Ligroin Explained

Ligroin is the petroleum fraction consisting mostly of C₇ and C₈ hydrocarbons and boiling in the range 90‒140 °C (194–284 °F). The fraction is also called heavy naphtha.^[1] Ligroin is used as a laboratory solvent. Products under the name ligroin can have boiling ranges as low as 60‒80 °C and may be called light naphtha.

The name ligroin (or ligroine or ligroïne) appeared as early as 1866.^[2]

Standards

Ligroin is assigned the CAS Registry Number 8032-32-4, which is also applied to many other products, particularly the lower boiling ones, called petroleum spirit, petroleum ether and petroleum benzine.

Use as fuel

Ligroin was used to refuel the world's first production automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, on a long distance journey between Mannheim and Pforzheim. Bertha Benz added ligroin to the vehicle at a pharmacy in Wiesloch, making it the first filling station in history.

The first functional diesel engine could also run on ligroin.^[3]

See also

• White spirit

References

• Book: Budavari. Susan. The Merck index an encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals. 1990. Merck. Rahway, NJ. 091191028X. 864. 11th. ed., 2. print.. registration.

Notes and References

1. "Chemistry of Hazardous Materials, Third Edition", Meyer, E., Prentice Hall, 1998, page 458.
2. The name "ligroin" was coined in the United States:
   • Book: Heppe . G. . Klemens Merck's Warenlexikon für Handel, Industrie und Gewerbe . Klemens Merck's dictionary of commodities for commerce, industry, and trade . 1890 . G. A. Gloeckner . Leipzig, Germany . 349 . German. From p. 349: "Ligroine; der in Amerika erfundene Name für einen der flüchtigeren Teile des rohen Petroleums, … " (Ligroin: the name that was coined in America for one of the more volatile parts of crude petroleum, …)

   Early use in English:

   • (Editorial staff) . Polytechnic Association of the American Institute . The American Artisan and Patent Record. 24 October 1866 . 3 . 389 . From p. 389: "Dr. Van der Weyde then exhibited some samples of the products of distillation of tar, and a safety-lamp for burning the lighter hydro-carbons, which is mainly a reproduction of the "Ligroine" lamp invented and put into the market first by C. Schreiber in Munich (Bavaria), and described in the March number of Dingler's Polytechnic Journal."
   • See also: Van der Weyde . P. H. . Uses of refuse acid of petroleum distilleries – oxydability of petroleum . The American Artisan and Patent Record . 7 November 1866 . 4 . 6 .

   Early use in German:

   • Schafhäutl . Ueber die neue Li-gro-ine- oder Petroleum-Gaslampe . Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal . 1866 . 179 . 472–475 . On the new ligroin or petroleum gas lamp . German. From p. 474: "Das einzige Gefährliche ist die Aufbewahrung des Leuchtstoffes, der sogenannten Li-gro-ine selbst. Diese Naphta oder Li-gro-ine muß, wenn in großen Quantitäten vorhanden, in wohl verschlossenen Gefäßen aufbewahrt werden." (The one danger is the storage of the lamp fuel, the so-called "ligroin" itself. This naphtha or "ligroin" must, if present in large quantities, be stored in well sealed containers.)
3. Rudolf Diesel: Die Entstehung des Dieselmotors, Springer, Berlin 1913, . p. 110