The word ‘petroleum’ is used quite loosely around the world. In fact, petroleum refers to crude oil extracted through oil wells on land or offshore. It is the basic component of petroleum products. In fact, it was several ancient civilizations like the Sumerians and Egyptians who were the first to discover petroleum.
What is Petroleum?
Since the word petroleum is used for many things, especially in the context of fuel, let’s understand what the word actually means.
The word ‘petroleum’ is a combination of two Latin words – petra (stone) and oleum (oil). This means that petroleum is a type of oil extracted from rocks. In ancient times, people used a dense, dark and slippery liquid that oozed from some rocks in different parts of the world. They used it for various purposes like medicine, lighting and making various raw products.
In today’s world, petroleum is a word that describes crude oil and various other products extracted from it. These include various types of fuels, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, fuel for weapons, and much more.
Petroleum is technically described as a fossil fuel. This means that it is made up of dead remains of plants and animals that existed on this planet millions of years ago and were buried underground by natural disasters and freaks of nature.
Over the years, these remains became highly hydrocarbon-rich complex compounds such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum, or crude oil. Therefore, it must be extracted from sources that are underwater in sea or river beds and on land.
The basic composition of crude oil is: 84 to 87 percent carbon, 11 to 14 percent hydrogen, 0.06 to 2 percent sulfur, 0.1 to 2 percent nitrogen, 0.1 to 0.2 percent oxygen, and about 0.14 percent metals and compounds.
Petroleum is also called crude oil because it has few uses unless it is refined in refineries. However, refined petroleum can be used in many ways.
In this article, I discuss various petroleum products and their uses.
Different Petroleum Products and Their Uses
In fact, petroleum or crude oil is also informally called as “black gold” and sometimes as “liquid gold”. This is because the prices of crude oil are set internationally. Crude oil is required for many things. Surely you know some uses of petroleum products which are derived from crude oil. Here I will discuss some of the common petroleum products and their uses.
Aviation Turbine Fuel
Aviation turbine fuel or ATF is used as fuel by passenger, cargo and fighter aircraft. It is a mixture of gasoline and some other components which make it suitable for use in aircraft engines. It is manufactured keeping in mind the high speed at which aircraft have to fly from one place to another.
Gasoline
This is the most common type of petroleum product. This is because it is the fuel for cars, scooters, motorcycles and other personal and commercial vehicles. In some countries like the USA, gasoline as we know it in India is also called petrol. This is the most commonly used petroleum product all over the world.
Diesel
Trucks, certain types of ships and submarines and many other commercial vehicles run on diesel, one of the most commonly used petroleum products in the world. In fact, the Indian Railways also runs locomotives or engines that run on diesel. In addition, diesel is also used to generate electricity in India and elsewhere in the world.
Kerosene
Commonly known as ‘ghaslet’ in India, kerosene is widely used for cooking and heating. It is also used as a solvent for paints and other chemicals in India. In rural areas of India as well as urban parts of the country, kerosene is commonly used in cooking stoves as a substitute for cooking gas. In addition, kerosene is also an important component of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is widely used in India for lamps, heaters, stoves, engines and lanterns. This is also one of the most common petroleum products as it is the source of energy for industries that use boilers and furnaces. Heating oil also powers juice presses, as well as machinery used in agriculture, quarrying and mining, and certain types of ships.
Napalm
Napalm is primarily used in weapons. It is a compressed, highly densified petroleum product and is extremely flammable. Incendiary bombs use napalm because it catches fire and spreads quickly across the area where it is dropped. It is used as a petroleum-based explosive in defense products, particularly bombs.
Polyurethane
You have surely used polyurethane before. It is the basic ingredient in the foam that goes into your mattresses and pillows. Not many people know that petroleum derivatives are also used to make polyurethane, which is also a common household product.
Paraffin
Paraffin is used to make candles and sometimes as fuel for vintage toys. Medical grade paraffin wax is also used to make certain beauty products and skin creams. Paraffin wax is also used to make certain types of explosives.
Naphtha
Naphtha is a very common solvent and is used to make painkillers, skin creams and beauty products, dry cleaning in laundries and other such purposes. We also get food grade naphtha which is used as a wax coating for certain products like cheese. Food grade naphtha wax can be used to coat fruits to extend their shelf life.
Naphthalene
Naphthalene is used as an insecticide and preservative. You have probably used naphthalene balls in your home. They are small white or colored round balls that are often used to keep cockroaches and other insects away. Solid room and toilet fresheners are also made by mixing naphthalene with various fragrances.
Plastic
The credit or debit card in your purse and wallet, shopping bags and sacks, and book covers are among the countless things that are made of plastic. In case you don't know, plastic is also a petroleum product. It is created when crude oil is refined by mixing certain other chemicals into pellets. These pellets go through a process that gives us the plastic we all know.
Bitumen
In India, bitumen is commonly used in the construction of roads and airport runways. Bitumen is also used for waterproofing. We can get bitumen sheets used in the construction of roofs to ensure that they are waterproof. Bitumen paper is also used to coat pipelines and electrical cables. A common name for petroleum-derived bitumen in India is "tar." But "tar" actually refers to a byproduct of charcoal.
Polyester
Who doesn't know polyester? It is a component of the clothes we wear on a daily basis. Usually, most of the clothes today are made from a blend of cotton and polyester to make wrinkle-free clothes. Polyester is widely used in the textile industry. It is also one of the most widely used petroleum products in the world.
Liquefied petroleum gas
And finally, liquefied petroleum gas or LPG, which we often use at home for cooking. LPG is a mixture of propane and butane gas produced from the processing of crude oil. These gases can be easily liquefied and delivered in cylinders or piped to homes for cooking. In most countries in the world, LPG is the main fuel for cooking.
Conclusion
As we can see from the 14 examples above, petroleum or crude oil touches almost every part of our lives. This is why petroleum is very important to humans. Crude oil itself has few uses, so it needs to be refined and processed to make other products. Fertilizers like ammonia also come from the processing of petroleum and are used on farms and orchards.