Database/Propellant/Butane
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Butane natural?

No. Butane used as an aerosol propellant is a fossil hydrocarbon recovered from natural gas or crude oil refining.

INCI nameButane
CAS106-97-8
FormulaC4H10 · 58.12 Da
FunctionPropellant
FeedstockRecovered as a natural-gas-liquids/petroleum-refining stream and liquefied for…

How we scored it

n-Butane hydrocarbon propellant, overwhelmingly sourced from natural-gas processing or petroleum refining → 0.0.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

Recovered as a natural-gas-liquids/petroleum-refining stream and liquefied for use as an aerosol propellant. Bio-based butane exists but has negligible commercial share in cosmetic propellant supply.

In plain English

A flammable hydrocarbon gas used to propel aerosol sprays from the can. Obtained from natural gas processing or petroleum refining, not from renewable sources.

CosIng definition: Butane, less than 0.1% w/w butadiene

Natural alternatives with the same function

Carbon Dioxide 100% natural origin

A natural gas used to propel product out of aerosol cans. It's simply captured and compressed, most often…

 Nitrogen 100% natural origin

An inert gas used to push product out of pressurised containers, keeping the formula from contacting oxygen. It's…

 Salvia Officinalis Leaf Oil 100% natural origin

An essential oil steam-distilled from sage leaves, used as a fragrance ingredient and propellant. It comes directly from…

Structure

2D structure of Butane

butane

PubChem CID 7843 ↗

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2Butane. PubChem CID 7843. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3BUTANE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4BUTANE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=BUTANE