Coal oil

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Cannel coal of the Pennsylvanian subperiod from NE Ohio used to produce coal oil CannelCoalWhite.jpg
Cannel coal of the Pennsylvanian subperiod from NE Ohio used to produce coal oil

Coal oil is a shale oil obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal, mineral wax, or bituminous shale, once used widely for illumination. [1]

Contents

Chemically similar to the more refined, petroleum-derived kerosene, it consists mainly of several hydrocarbons of the alkane series, with 10 to 16 carbon atoms in each molecule, with a boiling point of 175 °C to 325 °C (347 °F to 617 °F), higher than gasoline or the petroleum ethers, and lower than the oils.

Because kerosene was first derived from cannel coal, classified as terrestrial type of oil shale, [2] it continued to be popularly referred to as "coal oil" even after production shifted to petroleum as a feedstock. [3] [4] [5] Refined hydrocarbons of the alkane series with 10 to 16 carbon atoms are the same thing whether taken from coal or petroleum.

History

James Young's Addiewell Works in West Lothian Addiewell Works West Lothian.jpg
James Young's Addiewell Works in West Lothian

The term was in use by the late 18th century for oil produced as a by-product of the production of coal gas and coal tar. [6] In the early 19th century, it was discovered that coal oil distilled from cannel coal could be used in lamps as an illuminant, although the early coal oil burned with a smokey flame, so that it was used only for outdoor lamps; cleaner-burning whale oil was used in indoor lamps. [7]

Coal oil that burned cleanly enough to compete with whale oil as an indoor illuminant was first produced in 1850 on the Union Canal in Scotland by James Young, who patented the process. Production thrived in Scotland, making Young a very wealthy man.

In Addiewell, West Lothian, Young built a substantial industrial complex for separating petroleum from various oil shales, including cannel coal. In its time it was one of the largest chemical works in Scotland. Construction began in 1866. Addiewell remained the centre of operations for Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Co. Ltd., but as local supplies of bituminous shale became exhausted, activities were increasingly focussed on other shale-fields. The refinery closed around 1921.

In the United States, coal oil was widely manufactured in the 1850s under the trade name Kerosene, manufactured by a process invented by Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner. Young won his patent lawsuit against the Gesner process in the United States in 1860. But by that time, US coal oil distillers were switching over to refining cheaper petroleum, after the discovery of abundant petroleum in western Pennsylvania in 1859, and oil from coal operations ceased in the US.

Uses

Lighting

Coal oil was used to provide lighting. [8] [9]

Medicinal use

Coal oil was once used as an internal and topical home remedy as a general cure-all for many ailments, including coughs, flu, cuts, abrasions, and wounds. Internal applications were administered by adding the toxic petroleum product to sugar cubes, molasses, honey or some other substance to mask the taste, while topical applications were applied by adding it to bandages or by pouring the coal oil directly on the affected area. [10]

"Pale sulfonated shale oil" (PSSO), a sulfonated and ammonia neutralized variant named "Ichthammol" (chemical: Ammonium bituminosulfonate) is still in application today. [11]

Culinary use of the term

The term "coal oil" is sometimes used in the context of food; it is not mineral coal oil as discussed in this article, but edible vegetable oil infused with wood-derived charcoal for flavour. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from Greek: κηρός (kērós) meaning "wax", and was registered as a trademark by Nova Scotia geologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a generic trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum</span> Naturally occurring combustible liquid

Petroleum or crude oil, also referred to as simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that consist of refined crude oil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil shale</span> Organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen

Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitutes inorganic substance and bitumens. Based on their deposition environment, oil shales are classified as marine, lacustrine and terrestrial oil shales. Oil shales differ from oil-bearing shales, shale deposits that contain petroleum that is sometimes produced from drilled wells. Examples of oil-bearing shales are the Bakken Formation, Pierre Shale, Niobrara Formation, and Eagle Ford Formation. Accordingly, shale oil produced from oil shale should not be confused with tight oil, which is also frequently called shale oil.

Naphtha is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the fractional distillation of coal tar and peat. In some industries and regions, the name naphtha refers to crude oil or refined petroleum products such as kerosene or diesel fuel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Pineo Gesner</span> New Brunswick and Nova Scotian physician and geologist (1797–1864)

Abraham Pineo Gesner, ONB was a Nova Scotian and New Brunswickan physician and geologist who invented kerosene. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and lived much of his life in Saint John, New Brunswick. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was an influential figure in the development of the study of Canadian geology and natural history.

Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Young (chemist)</span> Scottish chemist

James Young FRS FRSE FCS DL LLD was a Scottish chemist best known for his method of distilling paraffin from coal and oil shales. He is often referred to as Paraffin Young.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albertite</span> Variety of asphalt

Albertite is a variety of asphalt found in the Albert Formation in Albert County, New Brunswick, and in a deposit at Dingwall, in the north-east of Scotland. It is a type of solid hydrocarbon.

Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil.

Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word traan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Addiewell</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Addiewell is a former mining village in the Scottish council area of West Lothian. Historically it lies within the County of Midlothian. A new prison, HMP Addiewell, opened in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum seep</span> Place where natural hydrocarbons escape

A petroleum seep is a place where natural liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the Earth's atmosphere and surface, normally under low pressure or flow. Seeps generally occur above either terrestrial or offshore petroleum accumulation structures. The hydrocarbons may escape along geological layers, or across them through fractures and fissures in the rock, or directly from an outcrop of oil-bearing rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannel coal</span> Type of bituminous coal or oil shale

Cannel coal or candle coal is a type of bituminous coal, also classified as terrestrial type oil shale. Due to its physical morphology and low mineral content cannel coal is considered to be coal but by its texture and composition of the organic matter it is considered to be oil shale. Although historically the term cannel coal has been used interchangeably with boghead coal, a more recent classification system restricts cannel coal to terrestrial origin, and boghead coal to lacustrine environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilley lamp</span> Pressurized kerosene lamps made by the Tilley company in the UK

The Tilley lamp is a kerosene pressure lamp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the petroleum industry</span>

While the local use of oil goes back many centuries, the modern petroleum industry along with its outputs and modern applications are of a recent origin. Petroleum's status as a key component of politics, society, and technology has its roots in the coal and kerosene industry of the late 19th century. One of the earliest instances of this is the refining of paraffin from crude oil. Abraham Gesner developed a process to refine a liquid fuel from coal, bitumen and oil shale; it burned more cleanly and was cheaper than whale oil. James Young in 1847 noticed a natural petroleum seepage when he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a thicker oil suitable for lubricating machinery. The world's first refineries and modern oil wells were established in the mid-19th century. While petroleum industries developed in several countries during the nineteenth century, the two giants were the United States and the Russian Empire, specifically that part of it that today forms the territory of independent Azerbaijan. Together, these two countries produced 97% of the world's oil over the course of the nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torbanite</span> Type of fine-grained black oil shale

Torbanite, also known historically as boghead coal or kerosene shale, is a variety of fine-grained black oil shale. It usually occurs as lenticular masses, often associated with deposits of Permian coals. Torbanite is classified as lacustrine type oil shale. A similar mineral, cannel coal, is classified as being a terrestrial form of oil shale, not a lacustrine type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the oil shale industry</span> Timeline of the production of oil shale

The history of the oil shale industry started in ancient times. The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction dates to the mid-19th century and started growing just before World War I because of the mass production of automobiles and trucks and the supposed shortage of gasoline for transportation needs. Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in several countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuel</span> Material used to create heat and energy

A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but has since also been applied to other sources of heat energy, such as nuclear energy.

The history of the oil shale industry in the United States goes back to the 1850s; it dates back farther as a major enterprise than the petroleum industry. But although the United States contains the world's largest known resource of oil shale, the US has not been a significant producer of shale oil since 1861. There were three major past attempts to establish an American oil shale industry: the 1850s; in the years during and after World War I; and in the 1970s and early 1980s. Each time, the oil shale industry failed because of competition from cheaper petroleum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luther Atwood</span> American chemist

Luther Atwood was an American chemist. He is known for creating new chemical products from the distillation of coal and petroleum.

References

  1. Ed Butts (2019-10-04). "The cautionary tale of whale oil". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on 2019-10-06. Retrieved 2019-10-07. This pioneering form of fossil fuel, which some called coal oil, burned cleaner and brighter than whale oil, and didn't have a pungent odour.
  2. Dyni (2006), pp. 3–4
  3. Evelyn Richardson (20 October 2009). "Here and There: Call It Coal oil or kerosene, Fuel Still Has Its Uses". Logan County (Kentucky) News-Democrat & Leader. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  4. Maris, Clarence (1921). "Lesson 4, The Coal Oil or Kerosene Lamp.". Dangers and chemistry of fire, for grammar schools. Columbus, Ohio: The F.J. Heer Printing Company. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  5. Drake, Paul (2004). "Definition of "coal oil" as common term for kerosene". What Did They Mean By That? A Dictionary of Historical and Genealogical Terms, Old and New. Heritage Books, Inc. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-7884-2500-4 . Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  6. Account of the qualities and uses of coal tar and coal varnish, Scots Magazine, May 1784, v.46 p.240-242.
  7. Frederick Accum, Description of the Process of Manufacturing Coal Gas, 2nd ed. (London: Thomas Boys, 1820) 301.
  8. N.Y.), James M. Nichols (New York; Orr, John William; Club, Rushlight (2010). Illustrated Catalogue of Lamps, Brackets, Chandeliers & Fixtures, for Coal Oil, Railroad, Steamboat, and House Lanterns. Rushlight Club.
  9. Wetherill, Charles Mayer (1860). On the relative cost of illumination in Lafayette, Ind. American gas-light journal.
  10. Mulvany J (1869). "Coal-Oil as a Medicinal Agent". Br Med J. 1 (430): 280–1. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.430.280. PMC   2259581 . PMID   20745467.
  11. Boyd, Alan S. (July 2010). "Ichthammol revisited: Ichthammol revisited". International Journal of Dermatology. 49 (7): 757–760. doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2010.04551.x. PMID   20618493. S2CID   7367995.
  12. "Simon Rogan's Recipes- Mackerel in coal oil with vintage beetroot, Mustard & fennel" (PDF). Four Magazine. p. 2. Article describes how to make [char]coal oil,