KEROSENE OIL-MANNENNA-KRISHNAIL Dear friends, >From my childhood till this date one of the itemspreserved in homes is >Kerosene oil. Thefirst application- if white ants arefound, after cleaning >the area, applying Kerosene oil. In central Kerala it is the procedure to keep lighteda small kerosene lamp during the grieving period in the corner of the homewhere the dead was placed for last rites. The reason for keeping kerosene oil is not clear to me. The lamp shouldnot blow off. Kerosene lamps may still be using in homes whenelectric current goes off. Still there are homes with one LPG cylinder and usekerosene stove before the arrival of new cylinder. This posting is a look in to Kerosene including nostalgic memories. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 1-5-2021 1 What isKerosene oil? Kerosene, also called paraffin oil, flammablehydrocarbon liquid commonly used as a fuel. Kerosene is typically pale yellow or colourless andhas a not-unpleasant characteristic odour. It is obtained from petroleum and isused for burning in kerosene lamps and domestic heaters or furnaces, as a fuelor fuel component for jet engines, and as a solvent for greases andinsecticides. 2 Krishnail –Krishnail Where as in Kerala we could get kerosene oil mainlythrough ration shops and at a higher cost from provision shops, in Tamilnadu one could get frommerchants coming through streets with barrel fitted on a cart. Theyused to intimate their presence announcing Krishnail. This was the practicetill LPG became affordable and available in a fortnight after registration. While I was in Trivandrum during 1991, I could getadditional kerosene on application to Tahsildar and I was using a cotton wickstove for preparing food, till my family joined in 1993. Now in Chennai kerosene is given to those havingsingle cylinder through ration shops. From open market I purchase one or twolitres and keep in the home. In Chennai kerosene oil supplied is blue in colour. The dye isadded to identify the oil. At one time autos were having kerosene oil engine. Ihave seen such autos in Calicut even during 1996. Now 95% autos run on LPG andremaining in petrol. 3 Kerosene orparaffin Kerosene, alsoknown as paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived frompetroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Itsname derives from Greek: κηρός (keros) meaning "wax", and was registered as atrademark by Canadiangeologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a genericized trademark. The term kerosene is common in much of Argentina,Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, and the United States, whilethe term paraffin (or a closely related variant) is used in Chile, easternAfrica, South Africa, Norway, and in the United Kingdom The term lampoil, or the equivalent in the local languages, is common in the majority ofAsia. 4 Liquidparaffin and paraffin wax Liquid paraffin (called mineral oil in the US) is amore viscous and highly refined product which is used as a laxative. Paraffin wax is a waxy solid extracted from petroleum.Carpenters use paraffin wax for during screw fixing. 5 Pain relief I have seen many using kerosene oil for pain relief inlegs and knees. I am prescribed paraffin oil IP for applying to sole in case of severe painby nuerologist. It smells almost like kerosene and viscosity is also almost thesame. 6 Wider use ofKerosene oil Kerosene is widely used to power jet engines ofaircraft (jet fuel) and some rocket engines in a highly refined form calledRP-1. In parts of Asia, kerosene is sometimes used as fuelfor small outboard motors or even motorcycles. It is also commonly used as a cooking and lighting fuel,and for fire toys such as poi. I have added para1 and 2 above, since still such practicesmay be continuing. 7 Colouring To prevent confusion between kerosene and the muchmore flammable and volatile gasoline, some jurisdictions regulate markings orcolorings for containers used to store or dispense kerosene. For example, inthe United States, Pennsylvania requires that portable containers used atretail service stations for kerosene be colored blue, as opposed to red (forgasoline) or yellow (for diesel fuel). 8 Properties Kerosene is a low viscosity, clear liquid formed fromhydrocarbons obtained from the fractional distillation of petroleum between 150and 275 °C (300 and 525 °F), resulting in a mixture with a density of 0.78–0.81g/cm3 (0.45–0.47 oz/cu in) composed of carbon chains that typically containbetween 10 and 16 carbon atoms per molecule. It is miscible in petroleumsolvents but immiscible in water. 9 Physicsexperiment In the 2nd year of BSC I studied aboutviscosity in the lecture class andexperiment to decide viscosity in the lab. Still I recollect finding result as0.80. This meant onelitre of Kerosene oil weigh 800 grams. When I told this to my father and mother it was a bigthing to me. My fathercalmly replied- all oils weigh lesser than water to a specific volume.(Ella ennyum oru paathril alavyi eduthal athinu vellathinekkal bharamkuravayirikkum) On those days all oils were measured as litres andgiven. Now we get oils in packets or bottles as kg. 10 Differenttypes of kerosene oil The ASTM International standard specificationD-3699-78 recognizes two grades of kerosene: grades 1-K (less than 0.04% sulfurby weight) and 2-K (0.3% sulfur by weight). 