Okay so in another thread someone was talking about mercaptan removal and it got me wondering what lengths someone would have to go through to make propane from the gas station suitable for extraction.
We know 13x zeolite pellets can remove mercaptans odorants from the propane relatively easily, but what about the propylene?
Seeing as how refilling an lp5 tank at the gas station is about $20 it would certainly make sense to do something like this if it the gas can be made safe for extraction purposes.
The stink isnt what Iām worried about, its the propylene.
My local gas stations stock āBlue rhinoā propane and their SDS states that propylene accounts for the largest volume of contaminant in the propane.
Edit: Iām wondering if setting up a fractional still using a dewaxing column and copper scrubby pads with 13x pellets on top as the packing material could maybe make distilling the propylene from the propane feasible? Theyāve got very similar boiling points.
So what are u worried about? I guess I got confusedā¦
Iāve been under the impression, get from companies like I spoke of, and distill until clean, some say that takes a couple timesā¦and never use a mercawhatever u call it
Iām currently using 70/30 xtane that I distill before use.
I doubt Iām going to be making the switch to gas station propane for my extractions but itās still a cool concept and would come in handy like for people in remote places like Alaska where people already have large supplies of propane near their house like @sonicgardens was saying.
If Iām buying my propane from letās say a distributor who fills on their site (also supplies the uhaul fillers around here)and not blue rhino should I have to worry about the propylene?
I would assume not. Iām assuming the reason blue rhino is cheaper on a per gallon basis is specifically because the separation of propylene from propane is the most energy intensive process in the petrochemical industry. If they can sell it for a bit less without separation theyāre making more money.
If your in cali cant you just buy propane from the same ppl who you are getting tane from. Might get more expensive but way easier than to remove the stuff they sell at gas stations or were ever
Itās really just as simple as distilling the solvent thru an adequately sized column of 13x mole sieve beads or just copper packing u can get from brewing equipment suppliers. If it can be proven that propylene can make a decent extract without polymerizing upon purging then itās definitely a viable option since a lot of folks distill their solvent before use anyways.
