Bbqman
ArboristSite Member
White gas. .....kerosene ... Gas Blanco
White Gas?
- Thread starter billyboy
- Start date
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Kerosene ≠ Naphtha ("White Gas")
Try putting naphtha into a diesel engine ... or kerosene into a Zippo lighter. It won't work.
There is quite a bit of aromatics, toluene and xylenes (dimethyl benzenes), some mesitylenes (trimethyl benzenes), they boost octane and are not nearly as toxic as benzene.
And they are removed from gasoline to be sold separately as feedstocks are are removed along with benzene in the BRU unit modern refineries have.
When I was younger there was an Amoco station in the closest town. They had that gas. It said Amoco White right on the pump. I used it several times in my Coleman lantern and stove.
As I understand it in certain Amish communities white gas (gas without the additives) is still sold at the pump. Per the guys at the Coleman Collectors Forum. Examples would be in the state of Indiana.
I'm pretty sure the Amoco "white gas" motor fuel sold at gas stations in the 70s (I used to work at gas stations back in the 70s, though never at an Amoco) was unleaded GASOLINE, whereas Coleman fuel ("camp fuel") was always naphtha...further confusing the whole discussion.
As far as I know, you could ALWAYS use unleaded gasoline in Coleman stoves and lanterns, but you could never run gas engines on Coleman "camp fuel," which was always naphtha, or "Zippo lighter fluid." (If you put gasoline into a Zippo lighter, yer gonna go kBOOM.)
White gas (naphtha) is a LOT safer than gasoline. The flash point of naphtha is 32 to 86°F. The flash point of gasoline is -45°F.
The whole point of designing Coleman appliances to burn naphtha rather than gasoline was because it was safer to handle.
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/flash-point-fuels-d_937.html
Try hosing down your guitar with gasoline and then setting it on fire, like Hendrix did with naphtha. You'd be incinerated.
Gasoline is so volatile that it's fairly common for it to cause explosions. Naphtha...not so much.
copen
ArboristSite Member
Here, hold my beer! 
That's probably the funniest thing I'll see today. Should be a contestant for the Darwin award.
That's probably the funniest thing I'll see today. Should be a contestant for the Darwin award.
camel2019
ArboristSite Guru
You don’t kaboom it works just fine haven’t done it too my actual zippo but have done it to a cheap knock off. Worked well and I still have my eyebrows. Using gasoline in a zippo was quite common at one time.
"Naphtha" encompasses quite a range of chemicals, yes some of which are quite a bit safer than gasoline, and not all are suitable for Coleman appliances.
Here's the Coleman fuel MSDS:
http://ferris.msdssoftware.com/ImageDir/i011DA2E.pdf
Note that the flash point is less than 0 deg F.
In actual use, it'll take your eyebrows off just as easily as gasoline will. I've gotten just as big a whompf off white gas as I have off gasoline. Any precautions you'd take handling gasoline, you'd better do with white gas.
Yeah, I learned that today. Looks like it could be "any fraction distilled from petroleum"... from bunker oil to butane.
The "camp fuel" I've handled seemed a lot more "oily"/less volatile/more like kerosene than gasoline...I guess YMMV.
You are right. Naphtha is a blanket name for everything lighter than kerosene, but heavier than gasoline. Could be composed of many different hydro carbons.
The range is much more narrow than that.
Heavier than gasoline, but lighter than kerosene.
You are correct, it was unleaded. It also had no coloring like other fuels, maybe that's where the "white" came from.
Yes. It was unleaded high octane gasoline. Pretty much clear.
Huh. This says naphtha is lighter than gasoline, which I wouldn't have expected (665 vs ~737 kg/cubic meter, respectively):
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/liquids-densities-d_743.html
They also spec the density of something called "naphtha, wood" ... WTF is that? I wonder whether Popcorn Sutton ever drank it?
There doesn't seem to be much agreement on anything regarding naphtha.
I don't care what it says. It's Heavier than Gasoline, but lighter than kerosene.
I know this because I work in oil refining.