1-K grade kerosene burns cleaner with fewer deposits,fewer toxins, and less frequent maintenance than 2-K grade kerosene, and is thepreferred grade of kerosene for indoor kerosene heaters and stoves My note- The gradeinformation is new to me. We get normally grade 1 in India I think. Learnt readers can respond to me. 11 Pacha undai-Napthalene balls. It is produced /by product of Kerosene. Earlier wecould get it in specified stores, street merchants, now available even insupermarkets. 12 Flash pointand freezing point of Kerosene The flash point of kerosene is between 37 and 65 °C(100 and 150 °F), and its autoignition temperature is 220 °C (428 °F). Thefreeze point of kerosene depends on grade, with commercial aviation fuelstandardized at −47 °C(−53 °F). 13 Heatgeneration Heat of combustion of kerosene is similar to that ofdiesel fuel; its lower heating value is 43.1 MJ/kg and its higher heating valueis 46.2 MJ/kg. We can see manydrivers of buses do not permit any passenger to sit on the covering of engine(bonnet), though very comfortable in a crowded bus. Heat generated may not be going out properlycould be the reason. 14 History The process of distilling crude oil/petroleum intokerosene, as well as other hydrocarbon compounds, was first written about in the 9thcentury by the Persian scholar Rāzi (or Rhazes). In his Kitab al-Asrar (Book ofSecrets), the physician and chemist Razi described two methods forthe production of kerosene, termed naft abyad (نفط ابيض"white naphtha"), using an apparatus called analembic. One method used clay as an absorbent, whereas the other method usedammonium chloride (sal ammoniac). The distillation process was repeated until most of the volatilehydrocarbon fractions had been removed and the final product was perfectlyclear and safe to burn. Kerosene was also produced during the same period fromoil shale and bitumen by heating the rock to extract the oil, which was thendistilled. During the Chinese Ming Dynasty, the Chinese made use of kerosenethrough extracting and purifying petroleum and then converted it into lampfuel. The Chinese made use of petroleum for lighting lamps and heating homes asearly as 1500 BC. 15 Illuminating oil from coal and oilshale Abraham Gesner first distilled kerosene frombituminous coal and oil shale experimentally in 1846; commercial production followedin 1854 Although "coaloil" was well known by industrial chemists at least as early as the 1700s as abyproduct of making coal gas and coal tar, it burned with a smoky flame that prevented its use for indoorillumination. In cities, much indoor illumination was provided bypiped-in coal gas, but outside the cities, and for spot lighting within thecities, the lucrative market for fueling indoor lamps was supplied by whaleoil, specifically that from sperm whales, which burned brighter and cleaner. Canadian geologistAbraham Pineo Gesner claimed that in 1846, he had given a public demonstration inCharlottetown, Prince EdwardIsland of a new process he had discovered. He heated coal in a retort, anddistilled from it aclear, thin fluid that he showed made an excellent lamp fuel. He coined thename "kerosene" for his fuel, a contraction of keroselaion, meaningwax-oil. The cost of extracting kerosene from coal was high. Minute further details read from Wikipedia is notadded here. 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 LightCompany, to which he assigned his patents. Despite clear priority of discovery, Gesner did notobtain his first kerosene patent until 1854, two years after James Young'sUnited States patent. Gesner's methodof purifying the distillation products appears to have been superior toYoung's, resulting in a cleaner and better-smelling fuel. Manufacture of kerosene under the Gesner patents began in New York in 1854and later in Boston—being distilled from bituminous coal and oil shale. Gesner registered the word "Kerosene" as atrademark in 1854, and for several years, only the North American Gas LightCompany and the Downer Company (to which Gesner had granted the right) wereallowed to call their lamp oil "Kerosene" in the United States. In 1848,Scottish chemist James Young experimented with oil discovered seeping in a coal mine as a source of lubricating oil and illuminatingfuel. When the seep became exhausted, he experimented with the dry distillationof coal, especially the resinous "boghead coal" (torbanite). He extracted anumber of useful liquids from it, one of which he named paraffine oil becauseat low temperatures, it congealed into a substance that resembled paraffin wax. Young took out a patent on his process and theresulting products in 1850, and built the first truly commercial oil-works inthe world at Bathgate in 1851, using oil extracted from locally minedtorbanite, shale, and bituminous coal. In 1852, he took out a United Statespatent for the same invention. These patents were subsequently upheld in both countries in a series oflawsuits, and other producers were obliged to pay him royalties. 16 Kerosene from petroleum In 1851, SamuelMartin Kier began selling lamp oil to local miners, under the name "CarbonOil". He distilled this by aprocess of his own invention from crude oil. He also invented a new lampto burn his product. He has been dubbed the Grandfather of the American OilIndustry by historians. I will continue innext posting. This posting is compiled mostlyfrom the information in Wikipedia. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/959236870.1950911.1619862576953%40mail.yahoo.com.
