Application of Oxygen in the Manufacture of Epoxyethane (Engine Coolant/Antifreeze)

Application of Oxygen in the Manufacture of Epoxyethane (Engine Coolant/Antifreeze)

                     

Introduction

Epoxyethane or ethylene oxide (C₂H₄O), is a colorless gas at room temperature. It is very reactive and is used as an important intermediary in the manufacture of many useful chemicals. But the main usage or application of Epoxyethane is as the main constituent of engine coolants or antifreeze in cars. It is also used to produce other engine coolants/antifreeze like ethylene glycol.

What Does An Engine Coolant/Antifreeze Do?


Car engines create a great deal of energy by burning petrol or diesel. Some of this energy is used to move the vehicle forward (around one third), the other two-thirds of the energy produced is converted to heat. Around half of this heat goes out of the exhaust, whilst the remaining heat remains inside the engine block.
Car engines need a way of cooling down else they will continue to increase in temperature until the working metal components inside will begin to literally melt, fuse together and the engine will seize. Engine coolant is a water-based liquid that absorbs the heat from the engine.

How Is Epoxyethane Manufactured?


This is where oxygen comes in. Epoxyethane is manufactured by mixing ethane with oxygen, and passing it over a catalyst (finely divided silver on an inert support such as alumina), at a temperature of 520-550 K (246°C - 276°C), and under 15-20 atmospheres of pressures. Thus industries dealing with manufacture of engine coolants or antifreeze on a large scale require oxygen on a daily basis. Most of them will have oxygen generators or oxygen plants installed at their manufacturing premises. There are various oxygen gas plant manufacturers in India so ordering a plant or generator is fairly easy. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nitrogen Use in Aerosols

Image
Nitrogen Use in Aerosols                     Introduction An aerosol is any such substance enclosed under pressure and released as a fine spray by the means of a propellant gas. Common examples of aerosol products include deodorant sprays, pesticide sprays, hair sprays, shaving foams and the like. Components of an Aerosol An aerosol formulation mainly consists of two components, namely: (1 the product concentrate, and 2) the propellant. The product concentrate is the actual product, the active ingredient in the aerosol, combined with other additional ingredients and co-solvents which are there to make a stable and efficacious product. The product concentrate can be a solution, suspension, emulsion, semisolid or powder. The propellant is the gas which provides the force to expel the product concentrate from the container and is also responsible for the delivery of the formulation in the proper form (i.e. spray...
Read more

Nitrogen Application in Nylon Manufacture

Image
Nitrogen Application in Nylon Manufacture Introduction Nylon is actually a family of synthetic polymers, which can be processed into fibers, films or shapes. It is because of this thermoplastic’s silky property that made it the world’s first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic polymer. Major uses of nylon include, but are not limited to fabrics, cookware and plastic fasteners and machine parts. Out of these, their application in manufacturing fabrics is the largest. Nylon fibers are woven together to form a silky, lightweight fabric. The reason for the popularity of this fabric is that it is resistant to abrasion, is a quite strong synthetic fiber, resists mildew, available readily and is relatively cheap. Application of Nitrogen in Nylon Manufacture Large-scale nylon manufacturers usually have nitrogen generators or nitrogen plants available on their premises, as nitrogen is an integral part of the production of various types of nylon. Nylon is form...
Read more