Vapor pressure butane

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. 

LPG is divided into two types of products commercial propane and commercial butane, each stored as liquid at ambient temperature and corresponding vapor pressure. 

Commercial butane comprises mainly C4 hydrocarbons, with propane and propylene content being less than 19 volume %. The density should be equal to or greater than 0.559 kg/1 at 15°C (0.513 kg/1 at 50°C). The maximum vapor pressure should be 6.9 bar at 50°C and the end point less than or equal to 1°C. 

Hydroca.rbons. Hydrocarbonsn such as propane, butane, and isobutane, which find use as propellants, are assigned numbers based upon their vapor pressure in psia at 21°C. For example, as shown in Table 2, aerosol-grade propane is known as A-108, / -butane as A-17. Blends of hydrocarbons, eg, A-46, and blends of hydrocarbons and hydrochlorocarbons orHCFCs are also used. The chief problem associated with hydrocarbon propellants is their flammabihty. 

Propane and light ends are rejected by touting a portion of the compressor discharge to the depropanizer column. The reactor effluent is treated prior to debutanization to remove residual esters by means of acid and alkaline water washes. The deisobutanizer is designed to provide a high purity isobutane stream for recycle to the reactor, a sidecut normal butane stream, and a low vapor pressure alkylate product. 

Table 1. Vapor-Pressure Equation Constants for the Butanes, Butylenes, and Butadienes ...

Fig. 1. Vapor-pressure ratios of the alkanes, alkenes, and dienes with respect to / -butane A, isobutane B, isobutylene C, 1-butene D, 1,3-butadiene E,...

Vapor pressure of n-butane at temperature T, kPa Pressure of n-butane, kPa... 

The first step in a gas processing plant is to separate the components that are to be recovered from the gas into an NGL stream. It may then be desirable to fractionate the NGL stream into various liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) components of ethane, propane, iso-butane, or normal-butane. The LPG products are defined by their vapor pressure and must meet certain criteria as shown in Table 9-1. The unfractionated natural gas liquids product (NGL) is defined by the properties in Table 9-2. NGL is made up principally of pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons although it may contain some butanes and very small amounts of propane. It cannot contain heavy components that boil at more than 375°F. 

The de-butanizer works in a similar manner. The upstream tower (depropanizer) determines the maximum vapor pressure of the butane product. If the concentration of propane-minus is too large in the inlet stream, the vapor pressure of the butane overheads will be too high. Similarly, the concentration of pentanes-plus in the butane will depend upon the... 

The temperature at the base of the de-butanizer determines the vapor pressure of the gasoline product. If its vapor pressure is too high, the temperature must be increased or the tower pressure decreased to drive more butanes-minus out of the bottoms liquids. 

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... 

Like propane, butanes are obtained from natural gas liquids and from refinery gas streams. The C4 acyclic paraffin consists of two isomers n-butane and isobutane (2-methylpropane). The physical as well as the chemical properties of the two isomers are quite different due to structural differences, for example, the vapor pressure (Reid method) for n-butane is 52 Ib/in., while it is 71 Ib/in. for isobutane. This makes the former a more favorable gasoline additive to adjust its vapor pressure. However, this use is declining in the United States due to new regulations that reduce the volatility of gasolines to 9 psi, primarily by removing butane. ... 

Like propane, n-hutane is mainly obtained from natural gas liquids. It is also a hy-product from different refinery operations. Currently, the major use of n-hutane is to control the vapor pressure of product gasoline. Due to new regulations restricting the vapor pressure of gasolines, this use is expected to he substantially reduced. Surplus n-butane could be isomerized to isobutane, which is currently in high demand for producing isobutene. Isobutene is a precursor for methyl and ethyl tertiary butyl ethers, which are important octane number boosters. Another alternative outlet for surplus n-butane is its oxidation to maleic anhydride. Almost all new maleic anhydride processes are based on butane oxidation. 

