What is Propane gas and its uses?

Propane is a colourless, odourless, and easily liquefied gas. Its chemical formulae are C3H8.it naturally occurs as a gas at standard atmospheric pressure. But it can be liquefied if under pressure. Therefore Propane is sometimes known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).it is stored and transported in its liquid form in large tanks and cylinders. Because it is an odourless gas, an identifying odour is added so it can be detected as it is flammable and explosion hazard.

How does it produce?

Propane comes from two ways, natural gas processing, and petroleum refining. A large amount of propane gas comes as a by-product from the processing of naturals gas and refining of light crude oil.

In natural gas processing, propane is separated from unprocessed natural gas by using refrigeration.

Petroleum refining is an industrial process in which oil is extracted from the ground and then refined. Basically, it consists of three process-separation, conversion, and treatment. In a large tank, crude oil is heated at 400C, and gas with the lowest boiling point comes out first, then stored separately.

Uses

There are several uses of propane gas in the domestic and industrial sectors. As one of the most valuable energy sources, it is used as a fuel source for homes and in industry. it is also used in the synthesis of organic chemicals as a refrigerant and extractent.LPG is used as fuel in cars.

Below is more explanation of the uses of propane gas in industry and everyday use.

Industrial Uses   

Propane is clean, economical, and safe; therefore many industries use it at a large scale. Here are the five common uses of propane at the industrial level.

•             It is used as Agricultural drying in sweet potato drying, hay drying, soybean drying, corn drying, and tobacco drying.

•             It uses in direct flame applications, armature baking oven, soldering by direct flame

•             It is used in Air heating applications, dissipating steam vapours, space heating, and sterilizing with hot air.

•             It is used in Galvanizing kettles and forging steel.

•             In the Petrochemical industry, it is used to make plastics and other products such as cosmetics, fertilizers, and synthetic fibres.

•             In the Printing process to facilitate the drying process, propane gas is used. it also used in fire tube boilers.

•             It is used as an aerosol propellant in many industries.

Domestic and Everyday use

According to Adamgas report, LPG provides an almost 50% reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases in comparison to conventional gasoline. Therefore it is used as fuel in cars. So what about other domestic uses of propane gas. These are listed below

•             One of the most common uses of LP gas is in cooking and heating appliances.

•             One of the exciting uses of propane is as an alternative fuel for vehicles. More than          350,000 vehicles in the USA run on LPG.Many companies are providing fuel services in united states like wheat energy providing fuel services in abilene.

•             Propane dryers are used to dry clothes and save 20% yearly heating cost price.

•             Many lawn care fleets (lawnmowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, etc.) have switched to        propane to lower fuel emissions and costs while increasing performance.