Propane, Liquid propane, Propane gas, liquefied petroleum gas or LP as you may call it. Propane is a gas normally compressed and stored as a liquid. It is nontoxic, colorless, and virtually odorless; an identifying odor is added so it can be detected.
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Propane Gas
Propane is used in homes, business, industrial and agricultural, primarily for space heating, water heating and cooking. Propane is typically used in rural areas that do not have reticulated natural gas. Propane appliances include space heaters, furnaces, water heaters, cooktops, ovens, clothes dryers and pool heaters. Propane is also used as fuel for internal combustion engine applications.
The Source of Propane
Propane is made during natural gas processing and oil refining. It is separated from the unprocessed natural gas using refrigeration.
Propane is extracted from heated crude oil using a distillation tower. It is then pressurisation and stored as a liquid in cylinders and tanks.
It is important to understand that “raw natural gas”, as it leaves the gas well, contains other gases (including propane) and impurities that need to be processed out to obtain the nearly pure methane gas that we refer to as “refined natural gas” or just “natural gas”.
Propane is separated from the raw natural gas stream by ‘stripper plants’ that literally strip the propane from the raw natural gas stream.
Propane Usage and Purposes
The hospitality industry – hotels, restaurants, etc – use propane for heating, cooking and hot water. A chicken farmers usea propane to keep the chicks warm. A farmer uses of propane include flame weeding, crop drying and irrigation pumps. Auto body repair shops use propane for the oven to cure painted cars. Refrigeration manufacturers use propane for a refrigerant gas. Many companies use propane to fuel boilers for a multitude of purposes. And the list for uses of propane just goes on and on.
Common Uses of Propane
Propane uses in everyday life include home heating, cooking, hot water heaters, gas fireplaces and clothes drying. Home everyday outdoor life uses include patio heaters, pool heaters, backup generators, and as BBQ fuel. For some people, it also includes vehicle fuel, with LPG cars and vehicles. Propane gas heating systems provide instant warmth and are available in flued gas heaters and portable gas heaters.
Propane is also used for hundreds, if not thousands, of uses. In addition, propane is used for propellant, refrigerant, vehicle fuel and petrochemical feedstock applications.
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The propane uses most people can name are around the home, in their cars or for their business. Propane does get used in leisure time activities including caravans, boats, recreational vehicles, hot air balloons and camping.
Propane is also used for fuel for many commercial and agricultural heat applications, including commercial boilers. Business and industry use propane for a multitude of processes including steam boilers, kilns, ovens and forklifts.
Crop and produce drying, heating greenhouses, hot water for dairies, irrigation pumps and heating animal enclosures are just some of the agricultural applications for propane.
Transport is also a big user of propane, either alone or mixed with butane, to power various vehicle types. There are also many, many more propane applications, including power generation and the hospitality industry.
Important Propane Facts
- Propane is LPG but not all LPG is propane. LPG is the acronym for Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
- Propane is a flammable hydrocarbon gas that is liquefied through pressurisation and commonly used as fuel.
- Propane comes from natural gas processing and petroleum refining.
- Propane is LPG but not all LPG is propane. Propane, along with a number of gases, falls under the “LPG” label. The other gases include butane (n-butane) and isobutane (i-butane), as well as mixtures of the three LPG gases.
- Propane gas can be compressed into liquid at relatively low pressure.
- Propane is frequently used for fuel in heating, cooking, hot water and vehicles.
- Propane is generally stored, as a liquid, in steel vessels ranging from small BBQ gas bottles to larger gas cylinders and storage tanks. (45kg gas bottles shown)
Implementing propane fuel for any of these applications requires a specialized understanding LPG system design that takes into consideration the nature of vaporization itself which is inherent to LPG fuel usage along with its myriad of related variables including LPG boil-off rate, ambient storage temperature, the size and fill level of the LPG storage vessel(s) being used, storage tank pressure, the fuel consumption rate of supported equipment, potential safety issues, failure rates (and necessary redundancy), and more.