What Are the Environmental Impacts of Using Kerosene?

Kerosene, a combustible hydrocarbon liquid derived from petroleum, is commonly used for heating and lighting in addition to less common applications such as a transportation fuel (particularly in aircraft) and for cooking. Although favored by some public health experts for being less combustible than gasoline and cleaner-burning than coal, kerosene as a fossil fuel still has significant environmental impacts.

Extraction and Refinement

• As a crude oil derivative, the life-cycle of kerosene involves an elaborate and energy-intensive production process. Oil drilling threatens several fragile ecosystems and refineries use large amounts of energy and often release toxic by-products into the air and water. Although accidents are rare in the oil and gas industry, incidents like oil spills and accidental discharges into subterranean water can have catastrophic long-term effects on ecosystems and public health in the affected areas. As a global commodity, oil and oil derivatives are also often transported across thousands of miles, increasing the energy use and environmental footprint of commercially available kerosene.

Combustion

• The combustion of kerosene releases heavy concentrations of particulate matter. Although cleaner-burning than fossil fuels such as coal and sometimes available in low-sulfur mixtures that at least reduce the toxicity of particulate pollution, kerosene smoke still contains significant particulate emissions and can cause severe respiratory diseases if inhaled by humans or animals. Kerosene is a very common cooking and lighting fuel in poor areas like rural India, where kerosene mixtures tend to be less pure and can release even higher concentrations of particulate matter. Like all combustion reactions, kerosene burning can also release carbon monoxide, a fatal gas that accumulates in closed areas.

Toxicity

• Kerosene is highly toxic to human and animal life. Even limited exposure can cause irritation to the skin, eyes and mucus membranes. Long-term exposure can cause advanced toxicity symptoms like vomiting, nausea and headache, even becoming fatal in the case of prolonged exposure to high concentrations or ingestion. As with benzene, some laboratory evidence indicates that certain elements in kerosene solutions can even be lightly carcinogenic in prolonged exposure situations.

Global Warming

• Like other fossil fuels kerosene releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that stores heat when it accumulates in the atmosphere, during combustion. A growing global scientific consensus indicates that human burning of fossil fuels is responsible for an appreciable global warming trend in the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists also suspect that the burning of fossil fuels and the acceleration of this warming trend could lead to significant global environmental and social impacts, including increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters, acceleration of desertification, habitat loss and sea level increases.