Page 79 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

ACETYLENE

Acetyline. White atoms are
hydrogen and black atoms are
carbon. Gray sticks indicate
double bonds. PU BL I S HERS
RESOURCE GRO U P

(CaC 2 ) in 1862, however, that problem was solved, and the
demand for acetylene in lamps and other applications grew
rapidly.

HOW IT IS MADE
The original method of making acetylene by the action of
water on calcium carbide was abandoned when more efficient
methods of synthesis became available. One of those methods,
known as the Wulff process, involves the cracking of hydro-
carbons from petroleum. In this process, liquid petroleum,
which consists of many different kinds of hydrocarbons,
is heated with very hot steam, causing the hydrocarbons to
break apart (‘‘crack’’) into smaller compounds. Acetylene is
one of these compounds.
A later improvement on this procedure was developed by
the German chemist Walter Reppe (1892–1969), sometimes
called the Father of Acetylene Chemistry. Since Reppe
worked at that time for the BASF chemical corporation, the
process is also known as the BASF process of making acet-
ylene. In this procedure, hydrocarbons from petroleum are
treated with an oxidizing agent that causes them to break
apart to form smaller compounds, one of which, again, is
acetylene.

COMMON USES AND POTENTIAL HAZARDS
By far the most important use of acetylene is in the
manufacture of other chemicals, such as vinyl chloride, viny-
lidene chloride, vinyl acetate, acrylonitrile, trichloroethylene

28 CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS