Mono-Ethylene Glycol:

Ethylene Glycol is an organic compound of formula (CH₂OH)₂. This material is mainly used for two purposes as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers and antifreeze formulations. This liquid is odorless and colorless with a sweet taste. In appearance, it is a viscous liquid. Mono-Ethylene Glycol is a type of Glycols and a subset of chemicals. This compound is also known as ethane-1,2-diol, or MEG, and antifreeze, which is the simplest organic compound. Glycol is a type of alcohols that has two Hydroxyl groups (OH) attached to carbon atoms. The common name of Ethylene Glycol means “ethylene-derived glycol.”

This substance is one of the most toxic compounds and eating and drinking it is very dangerous and may lead to severe illness or death.

 

Mono-Ethylene Glycol technical properties table:

 

Material name	Mono ethylene glycol
Chemical formula	C2H6O
Boiling point	198 ˚C
Molecular weight	62.068 g/mol
appearance	Colorless and transparent
density	1.1132 g/cm3
Melting point	-12.9 ˚C
Solubility	Soluble in organic solvents
viscosity	1.61*10-2 Pa.s
vapor power	0.06 mmHg

Mono-Ethylene Glycol history:

According to most sources, the French chemist Charles-Adolf Wortz (1884-1817) first developed mono-Ethylene Glycol in 1856. He first combined “ethylene iodide” (C₂H₄I₂) with silver acetate and then hydrolyzed the resulting “ethylene diacetate” with potassium hydroxide. Wortz called his new compound “Glycol” because it contains both Ethyl Alcohol (with one hydroxyl group (OH)) and glycerin (with three hydroxyl groups). In 1859, Wortz produced Ethylene Glycol by hydrating Ethylene Oxide. There seems to have been no commercial production or use of Ethylene Glycol before World War I, when ethylene dichloride was synthesized in Germany and used as a glycerol substitute in the explosive industry.

In the United States, the semi-commercial production of Ethylene Glycol through Ethylene Chloride began in 1917. The first large glycol production plant was built in 1925. By 1929, almost all dynamite manufacturers used Ethylene Glycol. In 1937, Carbide started the first plant based on the Lefort process for the oxidation of the ethylene vapor phase to ethylene oxide. Carbide maintained its monopoly on the direct oxidation process until 1953, when it became a commercially scientific design process and was licensed for licensing.

 

Mono-Ethylene Glycol applications:

• Used as one of the raw materials for the production of antifreeze for use in car radiators.
• Also used as a material in hydraulic fluids, printing inks and paint solvents.
• Also used as a reagent in the manufacture of polyesters, explosives, alkyd resins and synthetic waxes.
• Ethylene glycol is used in the natural gas industry to remove water vapor from natural gas before further processing, in exactly the same way as tri-Eethylene Glycol (TEG) is used.
• Mono-Ethylene glycol (MEG) can be used for applications that require chemical intermediates.
• Mono-Ethylene glycol is also used in the production of resins, solvent binders, freezing point depressants, solvents, wetting agents and chemical intermediates.
• These applications are critical to the production of a wide range of products, including resins.
• In the production of water-based adhesives, various types of latex paints are used.
• Also used for asphalt emulsion.
• It is also used to make electrolytic capacitors.
• Used in textile fibers and in the paper industry.
• Used to produce a variety of polyester resins (fibers, containers and films).
• It is also used in the production of resin esters as a softener (glue, varnish and enamel).
• Used in alkyd type resins (synthetic rubbers, adhesives, surface coatings).
• Used as a stabilizer against gel formation.
• Used in reducing liquids (aircraft, airport runway) as well as heat transfer fluids (gas compressors, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, process chillers)
• Medium used for suspension of conductive salts in electrolytic capacitors.

Application of Ethylene Glycol as a cooling and heat transfer agent:

Ethylene glycol is a chemical commonly used in many commercial and industrial applications, including antifreeze and refrigeration. Ethylene glycol helps keep your car engine from freezing in winter and acts as a coolant to reduce heatstroke in summer. Other important applications of ethylene glycol include heat transfer fluids, such as industrial coolers for gas compressors, heating systems, air conditioners, and ice-skating rinks.

Ethylene glycol is widely used as an antifreeze in refrigeration in cars and air conditioners. In this case, the chiller or air handles are placed outside, or they must be cooled below the freezing point of water. In geothermal heating / cooling systems, ethylene glycol is a liquid that transfers heat using a geothermal heat pump. Ethylene glycol either draws energy from a source (lake, ocean, water well), or delivers heat to the sink, depending on whether the system is used for heating or cooling.

Pure ethylene glycol has a specific heat capacity of about half that of water. Therefore, ethylene glycol reduces the specific heat capacity of water mixtures compared to pure water, while providing protection against ice and increasing the boiling point. A 1: 1 mass mixture has a specific heat capacity of about three-quarters of pure water, so it needs to increase the flow in the same comparison of the system with water. The formation of large bubbles in the cooling passages of internal combustion engines strongly inhibits the flow of heat (flux) from the area, so it is not recommended to allow the formation of cores (fine bubbles). Large bubbles in the cooling passages will persist or become larger as the cooling in the area disappears completely.

With pure MEG (mono-Ethylene Glycol) the hot spot reaches 200 ° C. Cooling by other effects such as air traction from the fans (which is not considered in the analysis of the pure core) helps to prevent the formation of large bubbles.

Mixing ethylene glycol with water provides additional benefits for cooling and antifreeze solutions such as preventing corrosion and acid degradation as well as preventing the growth of most germs and fungi.

Application of ethylene glycol in freezing:

Pure ethylene glycol freezes at about -12 ° C, but when mixed with water, the mixture freezes at low temperatures. For example, a mixture of 60% ethylene glycol and 40% water is frozen at 45 ° F. The behavior of diethylene glycol is similar. The freezing point depression of some mixtures can be explained as an empathetic property of solutions, but in very concentrated mixtures, due to the influence of intermolecular forces, deviation from the ideal solution behavior is expected.

The use of ethylene glycol not only reduces the freezing point of aqueous mixtures, but also increases their boiling point. This causes the operating temperature range of the heat transfer fluids to expand at both ends of the temperature scale. The increase in boiling temperature is due to pure ethylene glycol, which has a much higher boiling point and lower vapor pressure than pure water, as is common in most dual mixtures of volatile liquids.

Application of ethylene glycol as a precursor of polymers:

In the plastics industry, ethylene glycol is an important precursor for polyester fibers and resins. Polyethylene terephthalate, which is used to make plastic bottles for soft drinks, is made from ethylene glycol.

Application of monoethylene glycol in hydrate inhibition:

Monoethylene glycol is a useful desiccant due to its high boiling point and affinity for water. Ethylene glycol is widely used to prevent the formation of natural gas chlorates (hydrates) in long-phase multi-phase pipelines that transport natural gas from remote gas fields to a gas processing center.

Ethylene glycol can be recovered from natural gas and reused as the inhibitor after purification, which removes inorganic water and salts. Natural gas is dehydrated by monoethylene glycol. In this application, ethylene glycol flows from the top of the tower to the bottom and encounters a rising mixture of water vapor and hydrocarbon gases. Dry gas comes out of the top of the tower. Glycol and water are separated and glycol is recycled.