LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ethylene: Ethylene Oxide
built 639 days ago
Odor and Appearance: Ethylene oxide is a colorless gas at room temperature. At temperatures below 52oF., it is a clear liquid. Pure EtO is quite flammable and explosive; to reduce this hazard, EtO is usually sold as a mixture with non-flammable inert gases. Although EtO has a faint, sweet, ether-like odor, most people cannot smell it until the amount in the air is far above a safe concentration; therefore, you can be overexposed without knowing it. Do not rely on your sense of smell to warn you that you are being overexposed.
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Ethylene is the world’s most widely used petrochemical in terms of volume. It is the key building block for production of higher value-added chemicals including polyethylene, ethylene dichloride (EDC), ethylene oxide and styrene.Westlake operates alarge ethylene complex near Lake Charles, Louisiana.Most of the productionis used internally to produce higher value-added chemical products. Also, there is the capacity to produceethyleneatour vinyls operation, located in Calvert City, Kentucky. The ethylene manufactured at Calvert City is used internally in the production of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).
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Ethylene oxide is produced industrially by the oxidation of ethylene with either pure oxygen or air. The primary difference between the two processes is the sequencing of absorbers and desorbers in the separation train. Ethylene and oxygen (or air) are reacted at 10-30 atmospheres and 400-500F in a fixed bed catalytic reactor. The catalyst beds consists of large bundles of many tubes that contain supported silver catalyst spheres or rings. The tubes are 6-12 meters long and 20-50 millimeters in diameter. In the oxygen process, the reactor off-gas is fed to CO2 scrubbers, then to ethylene oxide scrubbers which absorb the ethylene oxide into the liquid phase.
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Ethylene oxide enters your body when it is released into the air you breathe or when the liquid contacts your skin. The most common effect of short-term overexposure is irritation of the skin, eyes, or nose, as described below. Chronic exposure may cause nerve damage, cancer, or effects on the reproductive system.
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Ethylene is significantly less stable than ethane and methane, so its absence in old rocks was understandable. Yet psychoactively, ethylene is quite potent, more so than ethane, methane or even nitrous oxide. From the 1930's to the 1970's, it was used for general anesthesia.
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Ethylene Oxide sterilizer and steam autoclave manufacturer and remanufacture - facility design, installation, application and submission for state and federal emission permits. Architectural, mechanical, electrical and structural engineering services - supervisory control systems - Ethylene Oxide and steam sterilization process controllers.
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Ethylene Oxide