Kerosene compound cracking

The saturates remain the major component in the mid-distillate fractions of petroleum but aromatics, which now include simple compounds with up to three aromatic rings, and heterocyclic compounds are present and represent a larger portion of the total. Kerosene, jet fuel and diesel fuel are all derived from middle distillate fractions and can also be obtained from cracked and hydropro-cessed refinery streams. 

Kerosene, because of its use as burning oil, must be free of aromatic and unsaturated hydrocarbons as well as free of the more obnoxious sulfur compounds. The desirable constituents of kerosene are saturated hydrocarbons, and it is for this reason that kerosene is manufactured as a straight-run fraction, not by a cracking process. 

Jet A or A-l or JP8 (US Air Force) - a kerosene used by the world s airlines. These fuels are essentially a fraction distilled from crude oil mixed with some cracked material. Jet A fuels consist of 70-90% saturated hydrocarbons, 10-20% aromatics, but up to 30% aromatics in kerosenes. Sulfur compounds and alkenes are removed by hydrotreating. Jet fuels, like kerosenes comprise hydrocarbons in the C8-C17 range but the majority are found in the C10-C14 range. 

The example of the petrochemical industry, which provides the model for the biorefinery, offers an interesting illustration. The petrochemical industry did not start by identifying exact structures of compounds wanted from the crude oil raw material. Rather, the product slate developed as fundamental research was carried out on crude oil to find those broad technologies most applicable to the properties of the raw material, and identifying the structures most easily made from these technologies. Kerosene production led to thermal cracking, steam... 

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