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 Propane is a member in good standing of the hydrocarbon family. This energy family also proudly boasts the membership of natural gas, gasoline and diesel. Propane's chemical makeup is C3 H8 which translates to 3 parts carbon and 8 parts hydrogen. Most of the propane in use today is recovered from natural gas. This process of separating the propane gas from natural gas is known as fractionation. If propane is not obtained from natural gas, it comes directly from refining crude oil. To get propane to end users, it is shipped to retail storage locations through over 70,000 miles of gas pipeline across America. It is also further transported from pipeline terminals on railcars, transport semi-trailer trucks and barges. Propane is then delivered by your local gas supplier to customers in what are known as bulk trucks or bobtails. It is also delivered on cylinder flatbed trucks on a cylinder exchange basis. The cylinder exchange involved picking up empty cylinders and replacing with full cylinders. The empties are returned to the servicing company to be refilled at their bulk plant facility's cylinder dock. Once filled, they are ready to once again return to the customer. Propane's portable nature makes it available to almost everyone, almost everywhere!
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