Oil Products and their Uses

Gases

Gaseous refinery products include hydrogen, fuel gas, ethane and propane or LPG. Most of the hydrogen is consumed in refinery desulfurization facilities; small quantities may be delivered to the refinery fuel system. Refinery fuel gas usually has a heating value similar to natural gas and is consumed in plant operations. Periodic variability in heating value makes it unsuitable for delivery to consumer gas systems. Ethane may be recovered from the refinery fuel system for use as a petrochemical feedstock. Liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, is a convenient, portable fuel for domestic heating and cooking or light industrial use. Gasoline Motor gasoline, or petrol, must meet three primary requirements. It must provide an even combustion pattern, start easily in cold weather, and meet prevailing environmental requirements.

Kerosene

Though its use as an illuminant has greatly diminished, kerosene is still used extensively throughout the world in cooking and space heating and is the primary fuel for modern jet engines. When burned as a domestic fuel, kerosene must produce a flame free of smoke and odour. Standard laboratory procedures test these properties by burning the oil in special lamps. All kerosene fuels must satisfy minimum flash point specifications (49°C) to limit fire hazard in storage and handling.

Jet fuels must burn cleanly and remain fluid and free from wax particles at the low temperatures experienced in high-altitude flight. The conventional freeze-point specification for commercial jet fuel is 50°C. The fuel must also be free of any suspended water particles that might cause blockage of the fuel system with ice particles. Special-purpose military jet fuels have even more stringent specifications.