Kerosene

Kerosene, also spelled kerosine, a thin oil derived from petroleum, coal tar, or oil-bearing shale. Kerosene is used as a fuel for engines, heaters, and lamps, and as a solvent. It also has been called coal oil, illuminating oil, lamp oil, and paraffin oil, this last because it belongs to the family of hydrocarbons called paraffins.

Kerosene is pale yellow or colorless. It is poisonous, and breathing its fumes causes headaches and drowsiness. It is insoluble in water, moderately soluble in alcohol, and very soluble in both benzene and chloroform. Kerosene is an excellent solvent of many other compounds. It dissolves camphor, iodine, phosphorus, resin, sulfur, and wax. It is used as a thinner for paints and other materials.

Oil refineries derive kerosene by distilling petroleum. This process involves heating crude oil gradually until it boils. The first component of the oil to boil is gasoline, which is separated from the remainder of the oil. The next component to boil is kerosene, which is slightly heavier than gasoline and reaches its boiling point between about 180° and 290° C (about 360° and 550° F). After separation from the rest of the oil, the kerosene is treated further to remove impurities.

Fuel companies and government regulators use various techniques to measure the quality of kerosene. This is important in determining its suitability as fuel. Certain grades of kerosene produce less smoke and fewer gum deposits when burned.

Canadian physician and geologist Abraham Gessner patented a process for making kerosene in the early 1800s. He promoted it as an alternative to whale oil, which was then a widely used energy source. At about the same time, Scottish scientist James Young also began promoting the use of kerosene because it burned brighter and with less mess than other oils. Both men produced kerosene by distilling coal and oil shale. Later, when large supplies of crude oil were discovered in the United States during the mid-1800s, oil refineries became the chief sources of kerosene. In 1860 Americans began to export kerosene distilled from these large deposits to Europe, where it quickly replaced other oil-lamp fuels.

Kerosene lamps remained the primary lighting source until electricity became widely available in the 1930s and 1940s. Kerosene today is commonly used in portable area heaters (also called space heaters) and as fuel for airplane jet engines and rockets. Deodorized kerosene is used as a solvent in some types of insecticides and weed killers.