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Training Guidelines for the Fire Debris Analyst 

Lesson Plan (Module) 2 

Date: November 2009 Instructor: Qualified Instructor 

Subject: Chemical Composition of Petroleum Products Total Time: 9 hours 

Learning Objectives 

 Understand the history of petroleum products in relation to fire investigation. 

 Understand the importance of chemical composition of petroleum products in 

the classification and identification of ignitable liquids. 

 Understand the relationship between carbon number(s) in homologous series 

and physical properties. 

 Describe the main chemical groups of hydrocarbons and oxygenates. 

 Understand the difference between petroleum products and petroleum 

distillates. 

Suggested Reading 

1. Baum, Hill J., and R. Scott-Ennis. Chemistry and Life: An Introduction to 

General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry. Prentice-Hall, 1999. 

2. Morrison, R. T., R. N. Boyd, and R. K. Boyd. Organic Chemistry. Englewood 

Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1992. 

3. Black Gold: The Story of Oil (part of the Empires of American Industry Series) 

Video. The History Channel. 

4. Speight, J. G. The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum (Chemical 

Industries).Vols 76. New York: Marcel Dekker Inc, 1999. 

5. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology Petroleum (Refinery 

Process, Survey), and Petroleum Products. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1974. 

6. Speight, J. G., and B Ozum. Petroleum Refining Processes. New York: Marcel 

Dekker Inc, 2002. 

7. Speight, J. G., Handbook of Petroleum Analysis.John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2001. 

8. Petroleum. 25 Feb. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum>. 

9. "Composition and Refining of Petroleum." infoplease. 2004 

<http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0860338.html>. 

10. Leffler, W. L. Petroleum Refining in Non-Technical Language. Tulsa: PennWell 

Corp., 2000. 

11. Potter, Thomas, and Kathleen Simmons. Composition of Petroleum Mixtures 

(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Criteria Working Group Series). Amherst 

Scientific Publishing, May 1998. 

12. DeHaan, John D. "Our changing world. Part 1: furnishings." Fire and Arson 

Investigator (Dec. 2002): 16-17. 
Introduction 

Petroleum products constitute a high percentage of identified ignitable liquids in fire 

debris analysis. These products are generally made of complex mixtures of aliphatic and 

aromatic hydrocarbons. A knowledge of chemical compositions is fundamental in 

understanding the separation and identification of ignitable liquids from submitted 

evidence. 

Outline 

1. Alkanes 

a. Definition

 b. Properties 

c. IUPAC nomenclature for aliphatic hydrocarbons 

d. Common names of alkanes /alkyl derivatives 

e. Number of carbons vs. boiling and flash points in a homologous series 

2. Aromatics 

a. Definition

 b. Properties 

i. Resonating double bond, provides stability 

ii. Aromatic (sweet) odor 

c. Nomenclature 

i. Naming, substitute first followed by benzene or Ph, for phenyl 

ii. When more than one group is added to a ring, the name of the 

position on the ring is stated as ortho (-o), meta (-m), or para (-p) 

d. Isomers of substituted benzene rings 

e. Polynuclear aromatics 

3. Cycloalkanes 

a. Definition 

b. Properties 

c. Examples 

4. Alkenes 

a. Definition 

b. Properties 

c. Examples 

5. Alkynes 

a. Definition 

b. Properties 

c. Examples 

i. acetylene 

6. Indanes/Indenes 

a. Definition 
 

 

 

 

 b. Properties 

c. Examples 

7. Oxygenates 

a. Definition

 b. Properties 

c. Examples 

i. Alcohols 

ii. Ketones

 iii. Ethers

 iv. Fatty acids 

8. Light, Medium and Heavy Petroleum Products 

a. Definition

 b. Properties 

c. Examples 

9. Miscellaneous Products 

a. Definition

 b. Properties 

c. Examples 

 i. wax

 ii. asphalt 

iii. petroleum jelly 

iv. oils 

Teaching Aids 

Handout 

 PowerPoint presentation 

http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/1organic/coal.html#petr 

oleum 

http://www.chemistry-school.info/what_are_alkanes.htm 

Summary 

Knowledge of petroleum product chemical composition will aid laboratory examiners in 

understanding the components of the majority of ignitable liquids and how they may be 

affected by fire and suppression activities. This module serves as a refresher for basic 

organic chemistry, nomenclature and other physical properties. 

Test Questions 

1. An n-alkane is the same as: 
 a. naphthalene 

b. olefin 

c. n-paraffin 

d. indane 

2. What was the first commercial petroleum product in wide-spread use? 

a. kerosene 

b. gasoline 

c. diesel 

d. asphalt 

e. none of the above 

3. A monounsaturated hydrocarbon with 10 carbons should have how many 

 hydrogen atoms: 

a. 10 

b. 20 

c. 22 

d. 18 

4. How many double bonds does cyclohexane have? 

a. 0 

b. 1 

c. 2 

d. 3 

5. An o-disubstituted benzene ring is substituted in which positions: 

a. 1,2 

b. 1,3 

c. 1,4 

d. 2,3 

6. Which oxygenates are found in petroleum?

 a. alcohols 

b. ketones 

c. ethers 

d. none of the above 

7. Indene is a flammable polycyclic hydrocarbon with a structure composed of: 

a. one benzene ring fused with a cyclopentene ring 

b. one cyclohexane ring fused with a cyclopentene ring 

c. two fused benzene rings 

d. one benzene ring fused with a cyclohexene ring 

8. Place the following in ascending order of boiling range: 

a. asphalt, wax, heating oil, petroleum jelly 

b. heating oil, petroleum jelly, wax, asphalt 
 

 c. heating oil, wax, petroleum jelly, asphalt 

d. petroleum jelly, heating oil, asphalt, wax