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Paraffin, often called kerosene, is a highly adaptable product in liquid and solid forms. It has been a staple in various industries across the UK, serving purposes that range from heating and lighting to cosmetic and medical applications. With such a diverse range of uses, Paraffin has become a vital resource for households and businesses. Let’s explore what makes Paraffin versatile and its many practical applications.
Paraffin is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid called paraffin oil or kerosene. Extracted through the distillation of petroleum, Paraffin is composed of hydrocarbons with the formula CnH2n+2. Its forms can vary: lighter hydrocarbons are gaseous at room temperature, while heavier ones can be liquid or solid.
Unlike gasoline, Paraffin is less volatile and boils between 150°C and 275°C, making it a safer and more stable option for various uses. While Paraffin was initially costly to produce, advancements in refining methods have made it an affordable and widely available resource.
The journey of Paraffin began in 1830 when German chemist Carl Reichenbach first produced paraffin wax. It was a revolutionary development in candle making, as Paraffin offered a cleaner, more consistent burn than tallow candles. Over time, the addition of stearic acid improved its melting point, making it even more practical for everyday use.
During the 20th century, the rise of the meatpacking and petroleum industries led to a surge in paraffin production. By-products from these industries became valuable resources for creating Paraffin and stearic acid.
Paraffin’s versatility has cemented its role in several industries. Here’s a breakdown of some of its most common applications:
Heating and Lighting: Paraffin is a dependable heating oil for off-the-grid homes and industrial buildings. It is also used in oil lamps, providing light in areas that have no access to electricity.
Cosmetics and Beauty: Liquid Paraffin is a popular ingredient in beauty products, particularly for skin treatments. It helps moisturise, soften, and rejuvenate the skin. In salons, paraffin wax treatments for hands and feet open pores, remove dead skin cells and improve skin texture.
Candle Making and Wax Products: Paraffin wax, a solid form of Paraffin, is widely used to make candles, crayons, and petroleum jelly. Its clean-burning properties and affordability make it a preferred material for high-quality candles.
Medical Applications: Highly refined liquid Paraffin is used in medicine as a laxative and base in certain ointments and creams. Its inert nature makes it suitable for sensitive uses.
Fuel for Engines: Paraffin is a fuel for jet and tractor engines owing to its efficiency and ability to burn cleanly.
Industrial Uses: Paraffin is commonly used as a solvent, hydraulic fluid, and coolant in various industrial systems.
Paraffin production begins with lubricating oil refining. The key material, slack wax, a mixture of oil and wax, is subjected to a dewaxing process. It involves heating, mixing with solvents, and cooling, which separates the wax and oil.
The resulting wax can be processed further to remove impurities, odours, and unwanted colours. Paraffin is supplied in either liquid or solid form, depending on the refinement level. Fully refined paraffin wax has a lower oil content, making it suitable for more specialised applications like cosmetics and food-grade products.
Paraffin remains a reliable and cost-effective resource in today’s world. Here are some reasons why it continues to be widely used:
Affordable Heating Solution: Paraffin oil is economical for heating homes and commercial spaces, particularly in rural areas.
Eco-Friendly Options: Modern paraffin products often include additives to reduce emissions and odours, making them safer for indoor use.
Suitable for Beauty Treatments: Paraffin wax’s low melting point makes it easy and safe to use for treatments in spas and salons.
Medical Use: Liquid Paraffin’s purity and non-reactive nature make it a go-to choice for pharmaceutical products.
While Paraffin and kerosene are often used interchangeably, especially in the UK, there are subtle differences. Paraffin generally refers to the more refined form of kerosene, making it suitable for indoor use in lamps and stoves. Conversely, kerosene is a broader term used globally and is often employed for heating systems and jet engines. Both fuels are clean-burning and efficient, but Paraffin’s refinement gives it a slight edge for sensitive applications, such as cosmetics and household lighting.
Kerosene is a flammable, combustible hydrocarbon liquid derived from petroleum that has been used for centuries worldwide. It is obtained from crude oil through fractional distillation and is used as fuel, degreaser, and solvent.
Uses:
Kerosene is ideally used in the UK relative to paraffin, as these terms interchangeably refer to the same product. However, paraffin is a more refined and distilled option than one better suited for indoor uses. It is translucent and allows light to pass, partially making it ideal for candles and cosmetic products.
