Have you seen kerosene being made in the factory!️ How Kerosene Made From Crude Oil? | QuickStory

[00:00:00]Someone told you that airplanes flying tens of thousands of feet in the air use kerosene to fly, would you believe it?

[00:00:06]For many, this might be the first time hearing about it, but it is actually true. In this video, we are going to explore how aviation fuel and the everyday kerosene we use at home are made, why kerosene is used as fuel in airplanes, and why we cannot simply buy kerosene with money from petrol pumps.

[00:00:22]In reality, kerosene is extracted from crude oil, the same source from which petrol and diesel are separated. In other words, kerosene or petroleum is a component obtained when crude oil is boiled and distilled. Before understanding the process of manufacturing kerosene, we should have a basic understanding of crude oil mining.

[00:00:40]Millions of years ago, when tiny plants and animals living in the seas and oceans, primarily plankton, died, they accumulated between the sand and mud on the seabed. Over time, as tons of soil and sand piled on top of them, the immense pressure, intense heat underground, and the absence of oxygen caused these remains to decompose and undergo chemical changes, transforming into a kind of fatty liquid. This is how crude oil is formed naturally over tens of thousands of years. Subsequently, the extraction begins only after identifying locations with crude oil deposits under the earth or the seabed through scientific surveys. Using large towers and drilling machines, deep holes or oil wells are drilled miles deep and pipes are lowered into them. Initially, due to the immense natural pressure underground, the crude oil rises to the surface through the pipe on its own.

[00:01:27]Later, when this pressure drops, the crude oil is either drawn out using large pumps or water or gas is injected to artificially increase the pressure and push the oil out. After primarily separating gas, mud, and water from the liquid extracted this way, the pure crude oil is sent to refineries. As mentioned earlier, kerosene is produced at refineries by boiling and distilling crude oil. Kerosene is obtained at temperatures ranging from approximately 150° C to 300° C, which falls right between the boiling points of petrol and diesel.

[00:01:58]Interestingly, back in the 19th century, before petroleum refining was this developed, people used to produce kerosene from coal, and it was used to light street lamps and oil lamps.

[00:02:08]Anyway, in current processes, once the crude oil reaches the refinery, it is transferred into a fractional distillation tower. Here, the crude oil is heated to about 350° C to 400° C.

[00:02:20]As it vaporizes, its individual components separate based on their respective boiling points. Lighter substances rise to the top of the tower, while heavier ones settle at the bottom.

[00:02:30]This is how various byproducts like LPG, petrol, naphtha, kerosene, diesel, and fuel oil are separated. As previously indicated, kerosene is obtained at temperatures between 150° C and 300° C near the middle section of this tower.

[00:02:46]However, it cannot be used immediately.

[00:02:49]Further purification processes are required to remove sulfur and other impurities. After that, specific additives are mixed in to prevent the fuel from freezing and to stop pipelines from rusting. Only after completing all these processes does it transform into Jet A or Jet A-1 fuel, which is used in aircraft. The remaining kerosene that lacks this high quality is what we use at home for lighting lamps, cleaning, and removing rust. However, what is used in airplanes is a highly purified version of the exact same kerosene we use at home. This is called jet fuel. It is prepared to a very high standard of quality by completely removing the sulfur and other impurities found in ordinary kerosene. In fact, if you take a barrel of crude oil containing 159 L, only about 10% of it becomes jet fuel.

[00:03:36]Why airplanes don't use petrol. You might naturally wonder why airplanes do not use a highly powerful fuel like petrol. The primary reason is that petrol evaporates very quickly, making it highly volatile. At high altitudes of around 10 km, the atmospheric pressure is extremely low. In such conditions, petrol rapidly turns into vapor and creates bubbles within the fuel pipes, a dangerous issue known as vapor lock. To put it simply, if you try drinking water through a straw that is full of air bubbles, the water won't flow smoothly.

[00:04:08]The exact same problem happens inside an airplane's engine. For the engine to run properly, liquid fuel must flow continuously without any blockages. Gas bubbles would disrupt this flow, potentially causing the engine to stall mid-air and leading to massive disasters. The safety and high flash point of kerosene. Another major reason for using kerosene is that it is significantly safer than petrol, primarily due to its higher flash point.

[00:04:34]A flash point is the lowest temperature at which a fuel's vapors can catch fire if exposed to a spark. For instance, if you place a little petrol in a cup, even the tiniest spark will ignite it because its flash point is a very low -43°C.

[00:04:48]This means it can easily catch fire even in freezing environments. In contrast, kerosene's flash point is above 38°C.

[00:04:57]Because of this, it does not evaporate or ignite nearly as easily. If you want kerosene vapors to catch fire, you have to heat the liquid considerably first, making it much safer to handle. Massive fuel loads and freezing temperatures. To understand the risk, consider the sheer amount of fuel planes carry. A large commercial airplane can hold about 180,000 L of fuel. A flight from New York to Tokyo alone requires nearly 100 tons of fuel, which makes up roughly a third of the plane's entire takeoff weight. If this massive amount of fuel were as highly flammable as petrol, any minor accident would be catastrophic.

[00:05:33]Furthermore, airplanes face extreme cold at high altitudes, where outside temperatures can drop to between -40°C and -60°C.

[00:05:42]If the fuel freezes, it turns into a a substance and stops flowing into the engine. Jet fuel is specially formulated so that it won't freeze even at minus 47° C, ensuring a smooth and steady flow regardless of the freezing conditions outside. Kerosene as an engine coolant.

[00:05:59]In short, the fuel used in aviation is not your ordinary household kerosene. It is a highly specialized purified jet fuel. Beyond just powering the aircraft, this fuel serves another vital function.

[00:06:11]It acts as a coolant. Jet engines generate intense heat, easily exceeding 1,000° C right before the fuel is ignited. If the engine isn't cooled down, its metal components could literally melt. To prevent this, the freezing cold fuel from the tanks is first circulated through pipes wrapped around the hottest parts of the engine.

[00:06:30]The fuel absorbs the extreme heat, much like water cools down a car engine, cooling the metal parts before the fuel itself flows into the combustion chamber to be burned.

[00:06:39]Why kerosene isn't sold at petrol pumps.

[00:06:42]Finally, you might ask why we cannot simply buy kerosene at regular petrol pumps like we do with petrol and diesel.

[00:06:48]The reasons behind this are largely economic and administrative. In India, kerosene is a heavily controlled product. The government heavily subsidizes it and distributes it through ration shops, so that ordinary citizens can afford it for cooking and lighting.

[00:07:02]If it was sold openly at pumps, it would create a massive financial burden for the government. Moreover, because kerosene is much cheaper than diesel, there is a high risk of adulteration, unscrupulous people illegally mixing it with diesel to make a higher profit. To prevent this illegal mixing and to protect vehicle engines from being ruined by bad fuel, the government strictly regulates and restricts the sale. As options like cooking gas, LPG, and induction cookers have become more popular, the overall demand for kerosene has decreased. Because of this drop in demand, storing and maintaining stocks of kerosene at public fuel stations is no longer profitable for the pumps.

[00:07:38]I hope you now have a clear understanding of how kerosene is made and why it is used as aviation fuel. If you are hearing about these facts for the first time or if you have any thoughts on the use of kerosene, don't forget to drop your thoughts in the comments. We will be back soon with another informative video. Until then, goodbye.