Propane in Our Daily Life

            Sometimes it is quite interesting when studying chemistry especially the topic about the family in organic chemistry. When we talk about ‘family’, homologous series will always first come to our minds. Alkane, the most basic chemical family among the hydrocarbon chemicals, consists of ethane, methane, propane, butane, hexane, heptane, octane, nonane, decane and many others to mention and all of them have carbon-carbon single bond, which mean they are saturated hydrocarbon too.

Among the ‘siblings’ in alkane family, we are going to focus on more propane, C₃H₈. Propane is the third chemical in alkane family, made up of 3 carbon atoms and 8 hydrogen atoms. It has low boiling point (-42°C) and melting point  (-188°C), thus, it exists as colourless gas at room temperature with faint petroleum-like odor. Same as other alkane chemicals, it can undergo combustion reaction with the presence of oxygen to produce carbon dioxide water and about 50MJ/kg of heat under proper combustion. We learned a lot of these facts from our lecturers or teachers at schools during chemistry classes. However, have you ever wonder what are the uses of propane in our daily life?

The main benefit of propane is it act as fuel.  It is known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or propane autogas. As mentioned above, propane can undergo combustion reaction and at the same time, it produces high-energy density, clean-burning qualities and its relatively lower cost. Besides, it presents no threat to the soil, surface water and underground water. That’s why propane becomes as an alternative fuel in our daily life. In fact, it is the world’s third most common transportation fuel. 

On the other hand, do you know that propane is also used in our houses too? Indeed, it has other uses in households rather than alternative motor fuel. For example, it is used to heat the water so that we are able to enjoy the hot shower in the bathroom; it acts as fuel for the stoves when we cook; it is used in the clothes dryers which is more efficient and cut the drying time in half. Nevertheless, compared with vehicles which fueled by conventional diesel and gasoline, vehicles which use propane as fuel produce lower amounts of some harmful air pollutants and greenhouse gases.

However, due to propane gas is denser than air, it brings hazardous too. If propane gas is leaked, the gas will have a tendency to sink in an enclosed area and thus poses a risk of explosion and fire. Moreover, the gas when abused as an inhalant, may cause hypoxia (lack of oxygen) to human.            

In the nutshell, whenever you talk about fuel, think about propane. It becomes more and more useful and important for us.