Paraffin and diesel have different compositions and properties. Diesel is a mixture of carbon chains produced by refining crude oil. Paraffins are favourable diesel fuel components, which normally have a very high cetane number, but parrafin is made without naphthenes, aromatics, and oxygen. Parrafins can be produced from various processes from renewable feedstocks and fossils such as natural gas, vegetable oils and fats. Diesel fuel vehicles are a major source of harmful materials.
Paraffin is a multifaceted product that has found its way into countless aspects of modern life. Whether it’s warming homes, powering engines, enhancing your beauty, or serving medical purposes, this remarkable substance continues to prove its worth. Paraffin’s adaptability, affordability, and availability make it an indispensable resource for households and industries. From candles to jet fuel, its uses are as varied as vital.
If you want to store more than the allowed limit of oil at your commercial property, you must follow some strict regulations for this purpose.
For commercial purposes, you can store these types of oils:
To store oil for commercial purposes, the following tanks are allowed to be used:
The oil tank should be stored below ground or on the floor level and should not be stored above the roof level. It should be installed in a place that can be easily accessed for refilling and maintenance. Its place of storage should also be free of damage due to any sort of impact.
You are required to check your oil tank at least once every two weeks to detect potential issues in their early phases. It would help if you inspected the entire tank to look for signs of corrosion or deterioration along the pipework and the tank. If you notice an abrupt change in the level of stored fuel, there might be a leakage issue.
Moreover, you should run full system maintenance every year before the beginning of the heating season. This helps you ensure the facility’s safe usage throughout the season. Furthermore, you should fill the tank only up to 90% of its total capacity, leaving enough room for thermal expansion.
The tank should be strong enough to fulfil the intended purpose of use and installed in a place where it can be filled easily with convenient maintenance. The tank must have a secondary containment to ensure there is no leakage in case of any failure. It should be kept 10m and 50m away from coastal and fresh water and drinking water sources, respectively. Moreover, OFS T100 and OFS T200 Firing Equipment Standards must be fulfilled if polyethylene and steel tanks are being used for storage purposes, respectively.
When storing oil for domestic or commercial use, you should prioritise safety to avoid potential leakage and other damaging issues. The following are some of the connections and fittings that can be utilised with an oil tank for maintaining safety standards:
These containments prove to be helpful in case of oil leakage from the tank. For commercial oil storage facilities, these types of secondary containments are commonly utilised:
A gauge is needed to help you refill tanks without overfilling or spillages. It is present within the secondary containment and should be adequately supported by fitting a valve that automatically shuts down when not used. The gauge must be made from non-sparking material, such as a dip rod.
For commercial oil tanks, painted steel pipes are used to minimise the risk of corrosion. On the other hand, domestic oil tanks have plastic-coated copper pipes that are flexible enough to be bent easily. It is suggested to install pipework above ground so that it can be easily accessed and leakage can be located conveniently.
This type of connection allows you to fill your tank from somewhere outside the secondary containment. For this purpose, you should utilise a drip tray to catch any leaks and spills.
The pumps must be installed away from the fuel delivery routes and outside any secondary containment unit. It should be installed in the open air for safety and should be locked within a casing to avoid damage when it is not in use.
The delivery pipe must be stored in a safe and secure location and attached to a drip tray. It can also be placed inside the secondary bund to ensure its safety. You must ensure that the valve is closed at the input end before it is used, and an automatic cut-off system can also be fixed with the delivery pipe for efficient performance.
If your fuel storage tank is fitted in a way that it cannot be easily viewed during refilling, you can use certain devices to prevent overfill. These devices work either by cutting off the supply or sending an alert with the help of an alarm or a fixed probe present inside the storage tank.
These devices can be used to prevent overfill:
You should ensure that the fixed couplings and screws are not eroded and there is no debris on them to avoid any harm to the entire storage system.
Valves are one of the most significant safety features of an oil storage tank, as they cut off the supply in case of fire or leakage. They should be installed outside the tank, where it is easily visible during tank filling. They should be automatic and can be closed with the help of remote sensors. Moreover, the taps, valves, or vent pipes attached to the oil tank must be present inside the secondary containment so that there is no risk of pollution due to oil leakage in any case.
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