Propane serves approximately 60 million people in the United States, where approximately 15 billion gallons of propane are consumed annually.

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In 1994, propane was used as follows:

78.8 million gallons for utility/gas industry usage
507 million gallons for internal combustion engine use
1.5 billion gallons for other uses including agricultural
5.4 billion gallons for residential/commercial usage
9.0 billion gallons for chemical/industrial usage

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History of Propane
In 1910, a Pittsburgh motor car owner walked into chemist Dr. Walter Snelling's office, complaining that the gallon of gasoline he had purchased was half a gallon by the time he got home. He thought the government should look into why consumers were being cheated because the gasoline was evaporating at a rapid and expensive rate. Dr.Snelling took up the challenge and discovered the evaporating gases were propane, butane and other hydrocarbons.

Using coils from an old hot water heater and other miscellaneous pieces of laboratory equipment he could find, Dr. Snelling built a still that could separate the gasoline into its liquid and gaseous components.

By 1912, propane gas was cooking food in the home. The first car powered by propane ran in 1913, and by 1915 propane was being used in torches to cut through metal. Propane was marketed for flame cutting and cooking applications by 1920.

In 1927, the total sales of propane in the U. S. were more than one million gallons, and after World War II the propane gas annual sales increased to more than 15 billion gallons.

By the 1930s, the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) established and proposed a set of recommendations to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). In 1932, the first pamphlet of standards (No. 58) was adopted for publication.

When Dr. Snelling sold his propane patent to Frank Phillips, the founder of Phillips Petroleum Company, his price was $50,000. Today, propane gas is an $8 billion industry in the United States alone and it is still growing.

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At room temperature and atmospheric pressure, propane is a colorless, flammable, nontoxic gas, with
a characteristic natural gas odor. Propane is one of the group of liquefied petroleum gases. It is normally
shipped in low pressure cylinders as a liquefied compressed gas under its own vapor pressure of 752
kPa (109 psig) at 21.1 degrees C.

Propane is widely used as a fuel for suburban home heating systems and gas appliances. Propane is also used as a fuel for intraplant trucking where gasoline fumes are considered to be obnoxious. It is also used as a refrigerant gas and as a thermobulk fill for temperature and pressure control instruments. It has been used as a low temperature extraction solvent. It has been used extensively as a refrigerant in chemical, petroleum refining, and gas processing operations, and as a selective solvent for removing asphaltic components from the higher boiling fractions of crude oils.

Commercial Preparation: Propane is a constituent of crude petroleum and natural gas. It is obtained there by refining and processing operations.

Large amounts of propane can be stored underground in former salt mines. In addition to trucks, railcars, and ships, propane can also be transported by pipeline.