Paraffin, or paraffin hydrocarbon, is also the technical name for an Alkane in general, but in most cases it refers specifically to a linear, or normal Alkane whereas branched, or Iso Alkanes are also called ISO paraffin.

It is distinct from the fuel known in the United Kingdom , Ireland and South Africa as paraffin oil or just paraffin, which is called Koresen in most of the u.s., Canada, Australia and new Zealand.

Paraffin wax was first produced commercially in 1867, less than 10 years after the first petroleum well was drilled. Paraffin wax precipitates readily from petroleum on chilling.

Technical progress has served only to make the separations and filtration more efficient and economical. Purification methods consist of chemical treatment, de-colorization by adsorbents, and fractionation of the separated waxes into grades by distillation, recrystallization, or both. Crude oils differ widely in wax content. sales3 at paraffinco dot com.