Pentane: What is It & How is It Used in End Use Industries

Pentane (C5H12) is a volatile, colorless liquid compound that includes five carbon atoms to form a single bond. It is a component of raw natural gas that has a gasoline like odour. It has a huge array of applications for industrial purposes, including its usage as a blowing agent, usage in geothermal power stations as a binary fluid, to further produce a foam called polystyrene. Polystyrene is used to produce insulation materials for heating pipes, thereby has an essential contribution to renewable energy supply.

In addition, iso-pentane is used in shower gel and shaving cream as it makes the products foam up very fine and creamy when comes in contact with the body temperature. Also, n-pentane and polystyrene is used as a cooling agent in refrigerators and air conditioners. Extruded Polystyrene, produced from pentane and polymer granulate, is widely used in the packaging industry.

According to a report published by Allied Market Research, the pentane market size is anticipated to reach $159.8 billion with a considerable CAGR from 2021 to 2030. North America is currently dominating the market with the highest market share. This is mainly attributed to rapid rise in demand for pentane based foams for the production of transportation vehicles in the U.S. Few more factors such as surge in demand for blowing agents in production of polyurethane foam and increase in adoption of polymer foams among end use industries are contributing to the growth of the market in more than one way.

However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to have a negative impact on the growth of the global pentane market. The implementation of global lockdown resulted to temporary closure of the production hubs of pentane. Also, due to transport limitations, the supply chain was disrupted, which is why, supplying of raw materials on time became difficult. At the same time, unavailability of skilled labor force in order to maintain social distancing norms created several difficulties in carrying out production of pentane in full capacity, thereby hampered the market to some extent. Nevertheless, the global pentane market has already started to recover in a steady pace. As pentane have some major advantages over other crude oil derivatives, the demand for it will continue to rise, which in turn, is expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the growth of the global pentane market in the near future.

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