The main uses of petroleum naphtha fall into the
general areas of (1) precursor to gasoline and
other liquid fuels, (2) solvents (diluents) for
paints, (3) dry-cleaning solvents, (4) solvents
for cutback asphalts, (5) solvents in rubber
industry, and (6) solvents for industrial
extraction processes.
The key difference between naphtha and gasoline
is that the naphtha describes the more volatile
forms of petroleum whereas gasoline is a
petroleum-derived fuel. … Gasoline, on the
other hand, is a fuel that contains hydrocarbons
containing around 4 to 12 carbon atoms per each
Most plastics use naphtha as main raw material.
… Naphtha is further decomposed thermally
and separated utilizing the difference in the
boiling point (temperature at which the phase
change from liquid to gas occurs) to form
ethylene and propylene, which are the raw
materials for plastics.
Shale naphtha is obtained by the distillation of
oil produced from bituminous shale by
destructive distillation. Petroleum naphtha is a
name used primarily in the United States for
petroleum distillate containing principally
aliphatic hydrocarbons and boiling higher than
gasoline and lower than kerosene.