Talk:Ethylene glycol

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I meant instead: where does the ethylene come from? Or rather, from what natural source does the ethylene come? Commercial quantities of ethylene production starts with either natural gas liquids (from natural gas) or from naptha, which comes from oil refining. In nature, ethylene is produced by the ripening of tomatoes.

It is like to speak about EDTA ethylenediaminetetraacetic ( http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/edta/edtah.htm ) theire is no ethylene in this molecule. But it's named like that.

Does anyone know the source of ethylene glycol or how it is produced?

See the article - from ethylene, which is converted to ethylene oxide, which then reacts with water and forms ethylene glycol. --Shaddack 00:30, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Anyone know the boiling points of ethylene glycol mixtures?

See the tables here: http://www.ashchem.com/adc/chemicals/faq_answer.asp?typeID=3&is_header=N --Shaddack 00:30, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Can ethylene glycol (not ethylene) be produced or found in nature?

Is it true that antifreeze can be diluted and poured into a sewer with no environmental problems? It's degraded by bacteria? — Omegatron 03:58, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Safety

A nasty story of a man left blind and deaf after ingesting antifreeze. I would have added it to this article, but the story doesn't definitively say that the substance involved was ethylene glycol. Richard W.M. Jones 15:29, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Diethylene glycol

The information about diethylene glycol toxicity, (Haiti, Austria) although a related chemical, is not really appropriate for this document, perhaps it should be in diethylene glycol.

[edit] ==Industrial Hazards==

I like including a reference to the "Apollo 1" fire in this section. However, the use of the word "caused" wrt the fire seems wrong. Unless someone can quote a more authoritative reference, the following appears in NASA's final report on the accident under PART V. INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSES:

 "There is no substantial evidence that coolant was involved in the initiation of the fire. 
  However, this coolant, when spilled on damaged electrical wires and equipment, provides 
  both the fuel and the ignition mechanism to start a fire. This has been demonstrated in 
  laboratory tests."

ref: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/invest.html

The coolant referred to is "RS-89", "a mixture of 62.5 percent ethylene glycol, 35.7 percent water, and 1.8 percent stabilizer and corrosion inhibitor."

I think words/phrases like "implicated in", "associated with", "possible cause", etc. would be more appropriate, e.g. "In the Apollo 1 fire catastrophe a coolant comprised mostly of ethylene glycol was implicated as a possible cause via this reaction."

70.92.87.231 22:43, 18 January 2007 (UTC)