Monoethylene Glycol; used for the production of polyester fibers and film, engine coolants, and PET

Poonam Cmi
3 min readMay 23, 2022
Monoethylene Glycol
Monoethylene Glycol

Monoethylene glycol is an organic compound that is chiefly used for two reasons, one as a raw material in the production of polyester fibers and the other is for the antifreeze formulations. Monoethylene glycol is a liquid which is odorless, toxic, colorless, and viscous and sweetener. Monoethylene glycol is made from the ethylene through the intermediate ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide reacts with water to form ethylene glycol chemically. The acids or bases act as catalysts in the reaction or can take place at neutral pH temperatures. The huge production of the monoethylene glycol takes place at acidic or the neutral pH with a huge amount of water.

Under some of the situations, Monoethylene Glycol yields 90% can be extracted. The key byproducts of the ethylene are oligomers diethylene glycol, triethylene, tetra ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol. The separation of the oligomers and water is intensive of energy and is produced with a quantity of around 6.7 million tonnes which is derived yearly. The huge selectivity of it is derived with the usage of omega procedure. In the omega procedure the ethylene oxide is initially converted with the help of carbon dioxide to ethyl carbonate. This chain is now hydrolyzed with a catalyst which is a base and in the second process it produces monoethylene glycol in 98% derivative.

In the second process the carbon dioxide is released and again and can be put back into the circuit method. The carbon dioxide is achieved as a part from the ethylene oxide manufacture, where a part of ethylene is totally oxidized. Ethylene glycol is made from carbon monoxide in the regions with large coal reserves and with few strict environmental rules. The carbonylation oxide of a methanol to an oxalate of dimethyl gives a surefire approach to the manufacture of c-type ethylene glycol. The oxalate of dimethyl can be transformed into ethylene glycol in huge yields by hydrogenating with a copper catalyst. As the methanol is recycled only carbon monoxide, oxygen and hydrogen are consumed.

A plant with a manufacture capacity of around 200,000 tons of ethylene glycol annually is inside the Inner Mongolia and the other plant is in Henan in China with a quantity of 250,000 tons annually. It is utilized as a coolant and a heat transfer catalyst. The main usage of monoethylene glycol is it acts as an anti-freezing agent in the coolant in automotive and AC methods that either are fixed on the chiller or in the handlers of air conditioner in outdoors or can be freezed below the freezing point of water . In the heating process or cooling process ethylene glycol is that liquid which transfers the heat from the employment of geothermal heat pump.

The ethylene glycol gets energy from the source of water or splits heat to the sink, relying on whether the process is being utilized for heating or cooling. The pure ethylene glycol gets freezed at about nearly -12 degree Celsius however, when is combined with water it gets freezed at the lower temperature. It is moreover used as a dehydrating agent and also as an inhibitor of hydration. It is used in the PCs, projection TVs and also in some of the vaccines. It is also used in the synthesis of organic products to secure the carbonyl components such as ketones and aldehydes.

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