However, in rural areas in underdeveloped countries kerosene lamps are still often the only available source of light. Certain kerosene variants with particularly low sulfur content are also used for household heating — for example in the UK — and for various industrial processes. According to the United Kingdom Census there were over 1 million households using kerosene as their main source of heating in the UK.
This equates to 4. In the UK, special chemical markers are required to be added to kerosene — much as they are added to heating oil in Germany — to detect any illegal use of this product, which enjoys preferential tax treatment.
Kerosene is also used as a cleaning agent, as it readily dissolves grease and dirt from metal surfaces, and as a component of the fuel used to propel model aeroplanes with diesel engines and jets.
Today this method, which was often used for tractors in the agricultural sector, is no longer necessary and can, in fact, harm modern diesel engines. Petroleum is produced from crude oil using fractional distillation.
It was surpassed by gasoline in the s 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 s, annual production of kerosene had grown to approximately 1 billion gal 3. 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. The combination of these complex reactions creates the hydrocarbon mixture known as petroleum. To separate some of the heavier fractions of oil, distillations columns must be operated at approximately one tenth of atmospheric pressure 75 mm Hg.
These vacuum columns are structured to be very wide and short to help control pressure fluctuations. They can be over 40 ft 12 m in diameter. The Udex extraction process became popular in the United States during the s. It uses a class of chemicals known as glycols as solvents. Both diethylene glycol and tetraethylene glycol are used because they have a high affinity for aromatic compounds.
The Sulfolane process was created by the Shell company in and is still used in many extraction units 40 years later. The solvent used in this process is called sulfolane, and it is a strong polar compound that is more efficient than the glycol systems used in the Udex process. It has a greater heat capacity and greater chemical stability.
This process uses a piece of equipment known as a rotating disk contractor to help purify the kerosene. The Lurgi Arosolvan Process uses N-methylpyrrolidinone mixed with water or glycol which increases of selectivity of the solvent for contaminants.
This process involves a multiple stage extracting towers up to 20 ft 6 m in diameter and ft 35 m high. The dimethyl sulfoxide process involves two separate extraction steps that increase the selectivity of the solvent for the aromatic contaminants. This allows extraction of these contaminants at lower temperatures. In addition, chemicals used in this process are non-toxic and relatively inexpensive. It uses a specialized column, known as a Kuhni column, that is up to 10 ft 3 m in diameter.
The Union Carbide process uses the solvent tetraethylene glycol and adds a second extraction step. It is somewhat more cumbersome than other glycol processes. The Formex process uses N-formyl morpholine and a small percentage of water as the solvent and is flexible enough to extract aromatics from a variety of hydrocarbon materials.
The Redox process Recycle Extract Dual Extraction is used for kerosene destined for use in diesel fuel. It improves the octane number of fuels by selectively removing aromatic contaminants.
The low aromatic kerosene produced by these process is in high demand for aviation fuel and other military uses. The distillation and extraction processes are not completely efficient and some processing steps may have to be repeated to maximize the kerosene production. Reduction of black carbon emissions is marked as a potential way to reduce climate warming, and since kerosene lamps are such a major sources of black carbon, limiting their use could be beneficial to the environment.
Alternatives to this kerosene use involve more electrification or using cheap LED lamps. Fossil Fuels. Nuclear Fuels. Acid Rain. Climate Change. Climate Feedback. Ocean Acidification. Rising Sea Level. Kerosene Figure 1. A bottle of blue-dyed kerosene. May 20, Kerosene Bottle [Online]. May 21,
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