Re "synthetic" kerosene:
I will try to answer this although I need to state I have no connection to the product Klean Heat or the petroleum industry so I am surmising. I do have experience as a chemist in the environmental side of petroleum products.
What is meant by "synthetic" oil? I have to admit I was puzzled by this when I first came across it--how can something that must be made from petroleum (that is, "crude" oil) be synthetic? What is it made out of? Air? Water? The answer in simple terms is that rather than "breaking down" crude oil in a refinery into less complex components "synthetic" is made by building up components into more complex substances. What this accomplishes is a much greater level of purity. When you are breaking down and/or distilling heavier oils into lighter oils you can't easily (or at least cheaply) avoid a certain amount of impurities remaining in the mix (the reason for the historical presence of sulfur compounds in diesel). However, if you produce lighter individual components, such as with 4 carbons, they are easier to purify and then take these lighter components and build them up into heavier components, such as with 12 carbons. You can be very selective in what you use as your "ingredients."
You probably know what a chromatogram is if you've watched the various CSI shows. It "fingerprints" the unique composition of mixtures of organics. Well, a chromatogram of a "synthetic" oil doesn't look like a fingerprint at all--it is pretty much like one for a single substance, or only of a few whereas the chomatogram of a "normal" oil is obviously a mixture of dozens if not hundreds of substances--all those "peaks" each indicating a different component in the mixture.
Thus, my best guess is that if Klean Heat says they are "synthetic kerosene" that means they've constructed the hydrocarbon to be the same structure as the most common structure or structures of kerosene (kerosene is a range of hydrocarbons, just as diesel is) without all the minor components in "refined" kerosene.
I'd say, if they accomplished mimicking the refined kerosene without the minor components, it is less likely to produce the unwanted products of combustion and thus, in theory, better for air quality and probably for the device doing the combustion. A particular bad product of combustion are the acids which may corrode anything that has to deal with residue of combustion. Whether or not that is needed for the Wallas products, I have no idea but I'd rely on the advice of people who are familiar with the servicing to provide their experience.
So, put all this in your pipe and smoke it.
Steve in Olympia[/i]
I will try to answer this although I need to state I have no connection to the product Klean Heat or the petroleum industry so I am surmising. I do have experience as a chemist in the environmental side of petroleum products.
What is meant by "synthetic" oil? I have to admit I was puzzled by this when I first came across it--how can something that must be made from petroleum (that is, "crude" oil) be synthetic? What is it made out of? Air? Water? The answer in simple terms is that rather than "breaking down" crude oil in a refinery into less complex components "synthetic" is made by building up components into more complex substances. What this accomplishes is a much greater level of purity. When you are breaking down and/or distilling heavier oils into lighter oils you can't easily (or at least cheaply) avoid a certain amount of impurities remaining in the mix (the reason for the historical presence of sulfur compounds in diesel). However, if you produce lighter individual components, such as with 4 carbons, they are easier to purify and then take these lighter components and build them up into heavier components, such as with 12 carbons. You can be very selective in what you use as your "ingredients."
You probably know what a chromatogram is if you've watched the various CSI shows. It "fingerprints" the unique composition of mixtures of organics. Well, a chromatogram of a "synthetic" oil doesn't look like a fingerprint at all--it is pretty much like one for a single substance, or only of a few whereas the chomatogram of a "normal" oil is obviously a mixture of dozens if not hundreds of substances--all those "peaks" each indicating a different component in the mixture.
Thus, my best guess is that if Klean Heat says they are "synthetic kerosene" that means they've constructed the hydrocarbon to be the same structure as the most common structure or structures of kerosene (kerosene is a range of hydrocarbons, just as diesel is) without all the minor components in "refined" kerosene.
I'd say, if they accomplished mimicking the refined kerosene without the minor components, it is less likely to produce the unwanted products of combustion and thus, in theory, better for air quality and probably for the device doing the combustion. A particular bad product of combustion are the acids which may corrode anything that has to deal with residue of combustion. Whether or not that is needed for the Wallas products, I have no idea but I'd rely on the advice of people who are familiar with the servicing to provide their experience.
So, put all this in your pipe and smoke it.
Steve in Olympia[/i]