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Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
Module: 2
Lecture: 7
ACETYLENE
INTRODUCTION
Acetylene (C2H2) is colorless gas used as a fuel and a chemical building
block. As an alkyne, acetylene is unsaturated because its two carbon atoms are
bonded together in a triple bond having CCH bond angles of 1800. It is unstable in
pure form and thus is usually handled as a solution. Pure acetylene is odorless, but
commercial grades usually have a marked odor due to impurities.
In 1836 acetylene identified as a "new carburet of hydrogen" by Edmund
Davy. The name "acetylene" was given by Marcellin Berthelot in 1860. He prepared
acetylene by passing vapours of organic compounds (methanol, ethanol, etc.)
through a red-hot tube and collecting the effluent. He also found acetylene was
formed by sparking electricity through mixed cyanogen and hydrogen gases.
Berthelot later obtained acetylene directly by passing hydrogen between the poles
of a carbon arc.
MANUFACTURE
Acetylene manufacture by following processes
1. From calcium carbide
2. From paraffin hydrocarbons by pyrolysis (Wulff process)
3. From natural gas by partial oxidation (Sachasse process)
Nowadays acetylene is mainly manufactured by the partial
natural gas (methane) or side product in ethylene stream from
hydrocarbons. Acetylene, ethylene mixture is explosive and poison
catalyst. There so acetylene is selectively hydrogenated into ethylene,
Pd-Ag catalysts.
oxidation of
cracking of
Zigler Natta
usually using
Acetylene was the main source of organic chemicals in the chemical industry
until 1950. It was first prepared by the hydrolysis of calcium carbide, a reaction
discovered by Friedrich Whler in 1862.
CaC2 + 2H2O
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Ca(OH)2 + C2H2
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
Ca(OH)2 + C2H2
H = - 32.5kcals
Manufacture
Block diagram of manufacturing process
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
Acetylene
Gas
holder
Water
Calcium carbide
Generator
Scrubber
Cacium
Hydroxide
Dryer
Waste
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
C2H2 + C2H4 + CO + H2
C2H2 + H2
C2H2 + 3H2 H = + 96.7kcals
Manufacture
Dilute Steam
Boiler
Off Gas
Dimethyl formamide
Fuel Gas
Stack Gas
Furnace
Tar trap
Electrostatic
Precipitator
Tar
Tar
Absorber
Compressor
Hydrocarbon
feed
Solvent
containing
diacetylene
Strpping
Coloumn
Absorber
Air
Stabilizer
Acetylene
Solvent to
purification
and re-use
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
methane, 38.6 kg per 100kg ethane, and 35.5kg per 100kg propane. The off-gas is
principally ethylene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane.
Kinetics and thermodynamics
The principal conditions which must be considered are as follows
Energy requirement to convert hydrocarbons to acetylene is very high and
which can be supplied by very high temperature. For paraffinic feedstock, the heat
of formation for a gram atom carbon in acetylene decreases with the increasing
length of the chain and it increases in the case of olefinic hydrocarbons. The heat
of formation is of the order of magnitude required for the dissociation of steam.
2CH4 + 174,000 Btu
C2H2 + 3H2
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CO2 + 2H2O
C2H2 + 3H2 H = + 79.8 kcals
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
Manufacture
Off
Gas
Water
Oxygen
Acetylene
Preheater
Water
Rectifying
Column
Reactor
Preheater
Stripper
Soot Filter
Natural
Gas
Cooler
Soot
Recycle Water
Polymer
Solvent
Filter
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Module: 2
Lecture: 7 Acetylene
Dr. N. K. Patel
effluent gases on the dry basis contain 8% acetylene, 54% H2, 26% CO, 5% CH4, 4%
CO2 and 3% N2 and higher acetylenes. These gases are run to a filter where using
carbon black, acetylene of 99.5% or higher purity is produced (23.5kg/1000kg of
acetylene is separated and purified in a manner as described for the Wulff process).
PROPERTIES
Molecular formula : C2H2
Molecular weight : 26.04gm/mole
Appearance
: Colourless gas
Odour
: Odourless gas
Boiling point
: -840C (sublimation point)
Melting point
: -80.80C @1.27atm
Density
: 1.097kg/m3
Solubility
: Soluble in acetone and DMF
It is transported under high pressure in acetone soaked on porous material
packed in steel cylinders
It is lighter than air
It is somewhat poisonous in nature
It burns with luminous flame and forms explosive mixture with air
USES
In the chemical manufacture of acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate,
acrylates etc.
In manufacture of acetaldehyde, trichloroethylene, acetic acid, polyvinyl
alcohol, perchloroethylene etc.
In manufacture of propagryl alcohol, butyrolactone, vinyl pyrrolidine etc.
In metallurgy industries for welding and cutting
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