Can you make propane in a chemistry laboratory without using petroleum?

Question

Or, more generally, how feasible is it to make small quantities of arbitrary hydrocarbons, by using laboratory processes to make them from hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen?

Answer 1

Sure..you can dehydrohalogenate propyl bromide/isopropyl bromide  with alcoholic KOH , then treat the propene ( gas )  with H2 using a Pd catalyst.  Also you can treat propyl bromide with Li  to make propyl lithium then treat that with water

          PropBr----------  CH2=CH-CH3-------  CH3CH2CH3

                                                          

             propBr + Li(0) ----   Prop^- Li+    ------------  Propane + LiOH

Answer 2

i think you can make alkanes from alkenes with addition if i remember right but it will be like chloropropane so with a functional group attached and not propane:)