Industrial Applications of Heptane

Heptane is a colorless liquid hydrocarbon of the alkane series. It is derived from crude oils such as petroleum. It has a gas-like odor and is often found in gasoline.

Industrial Applications 

Industrially, Heptane is used to manufacture various types of ink including printer ink, and stamp pad ink.

Heptane is also used to produce cements, compounders, and hospital anesthetics. It is also used to extract oil from vegetables as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional machine press method.

As a clear, odorless, liquid hydrocarbon, heptane is best recognized as the standard zero-point for the octane rating scale, which is seen on nearly every gasoline pump worldwide. Heptane readily combusts when placed under the vast amounts of pressure within a gasoline engine.  

Heptane’s high flammability gives it properties necessary in many industries, including use as fuels. Heptane is a great fuel source for pressurized, outdoor liquid fuel stoves due to its hydrocarbon chemical makeup, which expends vast amounts of heat energy during hydrocarbon combustion.

Heptane acts as a thinner for rubber cement.

High schools, colleges, and universities all rely on heptane as a laboratory reagent in chemistry courses thanks to its isomers, which are reliable, nonpolar solvents. Heptane’s reactivity is extremely low with most other chemicals. Substances not readily dissolved in water will break chemical bonds in a heptane solution. An example of heptane’s versatility is the grease test spot in which a material containing a grease, wax, or oily substance is submerged and gently shaken in a heptane solution. This determines the material’s earlier presence of organic compounds.

Law enforcement and government agencies use heptane as a solvent in processing latent fingerprints. Heptane’s ease of preparation with a ninhydrin reagent protects the clarity and intensity of fingerprints without destroying writing ink. However, if the inks used in printing are not water based, heptane dissolves the ink.

The vulcanization of rubber utilizes heptane as a compounder. In the commercial manufacture of rubber cement, unvulcanized rubber is placed in a solvent of 70-90% heptane. Different grades of rubber cement are created depending on a higher or lower percentage of heptane within the solvent.