Which poisonous gas has a sweet smell? Acetylene is a colourless, poisonous gas with a sweet smell. It is also called ethyne and can be made from natural gas. This colourless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in pure form and thus is usually handled as a solution. Mixtures of acetylene and air or oxygen can explode. Acetylene burns in air with a bright flame and used to be widely used for lighting.
Acetylene burns in oxygen with a very hot flame. The oxy-acetylene torch mixes and burns acetylene and oxygen. It is used to cut through iron and steel and to weld, or join together, metals. First used in 1906 for welding and cutting metals, acetylene has earned an enviable reputation for being the strongest, safest, and simplest to use of all the fuel gases. Here we examine why.
Acetylene is also used as a raw material for the production of various chemicals, such as polyester plastics, polyurethane, and more. Acetylene gas is colourless and odourless when pure. Industrial acetylene has a distinctive odour and is combustible in nature. Today, acetylene gas plants produce this gas in large volumes.
Acetylene is made of two hydrogen and two carbon atoms and is chemically represented as C2H2. This hydrocarbon is produced by one of two processes—chemical reaction or thermal cracking—using different types of raw materials. Calcium carbide is the most popular raw material used for the commercial production of acetylene. It is created by mixing lime and coke in a blast furnace. The product manufactured is calcium carbide. It is reacted with water to create acetylene gas, and this reaction can be easily formulated as CaC2 + 2H2O → C2H2 + Ca (OH)2. Acetylene, calcium hydroxide, and heat are the byproducts of this reaction.
The thermal cracking process, on the other hand, makes use of natural gases, including naphtha, crude oil, bunker C, and more. These gases are subjected to a high temperature for producing acetylene, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and more. Acetylene is separated by dissolving the product in solvents such as anhydrous ammonia, water, acetone, or chilled methanol.
Content for this question contributed by Scott Talbot, resident of Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA
