Also known as: kero, kerosine
Kerosene is a distillation cut primarily made up of molecules with 9 to 12 carbon atoms. The kerosene distillation cut has a boiling range between 330 and 550F.
The primary use of kerosene is as a blend stock to make jet fuel. It can also be sold directly as kerosene fuel oil (No. 1 fuel oil), which goes by a number of names including stove oil, lamp oil, and range oil. A highly purified form of kerosene (white oil) is used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food products.
Kerosene can also be blended in significant amounts into diesel fuel.
The lighter end of the kerosene distillation cut can also be lifted into the heavy naphtha cut above to increase the volume of feed to the reformer. This is one lever that the refinery has to shift its yield away from diesel and toward gasoline.
Also, if necessary, kerosene will be used as a cutter stock to reduce the viscosity of residual fuel oil. However, this results in a significant value downgrade for kerosene, versus its other uses, so will be kept to a minimum.