The use of acetylene gas
Acetylene (commonly known as carbide gas, chemical formula C₂H₂) is the simplest alkyne with active chemical properties. It can release high temperature and intense light when burned, and is an indispensable important gas in industrial production, chemical synthesis and many professional fields. Its main uses are as follows:
（I）Metal Processing Field
This is the most traditional and extensive use of acetylene gas. When acetylene is mixed and burned with oxygen, it can produce an oxyacetylene flame with a temperature of about 3200℃. The high temperature can quickly melt metals, so it is widely used in metal welding, cutting, brazing, thermal processing and other operations. Whether it is the welding and splicing of metals such as steel, aluminum and copper, or the cutting and hole opening of thick metal plates, the oxyacetylene flame can achieve efficient operation, especially suitable for scenarios without power supply such as field operations and emergency maintenance. In addition, acetylene can also be used for auxiliary processing links such as metal annealing, tempering, bending forming, and loosening of rusted nuts and bolts.
（II）Chemical Synthesis Field
Acetylene is one of the core raw materials for organic synthesis. With the carbon-carbon triple bond in its molecule, it can undergo various reactions such as addition, polymerization and oxidation to produce various chemical products. Specifically, it includes: producing basic chemical raw materials such as acetaldehyde, acetic acid, benzene and vinyl chloride, among which vinyl chloride is the core raw material for manufacturing polyvinyl chloride (PVC); synthesizing polymer materials such as synthetic rubber, synthetic fibers and resins; preparing fine chemical products such as alkynol compounds, pharmaceutical intermediates, spices (such as jasmine aldehyde and coumarin), herbicides, coatings and plasticizers, which are widely used in textile, pharmaceutical, pesticide, building materials and other industries.
（III）Lighting Field
Acetylene emits bright and stable intense light when burned. Before the popularization of electricity, it was widely used in lighthouses, mine lamps, night construction lighting, marine navigation lighting and other scenarios, and was known as the core fuel of "carbide lamps". At present, acetylene lighting still has certain application value in remote areas inaccessible to electricity, field exploration or emergency rescue scenes.
（IV）Other Professional Fields
1. Medical and Laboratory: High-purity acetylene can be used as a flame gas for analytical technologies such as Atomic Absorption (AA) spectroscopy, for laboratory testing and industrial quality control; at the same time, acetylene is also a component of gas mixtures used for pulmonary function diagnosis tests.
2. Glass Manufacturing: Acetylene can be used as a release agent for glass forming molds, lubricating the molds to ensure the forming quality and demolding efficiency of glass products (such as glass bottles).
3. Agricultural Field: It can be used for chemical mutagenesis breeding of flowers, and in some cases, it can also be used as an auxiliary component of fruit ripening agents to accelerate the fruit ripening process.
4. Environmental Protection: Studies have found that adding acetylene to biodiesel can improve its combustion performance, reduce smoke and emissions of pollutants such as HC, CO and CO₂; in addition, the mixture of acetylene and chlorine in the air can generate ozone under irradiation, which is another ozone generation mechanism besides nitrogen dioxide photolysis.