Editing Propylene (section)

==Uses==
Propylene is the second most important starting product in the [[petrochemical industry]] after [[ethylene]]. It is the raw material for a wide variety of products. [[Polypropylene]] manufacturers consume nearly two thirds of global production.<ref name="Ceresana"/> Polypropylene end uses include films, fibers, containers, packaging, and caps and closures. Propene is also used for the production of chemicals such as [[propylene oxide]], [[acrylonitrile]], [[cumene]], [[butyraldehyde]], and [[acrylic acid]]. In the year 2013 about 85 million tonnes of propylene were processed worldwide.<ref name="Ceresana">{{cite web |url=http://www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/chemicals/propylene/ |title=Market Study: Propylene (2nd edition), Ceresana, December 2014|publisher=ceresana.com |access-date=2015-02-03}}</ref>

Propylene and [[benzene]] are converted to [[acetone]] and [[phenol]] via the [[cumene process]]. 
[[Image:Cumene-process-overview-2D-skeletal.png|500px|center|Overview of the cumene process]]

Propylene is also used to produce [[isopropyl alcohol]] (propan-2-ol), [[acrylonitrile]], [[propylene oxide]], and [[epichlorohydrin]].<ref>{{Cite book |contribution = 8034. Propylene |year = 1996 |title = The Merck Index, Twelfth Edition |editor-last = Budavari |editor-first = Susan |pages = 1348–1349 |place = New Jersey |publisher = Merck & Co.}}</ref>
The industrial production of [[acrylic acid]] involves the catalytic partial oxidation of propylene.<ref>{{cite book |last1=J.G.L.|first1=Fierro (Ed.) |title=Metal Oxides, Chemistry and Applications |date=2006 |publisher=CRC Press |pages=414–455}}</ref> Propylene is an intermediate in the oxidation to acrylic acid.

In industry and workshops, propylene is used as an alternative fuel to acetylene in [[Oxy-fuel welding and cutting]], brazing and heating of metal for the purpose of bending. It has become a standard in [[BernzOmatic]] products and others in MAPP substitutes,<ref>[http://www.worthingtonindustries.com/getmedia/ff77868e-b526-44ae-9064-e51aaa5ea02f/wc001-map-pro-premium-hand-torch-fuel For example, "MAPP-Pro"]</ref> now that true [[MAPP gas]] is no longer available.