Distillation of Petroleum - Petrol, Kerosene & Tar

by Meam Wye on July 9, 2009

In the 8th century Muslim chemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latinized as Geber) invented alembic (al-inbiq) - a distillation device still used today and invented the chemical process of Pure Distillation (al-taqtir). Petrol or Gasoline was first produced from crude oil or petroleum by the muslim chemists using Distillation.

In the 9th century al-Razi (Latinized as Rhazes) was the first to produce kerosene from the distillation of petroleum. He described two method for the production of kerosene in his book 'Kitab al-Asrar' (Book of Secrets) - one using using clay as an absorbent and the other using ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac). Al-Razi also described the first kerosene lamps (naffatah) used for heating and lighting in this book.

Destructive distillation was also invented by Muslim chemists in the 8th century to produce tar from petroleum. The first city in the world to have streets paved with tar was Baghdad in the 8th century. Baghdad was the center of learning in the medieval islamic world. Tar paved roads were introduced in Europe 1000 years later in 1834 by John Henry Cassell.