When tested in accordance with the methods given in Table 20.1 the properties of the commercial butane and commercial propane shall be in accordance with the limiting requirements given in that table. For gauge vapor pressure, either the direct measurements method described in BS 3324 or the calculation procedure described in Appendix C of this standard shall be used. 

This is one of the most important properties of LPG since it determines the pressure that will be exerted by the gas at ambient temperature, and therefore affects the requirements for handling and the design working pressures of storage vessels. It constitutes the main difference in physical characteristics between commercial propane and butane. The vapor pressure is the pressure at which a liquid and its vapor are in equilibrium at any given temperature. The boiling point of a liquid is, in fact, the temperature at which the vapor pressure is equal to the external ambient pressure. 

Commercial propane and butane often contain substantial proportions of the corresponding unsaturated analogues and smaller amounts of near-related hydrocarbons, as well as these hydrocarbons themselves. Figure 20.1 shows vapor pressure/temperature curves for commercial propane and commercial butane. Due to its lower boiling point, higher rates of vaporization for substantial periods are obtainable from propane than from butane, and at the same time, appreciable pressures are maintained even at low ambient temperatures. 

However, in the case of bulk storage of butane, the vapor pressure is generally too low for this simple method, and use is made of a liquid feed from the bottom of the storage vessel via a pump to a vaporizer. The vaporizer is simply a heat exchanger either using hot water, steam, electricity or even direct flame as the source of heat. Figure 20.6 shows a typical vaporizer. 

A glance at the vapor pressure curve for butane will, however, reveal that in winter there is a possibility of butane vapor liquefying after the vaporizer if the temperature is allowed to fall in the pipeline, even at moderate pressure. For this reason, such pipework is usually heated, either by electrical tapes or, if available, by steam or hot-water lines. 

Alcohols with low molar masses are liquids, and alcohols have much lower vapor pressures than do hydrocarbons with approximately the same molar mass. For example, ethanol is a liquid at room temperature, but butane, which has a higher molar mass than ethanol, is a gas. The relatively low volatility of alcohols is a sign of the strength of hydrogen bonds. The ability of alcohols to form hydrogen bonds also accounts for the solubility in water of alcohols with low molar mass. 

Vapor Cloud Explosions. Lenoir and Davenport (Ref. 16) have summarized some major VCEs worldwide from 1921 to 1991. The materials involved in these incidents suggest that certain hydrocarbons—such as ethane, ethylene, propane, and butane—demonstrate greater potential for VCEs. Several factors may contribute to these statistics. These materials are prevalent in industry and are often handled in large quantities, increasing the potential for an incident. Certain inherent properties of the materials also contribute to their potential for explosion. These include flammability, reactivity, vapor pressure, and vapor density (with respect to air). 

Example 15.4 A reboiler is required to supply 0.1 krnol-s 1 of vapor to a distillation column. The column bottom product is almost pure butane. The column operates with a pressure at the bottom of the column of 19.25 bar. At this pressure, the butane vaporizes at a temperature of 112°C. The vaporization can be assumed to be essentially isothermal and is to be carried out using steam with a condensing temperature of 140°C. The heat of vaporization for butane is 233,000 Jkg, its critical pressure 38 bar, critical temperature 425.2 K and molar mass 58 kg krnol Steel tubes with 30 mm outside diameter, 2 mm wall thickness and length 3.95 m are to be used. The thermal conductivity of the tube wall can be taken to be 45 W-m 1-K 1. The film coefficient (including fouling) for the condensing steam can be assumed to be 5700 W m 2-K 1. Estimate the heat transfer area for... 

The temperature is 80°F and the ambient pressure is 1 atm. Make sure you clearly state any assumptions. The vapor pressure of liquid butane at 80°F is 40 psia, and the specific gravity of liquid butane at 80°F is 0.571. 

The vessel contains volatile liquids (e.g., butanes, propanes, ethanes, etc.) with vapor pressures above atmospheric. 

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