Kerosene Vapor Density

[Etta Lesniak]

NationalResearch Council (US) Subcommittee on Permissible Exposure Levels for Military Fuels. Permissible Exposure Levels for Selected Military Fuel Vapors. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1996.

Jet fuels and diesel fuel marine (DFM) are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons produced by distillation of crude oil. They contain hundreds of hydrocarbons as well as many additives. The actual composition of any given fuel varies depending upon source of the crude oil, refinery processes, and product specifications. The hydrocarbons in jet and diesel fuels are less volatile than those in gasoline. JP-5 is a high-flash-point jet fuel developed by the Navy. JP-5 is a specifically refined type of kerosene consisting of C9-C16 paraffins (53%), cycloparaffins (31%), aromatics (16%), and olefins (0.5%). The aromatic content of JP-5 might vary from less than 2.5% to greater than 22% by volume. The benzene content of JP-5 is typically less than 0.02% (Dollarhide, 1992), and a small amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons might be present in JP-5. Because water contamination in aviation fuels is a serious problem, a fuel-system icing inhibitor is added to the fuel to eliminate the formation of ice in aircraft systems. JP-8 is similar to commercial jet A-1 fuel. JP-8 was developed for the Air Force to provide a safe kerosene-based jet fuel that would still have adequate reliability and an acceptable freezing point. DFM is a blend of diesel fuel that is basically the same as kerosene to which high-boiling-point fractions and high-boiling-point residual oils have been added. Diesel fuels consist primarily of C9-C20 hydrocarbons. For DFM, these are roughly 13% paraffins, 44% aromatics, and 44% naphthalenes. DFM might also contain less than 10% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

In considering the potential toxicity of the fuel vapors, it is important to note that many compounds in the fuel do not exist in the vapors (Bishop, 1982). The toxicity of the more-volatile fractions of the fuel is considered in this report and not the toxicity of the total fuel. The composition of the vapors from the three fuels under consideration are expected to be similar since the fuels are made by mixing kerosene with different amounts of low-boiling-point distillates.

Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from κηρός (kērs) meaning "wax", and was registered as a trademark by Nova Scotia geologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a generic trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage.[1]

Kerosene is widely used to power jet engines of aircraft (jet fuel), as well as some rocket engines in a highly refined form called RP-1. It is also commonly used as a cooking and lighting fuel, and for fire toys such as poi. In parts of Asia, kerosene is sometimes used as fuel for small outboard motors or even motorcycles.[2] World total kerosene consumption for all purposes is equivalent to about 5,500,000 barrels per day as of July 2023.[3]

The term "kerosene" is common in much of Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, and the United States,[4][5] while the term paraffin (or a closely related variant) is used in Chile, East Africa, South Africa, Norway, and the United Kingdom.[6] The term "lamp oil", or the equivalent in the local languages, is common in the majority of Asia and the Southeastern United States, although in Appalachia, it is also commonly referred to as "coal oil".[7]

Confusingly, the name "paraffin" is also used to refer to a number of distinct petroleum byproducts other than kerosene. For instance, liquid paraffin (called mineral oil in the US) is a more viscous and highly refined product which is used as a laxative. Paraffin wax is a waxy solid extracted from petroleum.

To prevent confusion between kerosene and the much more flammable and volatile gasoline (petrol), some jurisdictions regulate markings or colourings for containers used to store or dispense kerosene. For example, in the United States, Pennsylvania requires that portable containers used at retail service stations for kerosene be colored blue, as opposed to red (for gasoline) or yellow (for diesel).[8][9]

The World Health Organization considers kerosene to be a polluting fuel and recommends that "governments and practitioners immediately stop promoting its household use".[10] Kerosene smoke contains high levels of harmful particulate matter, and household use of kerosene is associated with higher risks of cancer, respiratory infections, asthma, tuberculosis, cataracts, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.[11]

Regardless of crude oil source or processing history, kerosene's major components are branched- and straight-chain alkanes (hydrocarbon chains) and naphthenes (cycloalkanes), which normally account for at least 70% of volume. Aromatic hydrocarbons such as alkylbenzenes (single ring) and alkylnaphthalenes (double ring), do not normally exceed 25% by volume of kerosene streams. Olefins are usually not present at more than 5% by volume.[14]

