 275°C). While kerosene can be extracted from coal, oil shale, and wood, it is primarily derived from refined petroleum. Before electric lights became popular, kerosene was widely used in oil lamps and was one of the most important refinery products. Today kerosene is primarily used as a heating oil, as fuel in jet engines, and as a solvent for insecticide sprays.

History

Petroleum byproducts have been used since ancient times as adhesives and water proofing agents. Over 2,000 years ago, Arabian scientists explored ways to distill petroleum into individual components that could be used for specialized purposes. As new uses were discovered, demand for petroleum increased. Kerosene was discovered in 1853 by Abraham Gesner. A British physician, Gesner developed a process to extract the inflammable liquid from asphalt, a waxy petroleum mixture. The term kerosene is, in fact, derived from the Greek word for wax. Sometimes spelled kerosine or kerosiene, it is also called coal oil because of its asphalt origins.

Kerosene was an important commodity in the days before electric lighting and it was the first material to be chemically extracted on a large commercial scale. Mass refinement of kerosene and other petroleum products actually began in 1859 when oil was discovered in the United States. An entire industry evolved to develop oil drilling and purification techniques. Kerosene continued to be the most important refinery product throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s. It was surpassed by gasoline in the 1920s with the increasing popularity of the internal combustion engine. Other uses were found for kerosene after the demise of oil lamps, and today it is primarily used in residential heating and as a fuel additive. In the late 1990s, annual production of kerosene had grown to approximately 1 billion gal (3.8 billion 1) in the United States alone.

Raw Materials

Kerosene is extracted from a mixture of petroleum chemicals found deep within the earth. This mixture consists of oil, rocks, water, and other contaminates in subterranean reservoirs made of porous layers of sandstone and carbonate rock. The oil itself is derived from decayed organisms that were buried along with the sediments of early geological eras. Over tens of millions of years, this organic residue was converted to petroleum by a pair of complex chemical processes known as diagenesis and catagensis. Diagenesis, which occurs below 122°F (50°C), involves both microbial activity and chemical reactions such as dehydration, condensation, cyclization, and polymerization. Catagenesis occurs between 122°F and 392°F (50°C and 200°C) and involves thermocatalytic cracking, decarboxylation, and hydrogen disproportionation. The combination of these complex reactions creates the hydrocarbon mixture known as petroleum.

The Manufacturing
Process

Crude oil recovery

Separation

Purification

Final processing

Quality Control

The distillation and extraction processes are not completely efficient and some processing steps may have to be repeated to maximize the kerosene production. For example, some of the unconverted hydrocarbons may by separated by further distillation and recycled for another pass into the converter. By recycling the petroleum waste through the reaction sequence several times, the quality of kerosene production can be optimized.

By products/Waste

Some portion of the remaining petroleum fractions that can not be converted to kerosene may be used in other applications such as lubricating oil. In addition, some of the contaminants extracted during the purification process can be used commercially. These include certain aromatic compounds such as paraffin. The specifications for kerosene and these other petroleum byproducts are set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API).

The Future

The future of kerosene depends on the discovery of new applications as well as the development of new methods of production. New uses include increasing military demand for high grade kerosene to replace much of its diesel fuel with JP-8, which is a kerosene based jet fuel. The diesel fuel industry is also exploring a new process that involves adding kerosene to low sulfur diesel fuel to prevent it from gelling in cold weather. Commercial aviation may benefit by reducing the risk of jet fuel explosion by creating a new low-misting kerosene. In the residential sector, new and improved kerosene heaters that provide better protection from fire are anticipated to increase demand.

As demand for kerosene and its byproducts increases, new methods of refining and extracting kerosene will become even more important. One new method, developed by ExxonMobil, is a low-cost way to extract high purity normal paraffin from kerosene. This process uses ammonia that very efficiently absorbs the contaminants. This method uses vapor phase fixed-bed adsorption technology and yields a high level of paraffin that are greater than 90% pure.

Where to Learn More

Books

Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Vol. 18. John Wiley and Sons, 1996.

Periodicals

Kovski, Alan. "New Kerosene Laws Get off to Bumpy Start." The Oil Daily 48 (1998).

"Paraffins, Normal." Hydrocarbon Processing 80 (2001): 116.

Randy Schueller



Also read article about Kerosene from Wikipedia

User Contributions:

1
Donald W. McKay
Gathering information from several sites, some highly reliable, including photos of government historic markers, I would like to suggest that your comments about Abraham Gesner may be incorrect. Gesner was born in Nova Scotia, (which is now part of Canada). He received medical training in Britain. The discovery of kerosene appears to have been in 1846, although he filed some patents and set up a company in the U.S in the 1850's.
2
Kay Neal
I am trying to find out how to remove old kerosene residue from the inside of an old lamp that my son gave me. The lamp is made of milk glass and you can see the dried on kerosen through the glass. I have tried "OOPS" cleaner which cleans almost anything but haven't had much luck. Any suggestions you might have would certainly be appreciated as I would like to be able to use the lamp at some point in time....Thank You........K Neal
PS.The article was interesting and informative.
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