Kerosene is a flammable liquid mixture of chemicals that are produced in the distillation of crude oil. They are treated mainly for reducing aromatic content to increase their smoke point (height of a smokeless flame) and hydrofining to reduce sulphur content and to improve odour, colour & burning qualities (char value).

Kerosene is used as a domestic fuel for heating / lighting and also for manufacture of insecticides/herbicides/fungicides to control pest, weeds and fungi. Since kerosene is less volatile than gasoline, increase in its evaporation rate in domestic burners is achieved by increasing surface area of the oil to be burned and by increasing its temperature. The two types of burners which achieve this fall into two categories namely vaporisers & atomisers.