Kerosene Fraction

Part of Petroleum and Tar

Producing kerosene from petroleum — the fraction that transformed lighting and heating.

Why This Matters

Kerosene was the product that launched the petroleum industry. Before electric lighting, kerosene lamps replaced whale oil, tallow candles, and other dim, smoky light sources with a bright, clean, affordable flame that could burn all night. In a rebuilding scenario, kerosene is likely the single most impactful petroleum product you can produce, because reliable lighting transforms everything — it extends the productive day, enables reading and study after dark, improves safety, and lifts morale in ways that are hard to overstate.

Beyond lighting, kerosene serves as a heating fuel, cooking fuel, cleaning solvent, and the basis for jet fuel in turbine engines. It occupies a sweet spot in the petroleum distillation range — volatile enough to burn cleanly in a wick lamp, but stable enough to handle and store safely without the extreme fire hazards of gasoline. Its flash point of 38-72°C (100-162°F) means it will not form explosive vapors at normal room temperature, making it practical for household use.

A community that can produce clean, consistent kerosene from crude petroleum has solved its lighting problem permanently. The techniques for doing so are straightforward, requiring only basic distillation equipment and careful temperature control.

Where Kerosene Falls in Distillation

Kerosene is the middle fraction of petroleum distillation, coming after gasoline and before the heavy oils.

Fraction	Boiling Range	Collected When
Gasoline/naphtha	30-150°C (86-302°F)	First — collect and set aside
Kerosene	150-275°C (302-527°F)	Second — your target fraction
Diesel/gas oil	275-350°C (527-662°F)	Third — useful for engines and heating
Heavy residue	Above 350°C (662°F)	Remains in retort

Collecting the Kerosene Fraction

1. Set up your distillation as described in Petroleum Distillation. Ensure your condenser is long enough to fully condense kerosene vapors, which requires more cooling than gasoline.

2. Collect and divert the gasoline fraction first. Everything that comes over below 150°C goes into a separate container. You want this fraction out of the way.

3. Switch to your kerosene collection vessel when the vapor temperature reaches approximately 150°C, or when the condensate stops having the sharp, highly volatile character of gasoline and becomes a slightly oily, less pungent liquid.

4. Continue collecting until the vapor temperature approaches 275°C or the condensate becomes noticeably thicker and darker. This marks the transition to diesel and heavier fractions.

5. Without a thermometer: Use the “paper test.” Place a drop of condensate on brown paper or cloth. Gasoline evaporates completely within seconds. Kerosene takes minutes to evaporate and may leave a faint oily mark. When the drops stop evaporating at all, you have passed into heavier fractions.

Temperature Monitoring

A thermometer in the vapor space of your retort is the single most useful instrument for producing quality kerosene. Even a crude thermometer made from a sealed glass tube with a liquid column will help you identify fraction boundaries far more reliably than smell or appearance alone.

Refining Raw Kerosene

Straight from the still, your kerosene will contain impurities that cause smoking, odor, and reduced lamp performance. Several simple refining steps dramatically improve quality.

Acid Washing

Sulfuric acid removes sulfur compounds and other impurities that cause smell and smoke:

1. Mix raw kerosene with 2-5% by volume of dilute sulfuric acid (10-20% concentration)
2. Stir vigorously for 10-15 minutes in a glass or lead-lined vessel
3. Let settle for several hours — the acid sludge sinks to the bottom
4. Carefully decant the kerosene from above the sludge
5. Repeat if the kerosene still smells strongly of sulfur

If sulfuric acid is unavailable, skip this step — the kerosene will still work, just with more odor.

Alkali Washing

After acid washing (or as a standalone step), wash with a mild alkali solution to neutralize any remaining acid and remove more impurities:

1. Mix kerosene with 5% by volume of a saturated soda ash (sodium carbonate) solution or dilute lye (sodium hydroxide) solution
2. Stir thoroughly for 5-10 minutes
3. Let settle — the alkali solution drops to the bottom
4. Decant the kerosene
5. Wash once more with plain water to remove any residual alkali

Water Washing and Settling

1. Mix kerosene with an equal volume of warm water
2. Stir vigorously
3. Let settle in a tall, narrow vessel for 24 hours
4. Water and dissolved impurities settle to the bottom
5. Decant the kerosene from the top
6. Repeat until the wash water comes out clean

Final Filtration

Pass the washed kerosene through a filter to remove suspended particles:

• Layers of clean cloth (cotton or linen)
• A bed of clean, dry sand
• Activated charcoal (charcoal from hardwood, crushed fine) — this removes color and odor compounds

The charcoal filtration step makes the biggest difference in lamp performance. Kerosene filtered through activated charcoal burns with a bright, nearly smokeless flame.

