Ethylene Glycol Direct Hydration of Ethylene Oxide.

Ethylene Glycol: Petroleum-Based Routes and Their Prospects
Ethylene glycol, also known as glycol, is a crucial basic organic raw material in the petrochemical industry. Given the volatile price of petroleum today, finding an economical route for ethylene glycol production has become a research hotspot. This paper analyzes and compares the petroleum-based and non-petroleum-based routes for ethylene glycol production, and reviews their advantages and disadvantages.

This is the traditional method for large-scale ethylene glycol production. In this process, ethylene oxide and water are mixed in a molar ratio of 1:20 to 1:22. The ethylene oxide reacts completely to form a crude mixture, which is then subjected to multiple evaporations for dehydration and vacuum fractionation to yield ethylene glycol, along with by-products such as diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol. The overall yield is approximately 88%.

Increasing the amount of water can reduce the formation of by-products and improve the conversion rate of ethylene oxide. However, the large water input creates significant challenges in obtaining high-purity products. Furthermore, the production equipment for this process requires multiple evaporators, and a large amount of energy is consumed for product separation, resulting in a process with a long flow, high equipment investment, and high energy consumption.