Source · material
Kerosene
Part of: Indoor fuel combustion
Also: kerosine, paraffin, lamp oil, kerosene lamp, kerosene stove
A liquid petroleum fuel burned indoors in wick lamps, stoves and portable heaters. It was long counted as a step up from wood, and the measurements have since shown that a kerosene wick burning in a room is a combustion source in its own right.
Where it comes from indoors
Kerosene occupies an uncomfortable position in the fuel ladder. It is liquid, sold in small quantities, and used where electricity is unreliable and gas unaffordable, so household surveys have often grouped it with the clean fuels. Measurement does not support that grouping: a simple wick device burns at low temperature with an uncontrolled air supply, and the fine particles, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide it produces are much closer to solid fuel than to a gas burner.
Three uses give three exposure patterns. A lamp burns for hours in the evening in the room where people sit and children study. A stove burns intensely while a meal is cooked. A portable heater burns through a winter night in a closed bedroom, unvented by design.
Fuel quality adds to it: kerosene containing sulfur produces sulfur dioxide as it burns.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | median 3.3 | households with an infant · home | cross-sectional measurement study in the homes of infants in Nairobi, Kenya: 24-hour indoor and outdoor PM2.5 and continuous carbon monoxide in 48 homes, with reported combustion sources and household characteristics from questionnaires | F-0807 Kipter Indoor and outdoor fine particulate matter and carbon monoxi… (2026) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | median 116 | pregnant women · personal exposure of the pregnant woman | study of predictors of personal exposure among pregnant women in rural Rwanda: repeated 24-hour personal PM2.5, black carbon and carbon monoxide against lighting source, stove type and fuel, with best-subsets regression models | F-1012 Predictors of Personal Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter, … (2025) | machine |
| Acute respiratory infections (ARI) | OR 1.96 (0.78–4.89) | — · home | cross-sectional study of households with young children: the predominant cooking fuel related to acute respiratory infection in the two weeks before the survey, controlling for confounders | F-1698 Association of biomass fuel use with acute respiratory infec… (2014) | machine |
| Lower respiratory infections (LRI) | OR 2.50 (1.33–4.73) | — · home | case-control study of acute lower respiratory infection in young children: the household cooking fuel and the place of cooking related to infection, with the dry and the rainy season analysed separately and adjusted for household and child characteristics | F-1703 Buchner et al. Cooking and Season as Risk Factors for Acute Lower Respirato… (2015) | machine |
| Lower respiratory infections (LRI) | OR 1.56 (0.87–2.83) | — · home | case-control study of acute lower respiratory infection in young children: the household cooking fuel and the place of cooking related to infection, with the dry and the rainy season analysed separately and adjusted for household and child characteristics | F-1704 Buchner et al. Cooking and Season as Risk Factors for Acute Lower Respirato… (2015) | machine |
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Identifiers
- MeSH
- D007648
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Kerosene. Coridum Knowledge G-0153, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0153/