The ASTM recognizes two grades of kerosene: 1-K (less than 0.04% sulfur by weight) and 2-K (0.3% sulfur by weight).[16] Grade 1-K kerosene burns cleaner with fewer deposits, fewer toxins, and less frequent maintenance than 2-K, and is the preferred grade for indoor heaters and stoves.[17]

In the United Kingdom, two grades of heating oil are defined. BS 2869 Class C1 is the lightest grade used for lanterns, camping stoves, and wick heaters, and mixed with petrol in some vintage combustion engines as a substitute for tractor vaporizing oil.[18] BS 2869 Class C2 is a heavier distillate, which is used as domestic heating oil. Premium kerosene is usually sold in 5- or 20-litre containers from hardware, camping and garden stores, and is often dyed purple. Standard kerosene is usually dispensed in bulk by a tanker and is undyed.

National and international standards define the properties of several grades of kerosene used for jet fuel. Flash point and freezing point properties are particularly interesting for operation and safety; the standards also define additives for control of static electricity and other purposes.

The process of distilling crude oil/petroleum into kerosene, as well as other hydrocarbon compounds, was first written about in the ninth century by the Persian scholar Rāzi (or Rhazes). In his Kitab al-Asrar (Book of Secrets), the physician and chemist Razi described two methods for the production of kerosene, termed naft abyad (نفط ابيض"white naphtha"), using an apparatus called an alembic. One method used clay as an absorbent, and later the other method using chemicals like ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac). The distillation process was repeated until most of the volatile hydrocarbon fractions had been removed and the final product was perfectly clear and safe to burn. Kerosene was also produced during the same period from oil shale and bitumen by heating the rock to extract the oil, which was then distilled.[21] During the Chinese Ming Dynasty, the Chinese made use of kerosene through extracting and purifying petroleum and then converted it into lamp fuel.[22] The Chinese made use of petroleum for lighting lamps and heating homes as early as 1500 BC.[23]

Although "coal oil" was well known by industrial chemists at least as early as the 1700s as a byproduct of making coal gas and coal tar, it burned with a smoky flame that prevented its use for indoor illumination. In cities, much indoor illumination was provided by piped-in coal gas, but outside the cities, and for spot lighting within the cities, the lucrative market for fueling indoor lamps was supplied by whale oil, specifically that from sperm whales, which burned brighter and cleaner.[24][25]

Canadian geologist Abraham Pineo Gesner claimed that in 1846, he had given a public demonstration in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island of a new process he had discovered.[24][note 1] He heated coal in a retort, and distilled from it a clear, thin fluid that he showed made an excellent lamp fuel. He coined the name "kerosene" for his fuel, a contraction of keroselaion, meaning wax-oil.[26] The cost of extracting kerosene from coal was high.

Gesner recalled from his extensive knowledge of New Brunswick's geology a naturally occurring asphaltum called albertite. He was blocked from using it by the New Brunswick coal conglomerate because they had coal extraction rights for the province, and he lost a court case when their experts claimed albertite was a form of coal.[27] In 1854, Gesner moved to Newtown Creek, Long Island, New York. There, he secured backing from a group of businessmen. They formed the North American Gas Light Company, to which he assigned his patents.

In 1848, Scottish chemist James Young experimented with oil discovered seeping in a coal mine as a source of lubricating oil and illuminating fuel. When the seep became exhausted, he experimented with the dry distillation of coal, especially the resinous "boghead coal" (torbanite). He extracted a number of useful liquids from it, one of which he named paraffine oil because at low temperatures, it congealed into a substance that resembled paraffin wax. Young took out a patent on his process and the resulting products in 1850, and built the first truly commercial oil-works in the world at Bathgate in 1851, using oil extracted from locally mined torbanite, shale, and bituminous coal. In 1852, he took out a United States patent for the same invention. These patents were subsequently upheld in both countries in a series of lawsuits, and other producers were obliged to pay him royalties.[26]

In 1851, Samuel Martin Kier began selling lamp oil to local miners, under the name "Carbon Oil". He distilled this from crude oil by a process of his own invention. He also invented a new lamp to burn his product.[31] He has been dubbed the Grandfather of the American Oil Industry by historians.[32] Kier's salt wells began to be fouled with petroleum in the 1840s. At first, Kier simply dumped the oil into the nearby Pennsylvania Main Line Canal as useless waste, but later he began experimenting with several distillates of the crude oil, along with a chemist from eastern Pennsylvania.[33]

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