Settala Gas SpA

Hydrocarbons, the simplest organic compounds, are characterized by a combination of only hydrogen and carbon atoms. They are incredibly functional and used in a wide range of processes and applications.

Some applications are: gas sample for calibration of instruments, laboratory usage, production of industrial diamonds, medical, scientific, food industry, surface treatments, electronics, production of catalysts.

Settala Gas has dedicated over 40 years to the care of the production of pure hydrocarbons, combining expertise and modern technology.

The element that makes our company unique is the presence of the distillation column is currently the leading manufacturer of pure hydrocarbon gases.

Until the 90's, CFC's were extensively used in the aerosol and foam blowing industries, until the banning of their use led to their replacement by hydrocarbons in these applications. In aerosols, the propellant needs to be a liquid with a vapour pressure slightly higher than atmospheric and with a boiling point lower than room temperature. Hydrocarbons such as propane, and butanes may be mixed together to achieve specific vapour pressures and boiling points making them ideal in these circumstances. The only downside is their flammability which is not a significant issue given the small volumes in the can.

Polyurethane foams are manufactured by adding blowing agents such as the mixture iso-Butane/DME (Dimethilether) as well as pure iso-butane, n-butane, propylene and pentanes to the liquid reaction mixture. All these products are excellent agents since they are volatile and have an ideal boiling point and vapour pressure. Since the polymerization process is exothermic the blowing agent volatizes into a gas during the reaction process, which fills and expands the cells created during the mixing process, thus creating a solid foam.

Another area where hydrocarbons find many applications is in the field of refrigeration, particularly because hydrocarbons, as naturally occurring products, are ”green” and have zero ozone depletion levels. Although flammable hydrocarbons have been used in refrigeration applications since 1867, it was only the invention of CFCs in 1926 which stopped the common use. The realization that CFCs were damaging the ozone layer led to their removal from production by the mid 90’s, and the scene was set for hydrocarbons to resume application in commercial and domestic refrigeration.

Today, outside of the United States, 90 percent of all new domestic refrigerators use iso-butane (R600a), while propane (R290), propylene (R1270) and ethane (R170) are also used in major industrial scale refrigeration applications.