Quality Testing

Before trusting your kerosene in a lamp, verify these properties:

Flash Point Test

The flash point must be above 38°C (100°F) for safe indoor use:

1. Pour a small amount of kerosene into a shallow dish
2. Heat the dish gently (over warm water, never open flame)
3. Periodically pass a lit taper across the surface just above the liquid
4. Note the temperature at which a brief flash occurs
5. If it flashes below hand-warm temperature, too much gasoline is present — redistill

Smoke Test

1. Fill a wick lamp with the kerosene
2. Light and adjust to a medium flame
3. Observe for 30 minutes
4. Good kerosene: bright, steady flame with minimal smoke
5. Poor kerosene: yellow, flickering flame with visible soot

If the kerosene smokes excessively, re-filter through activated charcoal or redistill to remove heavy tail fractions.

Char Test

1. Burn a lamp for 4 hours continuously
2. Examine the wick
3. Good kerosene: wick is darkened but intact, can be trimmed and reused
4. Poor kerosene: wick is heavily crusted with carbon deposits, burns unevenly

Kerosene for Different Applications

Lamp Fuel (Highest Quality Needed)

For wick lamps and lanterns, use your best-refined kerosene:

• Acid washed, alkali washed, and charcoal filtered
• Should be water-clear or very pale yellow
• Should pass the smoke test with minimal soot
• Burns 6-10 hours per liter in a typical wick lamp

Heating Fuel (Medium Quality)

For space heaters and cooking stoves, lower-quality kerosene works fine:

• Water washing and basic filtration is sufficient
• Some smoke is acceptable since heaters typically vent outdoors
• Heavier fractions mixed in actually increase heat output per liter

Cleaning Solvent (Lowest Quality)

For degreasing and cleaning, raw or minimally processed kerosene works well:

• No refining needed beyond basic settling to remove water
• Dissolves grease and oil effectively
• Evaporates slowly enough to work with safely
• Far safer than gasoline for cleaning purposes

Storage and Shelf Life

Kerosene stores much better than gasoline:

Storage Condition	Expected Shelf Life
Sealed metal container, cool and dark	5-10 years
Sealed glass container	Indefinite if sealed
Partially filled container	2-3 years (oxidation from air)
Open container	Months — evaporates slowly, absorbs moisture

Storage Best Practices

• Use metal or glass containers with tight lids
• Keep away from direct sunlight — UV degrades kerosene over time
• Store in a cool location — a cellar is ideal
• Label clearly to distinguish from gasoline and other fractions
• Keep away from any source of ignition, even though kerosene is much safer than gasoline

Kerosene vs. Gasoline Labeling

Mislabeling kerosene containers with gasoline (or vice versa) has killed people throughout history. Establish a clear, consistent labeling system for all petroleum products. Use different container shapes if possible — round for kerosene, square for gasoline, for example. Color-code with paint if you have it.

Yield Expectations

Kerosene yield varies significantly by crude source:

• Light, paraffinic crudes (like Pennsylvania crude): 15-25% kerosene yield
• Medium crudes: 20-30% kerosene yield
• Heavy crudes: 10-15% kerosene yield
• Average: ~20% of crude volume becomes kerosene

From 100 liters of crude petroleum, expect approximately 20 liters of raw kerosene, which refines down to about 17-18 liters of lamp-quality product.

Consumption Estimates

A single household using one kerosene lamp for 5 hours per evening consumes approximately:

• 0.3-0.5 liters per night
• 10-15 liters per month
• 120-180 liters per year

A community of 50 households would therefore need roughly 6,000-9,000 liters of refined kerosene per year for lighting alone — requiring distillation of 30,000-45,000 liters of crude petroleum annually. This represents a substantial but achievable operation, roughly equivalent to processing one large barrel per day.

Historical Context

Kerosene production was the reason the petroleum industry began. In 1853, Abraham Gesner patented the process of distilling kerosene from petroleum, and by 1859, when Edwin Drake drilled the first commercial oil well in Pennsylvania, kerosene had already created the market. For the next 40 years, until electric lighting became widespread, kerosene was the primary petroleum product. Gasoline was considered a dangerous waste byproduct and was often dumped.

This history is relevant because it demonstrates that kerosene production is the natural starting point for petroleum utilization. The technology required is simpler than for gasoline or lubricant production, the product is immediately and universally useful, and the safety challenges are manageable. If your community is just beginning to work with petroleum, kerosene should be your first target product.