KC
In answer to part (a) of your question - yes we do have them in Europe. There are numerous makers of the gas. In terms of camping the best known is probably "Camping Gaz" who make about 10 different sizes of butane cartridge (the smaller sizes are pretty well all disposable) running from about a litre upto something in the 10kg size (sorry for switching measures but I never had much to do with the little cartridges). Most camping shops would have some of these in stock.
The bigger stuff comes in two sizes for home / caravanning use (10kg and 32kg re-usable cylinders) and comes in blue (butane) and red (propane). Common home use would be for cooking (propane) where the home is off-grid, or for extra heating (we used to have a gas heater on castors called a Super Ser - it was about 3' high by 18" by 18" and took a 32kg butane cylinder). They have a common connection mechanism (as in you could use either a 10 or 32kg butane cylinder - I don't think it was common between propane and butane for safety reasons) and it is a matter of moments to switch cylinders over. You used to buy your first cylinder and then just bring your empty in and pay for the gas when you picked up the full one.
They have them in the Middle East too - my wife used to carry 32kg cylinder up several flights of stairs to fuel the cookers in her block of flats during the Civil War in Beirut.
You'd probably find even larger sizes of propane in some manufacturing or building sites (they use them to power forklifts and such).
Malc
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