Propane and Butane

The noncondensable hydrocarbons comprise the hydrocarbons having less than five carbon atoms methane, ethane, propane and butanes encountered in production refining will add the olefins and diolefins ... 

The Reid vapor pressure is generally barely different from the true vapor pressure at 37.8°C if the light gas content —methane, ethane, propane, and butane— of the sample is small, which is usually the case with petroleum products. The differences are greater for those products containing large quantities of dissolved gases such as the crude oils shown in Table 4.13. 

This category comprises conventional LPG (commercial propane and butane), home-heating oil and heavy fuels. All these materials are used to produce thermal energy in equipment whose size varies widely from small heaters or gas stoves to refinery furnaces. Without describing the requirements in detail for each combustion system, we will give the main specifications for each of the different petroleum fuels. 

Under standard conditions of temperature and pressure (STP), the first four members of the alkane series (methane, ethane, propane, and butane) are gases. As length of the carbon increases the density of the compound increases (pentane) to C yHgg are liquids, and from C.,gH3g, the compounds exist as wax-like solids at STP. 

Where the distance to the customer is very large, or where a gas pipeline would have to cross too many countries, gas may be shipped as a liquid. Gas has to be chilled to -160°C in a LNG plant to keep it in liquid form, and is shipped in refrigerated tankers. To condition the gas for liquefaction any COj, HjS, water and heavier hydrocarbons must be removed, by the methods already discussed. The choice of how much propane and butane to leave in the LNG depends upon the heating requirements negotiated with the customer. 

Sales gas would be piped directly into the national gas distribution network (assuming one exists) and NGL products such as propane and butane can be stored locally in pressurised tanks. NGL products are often distributed by road or rail directly from the gathering station, although if ethane is recovered it is normally delivered by pipeline. 

Carrying out this proeedure for propane and butane, CH3—CH2—CH3 and CH3—CH2—CH2—CH3, yields the bond matrix and enthalpies of atomization ... 

A variant on this procedure produces a first approximation to the molecular mechanics (MM) heat paiameters (Chapters 4 and 5) for C—C and C—H. Instead of atomization energies, the enthalpies of formation of propane and butane (—25.02 and —30.02 kcal mol ) are put directly into the b vector. The results (2.51 kcal mol and —3.76 kcal mol ) are not very good approximations to the heat parameters actually used (2.45 kcal mol and —4.59 kcal mol ) because of other factors to be taken up later, but the calculation illustrates the method and there is rough agreement. 

The lUPAC rules assign names to unbranched alkanes as shown m Table 2 2 Methane ethane propane and butane are retained for CH4 CH3CH3 CH3CH2CH3 and CH3CH2CH2CH3 respectively Thereafter the number of carbon atoms m the chain is specified by a Latin or Greek prefix preceding the suffix ane which identifies the com pound as a member of the alkane family Notice that the prefix n is not part of the lUPAC system The lUPAC name for CH3CH2CH2CH3 is butane not n butane... 

Historically, formaldehyde has been and continues to be manufactured from methanol. EoUowing World War II, however, as much as 20% of the formaldehyde produced in the United States was made by the vapor-phase, noncatalytic oxidation of propane and butanes (72). This nonselective oxidation process produces a broad spectmm of coproducts (73) which requites a complex cosdy separation system (74). Hence, the methanol process is preferred. The methanol raw material is normally produced from synthesis gas that is produced from methane. 

Properties. The properties of the Hquid fuel oil produced by the SRC-II process are iafluenced by the particular processiag coafiguratioa. However, ia geaeral, it is an oil boiling between 177 and 487°C, having a specific gravity of 0.99—1.00, and a viscosity at 38°C of 40 SUs (123). Pipeline gas, propane and butane (LPG), and naphtha are also recovered from an SRC-II complex. 

Less propane and butanes are produced compared to natural gas Hquids by the adsorption process than are obtained normally for the same gas by the oil-absorption process. Because adsorption efficiency increases with a decrease in temperature, the adsorption cycle should operate at the lowest temperature that is economically feasible. 

