Ethylene glycol combustion

Ethylene glycol combusted spontaneously when it was added to potassium permanganate at ambient temperature and at 100°C in the presence of ammonium or potassium dichromate, sodium chlorite or silver chlorate. With potassium dichromate, the medium reached 170°C. 

Besides freeze protection, antifreezes provide many other performance properties that enhance the operation of a heat-transfer system. Because the internal combustion engine is by far the largest antifreeze appHcation, and ethylene glycol is the predorninant antifreeze in use, the following focus on the performance properties of an ethylene glycol-based antifreeze and their relationship to engine cooling. 

Environment Internal Hot combustion gases, moving piston External Cooling water containing ethylene glycol... 

Whenever a hydrocarbon backbone has two hydroxyl radicals attached to it, it becomes a special type of alcohol known as a glycol. The simplest of the glycols, and the most important, is ethylene glycol, whose molecular formula C2H4(OH)2. The molecular formula can also be written CHjOHCHjOH and may be printed as such on some labels. Ethylene glycol is a colorless, thick liquid with a sweet taste, is toxic by ingestion and by inhalation, and among its many uses is a permanent antifreeze and coolant for automobiles. It is a combustible liquid with a flash point of 240"F. 

Explosion temperatures were determined for a wide range of combustible liquid and solid organic materials sealed into glass tubes with potassium perchlorate. The lowest temperatures were shown by mixtures with ethylene glycol (240°), cotton Enters (245°) and furfural (270°C). 

Annikov, V. E. et al., Chem. Abs., 1983, 99, 73190 MRH Acetone 4.89/18, ethanol 4.73/18, ethylene glycol 4.35/26 The detonation and combustion limits of mixtures of sodium perchlorate, water and ethylene glycol, glycerol, 1,3-butylene glycol, 2,3-butylene glycol, formamide, dimethylformamide, ethanolamine, diaminoethane, acetone, urea and galactose have been studied. 

The nitrogen cleaning loop consists of a filter to remove any dust, a platinum catalyst bed to remove ethylene glycol, acetaldehyde and oligomers by combustion at quasi-stoichiometric oxygen ratios, and a gas dryer for the removal of moisture down to dew points below —40 °C. The oxygen content of the nitrogen is typically <10 ppm. 

The following equation represents the combustion of ethylene glycol, (CH20H)2. 

There is one use to which levulinic acid can immediately be put. We have found that its sodium salt has ideal properties for an antifreeze agent. It has definite advantages over ethylene glycol for this purpose. It is a solid and is therefore more easily marketed than the liquid glycol. It is less corrosive to the iron parts of internal combustion engines than is tap water itself and has no detrimental effect on the rubber connections used in engines. 

P. Chereau, FrP 1318773 (1963) CA 58, 13702 (1963), claims rocket fuel or incendiary composed of a combustible metal, eg, Al, Mg, or Li or a liquid fuel such as kerosine, in fine grains or droplets encapsulated in situ by formation of a polymer skin. Thus, 0.18 of 2,4-tolylene diisocyanate is dissolved in 41.8g of paraffin oil. A portion (24.5g) of this mixt is added drop by drop to a stirred soln contg 2g of ethylene glycol in 250g water. Discrete spherical particles... 

Fig. 117. Low-temperature explosions of mixtures of potassium perchlorate with some combustible substances /—with polyester resin (temperature of the thermostat 296°C), //—with ethylene glycol (temperature of the thermostat 241°C), (according to Gro-...

Ethylene glycol, commonly used as automobile antifreeze, contains only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Combustion analysis of a 23.46 mg sample yields 20.42 mg of H2O and 33.27 mg of C02. What is the empirical formula of ethylene glycol What is its molecular formula if it has a molecular mass of 62.0 amu ... 

CH2OH)2 (liq.). Stohman and Langbein3 and Louguinine2 measured the heat of combustion of ethylene glycol (see Kharasch1). 

Ethylene glycol is traditionally associated with use as permanent-type antifreeze for internal-combustion engine cooling systems. Other uses include the production of polyesters for fibers, films, and coatings, in hydraulic fluids, in the manufacture of low freezing-point explosives, glycol ethers, and deicing solutions. 

Sodium chlorite in contact with sulfuric acid does not generate heat if the quantity is small. However, it can ignite from accumulated heat if the quantity is large. Table 4.7 shows contact reactions of oxidizers with combustibles other than ethylene glycol. 

In order to determine the stability of mixtures of oxidizers and combustibles, the SC-DSC (temperature rise of 10°C/min) of mixtures of oxidizers and ethylene glycol was measured 111. The results are shown in Table 4.8. It should be noted that the stability of a mixture of oxidizer and ethylene glycol cannot be assumed from the reactivity of the oxidizer itself. 

The reactivity of an oxidizer varies depending on the combustible substance used. Sulfur and red phosphorus are higher in reactivity with sodium chlorite and sodium chlorate than ethylene glycol. 

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