Kerosene

Basics

• A Liquid Fuel Between Diesel Fuel and Heavy Fuel Oil
• Energy Dense, Relatively Safe (Compared to more volatile fuels like Gasoline etc ), and stores well
• Main disadvantages are Sooty Flame (outside of more controlled combustion like in Gas Turbines or Forced Air Burners etc), long term Tank Sludge Formation (although impact of refining/“grade” of kerosene, and tank rust prevention is worth investigating), and cleanup being a major consideration ( Gasoline to an extent, but ESPECIALLY E-85 , Fuel Alcohols and LPG all evaporate or dissipate near instantly making cleanup largely unnecessary (Although Flame Risk + Exposure to VOCs etc may be relevant issues as the fuel evaporates), anything below gasoline will contaminate Soil/Water)

Grades

Heating/Lighting Kerosene

• 1K (maximum sulfur content of 0.04%) (check for ppm / specific regulations etc)
• 2K (maximum sulfur content of 0.30%) (ditto)

Civil Aviation Fuel

• Jet A
• Jet A-1
• Jet B
  • This is supposedly more like Naphtha (ie more in-between Kerosene and Gasoline)

Military Jet Fuel Standards

• JP-5
• JP-8
• Unsure on this, most articles lead to old sulfur rating classes, as with Off Road Diesel (if I understand correctly) they are all hltra-low sulfur like Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel
• HOWEVER Jet Fuel (JP-5 / JP-8 etc) / “Aviation Turbine Fuel” and Rocket Fuel (RP-1) do seem to be more “refined” (RP-1 Especially)
• What Whitegas / “Coleman Fuel” are is another thing to look into

Sourcing

Canned Fuel

Home Depot

• Klean Strip: 1-K Heater Fuel Kerosene 2.5 Gallon (~30 USD as of this edit)
• Klean Strip: 1-K Kerosene Heater Fuel 1 Gallon (~11 USD as of this edit)

Tractor Supply Co

• Crown KE.P.01 1-K Fuel-Grade Kerosene, 1 gal (~13 USD as of this edit)

Walmart

• Crown 1-K Kerosene, Clean Burning Fuel, 1 Gallon, Plastic Container (~12 USD as of this edit)

From the Pump

• Doesn’t seem to be a website (akin to the DOE Alternative Fuels Map), so check blogposts, ask around, and be on the lookout seems to be the only ways

Uses

Small Kerosene Powered Devices

• Simple Wick Lamps, although Lamp Oil ‘’may’’ be more complex (or may just be marketing)
• In Kerosene Mantle Lanterns although Propane is far easier
  • Whitegas / “Coleman Fuel” is a related concept
• Kerosene Heaters
• Kerosene Stoves / Liquid Fuel Stoves
• Kerosene Blowtorches / Liquid Fuel Blowtorches
• More of a historical curiosity/example of Stirling Engines in use BUT Kerosene Fans

As a Large Scale Fuel

• Diesel Engines (potentially, double check)
• For Babington Burner / Forced Air type burners, either for Process Heat such as in a forge, or for Steam in a Boiler / other liquids in a Direct Fired Process Heater etc
• In Gas Turbines (either as a generator, or in Aviation use)

Internal Links

• Diesel Fuel vs Kerosene vs Fuel Oil
• Bio-Kerosene

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Kerosene
• A 2022 Paper Titled “Formulation of 7-Component Surrogate Mixtures for Military Jet Fuel and Testing in Diesel Engine”
  • Essentially made JP-5 “from scratch” using pure/near pure chemicals
  • May not have met any Anti-Icing / Anti-Static Additive Criteria (Re Fuel Additives ), it was largely focused on Flash Point , Combustion Behavior, and Vaporization/Distillation characteristics
  • Flame Extinction Limits
    • Relevant to Flameholders in Gas Turbine Combustors and to a certain extent Pressure Stoves etc