TARANAKI OIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 116, 16 May 1906, Page 7

TARANAKI OIL.

Mr. D. Teed, chemist, of Newmarket, has received a sample of the crude material ac it exudes from the bore hole at Taranaki. The sample in question was obtained on Sunday last. Mr. Teed has treated the substance, and has obtained some interesting specimens ot the various by-products obtainable from it. The crude material is a tbickish brown slime, about the consistency of ordinary household tar. This was treated by fractional distillation, and the following by-products were obtained: (a) Petroleum spirit or benzoline; (b) ordinary household kerosene; (c) liquid paraffin or albplene (the substance from which medical emulsions are prepared); (d) soft paraffin or vaseline; (c) hard paraffin.

Fractional distillation, is a process whereby substances which are found aseociated in nature may be separated by taking advantage of their different boiling points. The crude material is placed in a retort, and sufficient heat induced to render the whole substance volatile. At various stages along the condensing tube are chambers kept at temperatures just below the boiling -point of the particular product to be collected. After the various volatile substances have been withdrawn a coating of white substance lines the interior of the retort. This is scraped off and pressed into blocks, .and then becomes what its commercially known as hard paraffin, or paraffin war.

The flash point of the ordinary household kerosene obtained from the Tarana.ki product is somewhat high, bizt by a simple process this can be considerably reduced-