Only 20—40% of the HNO is converted ia the reactor to nitroparaffins. The remaining HNO produces mainly nitrogen oxides (and mainly NO) and acts primarily as an oxidising agent. Conversions of HNO to nitroparaffins are up to about 20% when methane is nitrated. Conversions are, however, often ia the 36—40% range for nitrations of propane and / -butane. These differences ia HNO conversions are explained by the types of C—H bonds ia the paraffins. Only primary C—H bonds exist ia methane and ethane. In propane and / -butane, both primary and secondary C—H bonds exist. Secondary C—H bonds are considerably weaker than primary C—H bonds. The kinetics of reaction 6 (a desired reaction for production of nitroparaffins) are hence considerably higher for both propane and / -butane as compared to methane and ethane. Experimental results also iadicate for propane nitration that more 2-nitropropane [79-46-9] is produced than 1-nitropropane [108-03-2]. Obviously the hydroxyl radical attacks the secondary bonds preferentially even though there are more primary bonds than secondary bonds. 

Thermal polymerization is not as effective as catalytic polymerization but has the advantage that it can be used to polymerize saturated materials that caimot be induced to react by catalysts. The process consists of the vapor-phase cracking of, for example, propane and butane, followed by prolonged periods at high temperature (510—595°C) for the reactions to proceed to near completion. Olefins can also be conveniendy polymerized by means of an acid catalyst. Thus, the treated olefin-rich feed stream is contacted with a catalyst, such as sulfuric acid, copper pyrophosphate, or phosphoric acid, at 150—220°C and 1035—8275 kPa (150—1200 psi), depending on feedstock and product requirement. 

Liquefied petroleum gases precipitate asphaltic and resinous materials from cmde residues while the lubricating oil constituents remain in solution. Although all Hquefied gases possess this property to some extent, propane and butane are used to deasphalt residual lubricating oils because of their relative low cost and their ease of separation from lubricating oils. 

Eollowing initial installation in 1971, the Phase 1 expansion turbines have proven extremely reliable. The redesign effort of Phase 2 in 1992 incorporated improved aerodynamics and changed inlet guide vane profiles in the expansion turbines. This redesign yielded an additional. 40 to. 50 Bcf of gas per year without any increase in recompression horsepower. This translates to an increase in propane and butane production of an additional 3,600 to 4,500 bbl of liquid without an increase in electrical power consumption. 

Compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen are termed paraffins or alkanes. The general formula for these compounds is C H2n+2 where n is an integer. When only single bonds are present between carbon atoms they are classified as saturated . Examples include, etliane, propane, and butane the last two are common fuel gases ... 

Because some hydrocracking occurs, Powerforming also produces saturated C to Q light hydrocarbons. The methane and ethane formed normally are consumed as refinery fuel. Propane and butane products are frequently marketed as LPG. The relative quantities of each of these products vary considerably with feed quality, operating conditions and octane severity. 

The calculation method can be selected by application of the decision tree in Figure 9.2. The liquid temperature is believed to be about 339 K, which is the temperature equivalent to the relief valve set pressure. The superheat limit temperatures of propane and butane, the constituents of LPG, can be found in Table 6.1. For propane, T, = 326 K, and for butane, T i = 377 K. The figure specifies that, if the liquid is above its critical superheat limit temperature, the explosively flashing liquid method must be chosen. However, because the temperature of the LPG is below the superheat limit temperature (T i) for butane and above it for propane, it is uncertain whether the liquid will flash. Therefore, the calculation will first be performed with the inclusion of vapor energy only, then with the combined energy of vapor and liquid. 

Both propane and butane are fluids for which specific expansion energies are given in Figure 6.31. Therefore, calculations begin with Step 5. 

Explosion energy can be calculated by employing a slight variation on Eq. (6.3.26), by multiplying expansion work per unit volume by fluid volume, instead of multiplying expansion work per unit mass by fluid mass. Both propane and butane must be considered. This gives, for example, for vapor energy for the 50% fill-ratio case ... 

A mixture of propane and butane is to be used as a refrigerant and charged to the system as a liquid. From the specification listing that follows determine the evaporator, condenser, and compressor for this application. This refiigerant mixture requires the use of MoUier Diagrams for propane and butane. 

Thus, if a gas mixture exerts 100 psia total pressure and is composed of 20% by volume (mol%) propane and 80% by volume butane, the partial pressures are 20 and 80 psia for propane and butane, respectively. The liquid in equilibrium with this mixture of vapors would have a lower percentage of propane and a higher percentage of butane. If this mixture is used as a refrigerant, the low-boiling component (propane) reaches equilibrium with a higher concentration in the condenser (as liquid) and increases the total pressure in the condenser. This requires more head and more horsepower at the compressor. 

Step 2. Determine the vapor pressure in the evaporator. According to the phase rule, for a mixture of two components (propane and butane) it is necessary to establish two variables of the liquid-vapor system in the evaporator to completely define the system and fix the value of all other variables. The assumed liquid mol fraction and a temperature of 0°F is known. The... 

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