Ethylene Glycol
is an organic compound (a vicinal diol) with the formula (CH2OH)2. It is mainly used for two purposes, as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers and for antifreeze formulations. It is an odorless, colorless, flammable, viscous liquid. Ethylene glycol has a sweet taste, but it is toxic in high concentrations. Azera Oil Is One Of Reliable Companies who supply Ethylene glycol (MEG/DEG/TEG)
Uses in Cold Places
Pure ethylene glycol freezes at about −12 °C (10.4 °F) but, when mixed with water, the mixture freezes at a lower temperature. For example, a mixture of 60% ethylene glycol and 40% water freezes at −45 °C (−49 °F). Diethylene glycol behaves similarly. The freezing point depression of some mixtures can be explained as a colligative property of solutions but, in highly concentrated mixtures such as the example, deviations from ideal solution behavior are expected due to the influence of intermolecular forces. It’s important to note that though pure and distilled water will have a greater specific heat capacity than any mixture of antifreeze and water, commercial antifreezes also typically contain an anti-corrosive additive to prevent pure water from corroding coolant passages in the engine block, cylinder head(s), water pump and radiator.
There is a difference in the mixing ratio, depending on whether it is ethylene glycol or propylene glycol. For ethylene glycol, the mixing ratios are typically 30/70 and 35/65, whereas the propylene glycol mixing ratios are typically 35/65 and 40/60. It is important that the mixture be frost-proof at the lowest operating temperature.
Because of the depressed freezing temperatures, ethylene glycol is used as a de-icing fluid for windshields and aircraft, as an antifreeze in automobile engines, and as a component of vitrification (anticrystallization) mixtures for low-temperature preservation of biological tissues and organs.
The use of ethylene glycol not only depresses the freezing point of aqueous mixtures, but also elevates their boiling point. This results in the operating temperature range for heat-transfer fluids being broadened on both ends of the temperature scale. The increase in boiling temperature is due to pure ethylene glycol having a much higher boiling point and lower vapor pressure than pure water, as is typical with most binary mixtures of volatile liquids.
Uses of Ethylene Glycol
Minor uses of ethylene glycol include the manufacture of capacitors, as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of 1,4-dioxane, as an additive to prevent corrosion in liquid cooling systems for personal computers, and inside the lens devices of cathode-ray tube type of rear projection televisions. Ethylene glycol is also used in the manufacture of some vaccines, but it is not itself present in these injections. It is used as a minor (1–2%) ingredient in shoe polish and also in some inks and dyes. Ethylene glycol has seen some use as a rot and fungal treatment for wood, both as a preventative and a treatment after the fact. It has been used in a few cases to treat partially rotted wooden objects to be displayed in museums. It is one of only a few treatments that are successful in dealing with rot in wooden boats, and is relatively cheap. Ethylene glycol may also be one of the minor ingredients in screen cleaning solutions, along with the main ingredient isopropyl alcohol. Ethylene glycol is commonly used as a preservative for biological specimens, especially in secondary schools during dissection as a safer alternative to formaldehyde. It is also used as part of the water-based hydraulic fluid used to control subsea oil and gas production equipment.
Ethylene glycol is used as a protecting group in organic synthesis to protect carbonyl compounds such as ketones and aldehydes.
Silicon dioxide reacts in heated reflux under dinitrogen with ethylene glycol and an alkali metal base to produce highly reactive, pentacoordinate silicates which provide access to a wide variety of new silicon compounds. The silicates are essentially insoluble in all polar solvents except methanol.
It also can be used in vaccine manufacture or as a formaldehyde substitute when preserving biological specimens.
