Propane: Encyclopedia II - Propane - Uses

Propane - Uses

When commonly sold as fuel it is also known as liquified petroleum gas (LPG or LP-gas) and can be a mixture of propane with smaller amounts of propylene, butane and butylene, plus ethanethiol as an odorant to allow the normally odorless propane to be smelled. In North America, propane is primarily a pure fuel with only the odorant added.

It is used as fuel in cooking on many barbecues, portable stoves, and in motor vehicles. Propane powers some locomotives, buses, forklifts, and taxis and is used for heat and cooking in recreational vehicles and campers. In many rural areas of North America, propane is also used in furnaces, stoves, water heaters, laundry dryers, and other heat-producing appliances. 6.5 million American households use propane as their primary heating fuel.

In North America, local delivery trucks called "bobtails" fill up large tanks that are permanently installed on the property (sometimes called pigs), or other service trucks exchange empty bottles of propane with filled bottles. The bobtails are unique to the North American market. Elsewhere in the world, propane is delivered to consumers via small or medium-sized individual tanks.

North American industries using propane include glass makers, brick kilns, poultry farms, and other industries that need portable heat. Additionally, most of the entire North American chemical industry uses propane to power their huge facilities that crack or distill industrial chemical products.

Unlike natural gas, propane is heavier than air (1.5 times denser). In its raw state, propane sinks and pools at the floor. Liquid propane will flash to a vapor at atmospheric pressure and appears white due to moisture condensing from the air.

Propane is the fastest growing fuel source in the Third World, especially in China and India. Its use frees up the huge rural populations from time-consuming ancient chores such as wood gathering and allows them more time to pursue other activities, such as increased farming or educational opportunties.

Propane is also being used increasingly more for vehicle fuels. In the U.S., 190,000 on-road vehicles use propane, and 450,000 forklifts use it for power. It is the third most popular vehicle fuel in America, behind gasoline and diesel. In other parts of the world, propane used in vehicles is known as autogas. About 9 million vehicles worldwide use autogas.

Another use of propane is the application as propellant for aerosol sprays, especially after the ban of CFCs. So called "green gas" used in many gas-powered BB or airsoft guns is merely propane as the propellant with 100% silicone oil added to lubricate gaskets. It is also used as a feedstock for the production of base petrochemicals in steam cracking.

Propane is also instrumental in providing off-the-grid refrigeration, also called gas absorption refrigerators. Made popular by the Servel company, propane-powered refrigerators are highly efficient, do not require electricity, and have no moving parts. Refrigerators built in the 1930s are still in regular use, with little or no maintenance. (However, Servel refrigerators are subject to a 1998 CPSC recall for CO poisoning.) Today, the Unilever company is exploring the use of environmentally friendly propane as a refrigerant.

On an aside, North American barbecue grills powered by propane cannot be used overseas. The "propane" sold overseas is actually a mixture of propane/butane, with its usage calibrated to the different-sized nozzles found in non-U.S. grills. Americans who take their grills overseas--such as military personnel--can find U.S.-specification propane at AFEES military post exchanges.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Uses", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki