butane, either of two colourless, odourless, gaseous hydrocarbons (compounds of carbon and hydrogen), members of the series of paraffinic hydrocarbons. Their chemical formula is C4H10. The compound in which the carbon atoms are linked in a straight chain is denoted normal butane, or n-butane; the branched-chain form is isobutane. Both compounds occur in natural gas and in crude oil and are formed in large quantities in the refining of petroleum to produce gasoline.
The butanes present in natural gas can be separated from the large quantities of lower-boiling gaseous constituents, such as methane and ethane, by absorption in a light oil. The butanes thus obtained can be stripped from the absorbent along with propane and marketed as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or they can be separated from the propane and then from each other by fractional distillation: n-butane boils at -0.5° C (31.1° F); isobutane boils at -11.7° C (10.9° F). Butanes formed by catalytic cracking and other refinery processes are also recovered by absorption into a light oil.
Commercially, n-butane can be added to gasoline to increase its volatility. Transformed to isobutane in a refinery process known as isomerization, it can be reacted with certain other hydrocarbons such as butylene to form valuable high-octane constituents of gasoline.