What is Ethyl Alcohol?

Ethyl Alcohol (Ethyl Alcohol), commonly known as alcohol, fire wine, is a kind of alcohol compounds, the chemical formula is C2H6O, the structure of the simple formula for CH3CH2OH or C2H5OH. ethanol combustibility is very good, it is commonly used as a fuel, solvent, and disinfectant, etc., and is widely used in organic synthesis.

Ethanol at room temperature and pressure is a volatile colourless transparent liquid, low toxicity, can be mutually soluble with water in any ratio, the solution has a wine flavor, slightly irritating, but also miscible with most organic solvents. Ethanol vapour mixed with air can form explosive mixtures. Ethanol is a basic organic chemical raw materials, also used as organic solvents, beverages, alcohol and food industry.

Ethanol can be used in the manufacture of acetic acid, beverages, flavours, dyes, fuels, etc., medical commonly used volume fraction of 70% to 75% of ethanol as a disinfectant. Ethanol has a wide range of uses in the chemical industry, health care, food industry, agricultural production and other fields

Introduction to the application areas of ethanol

95% alcohol can be used to wipe down UV lamps. This type of alcohol is commonly used in hospitals, while at home it will only be used for cleaning camera lenses.

70% to 75% alcohol can be used for disinfection. If the concentration of alcohol is too high, it will form a protective film on the surface of the bacteria, preventing it from entering the body of the bacteria and making it difficult to kill the bacteria completely. If the concentration of alcohol is too low, although it can enter the bacteria, but it can not solidify the proteins in its body, and also can not kill the bacteria completely. Therefore, 75% alcohol disinfection is the most effective.

40% to 50% alcohol can be used to prevent bedsores. Long-term bedridden patients' back, waist and buttocks can cause bedsores due to long-term pressure, such as massage a little 40% to 50% alcohol into the hands, evenly massaging the patient's pressure parts, you can achieve the purpose of promoting local blood circulation and preventing the formation of bedsores.

25% to 50% alcohol can be used for physical fever. Patients with high fever can use it to rub their bodies to achieve the purpose of cooling. Rubbing the skin with alcohol can make the patient's skin vasodilatation, increase the skin's ability to dissipate heat, alcohol evaporation and heat absorption, so that the patient's body surface temperature is lowered, and the symptoms are relieved.

Food and Drink

Ethanol is the main ingredient of wine, and the amount is related to the type of wine. It should be noted that the ethanol in drinking wine is not added to the ethanol, but is obtained by microbial fermentation, and depending on the type of microorganisms used there will also be related substances such as acetic acid or sugar.

Ethanol is also used in the manufacture of acetic acid, beverages, baked goods, confectionery, ice-cream, sauces, and so on.

Organic raw materials

Ethanol is also a basic organic chemical material, can be used to make acetaldehyde, acetic acid, ether, ethyl acetate, ethylamine and other chemical raw materials, but also the production of solvents, dyes, paints, flavours, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, rubber, plastics, synthetic fibres, detergents and other products raw materials.

Organic solvent

Ethanol is miscible with water and most organic solvents, and is widely used as a solvent for organic chemical reactions and as a solvent for adhesives, nitro spray paints, varnishes, cosmetics, printing inks, paint removers and so on. 

Ethanol is also a common solvent for liquid preparations, used in compositions, tinctures and injections. The polarity of ethanol is smaller than that of water, and it can dissolve moderately polar, weakly polar, and non-polar components of traditional Chinese medicine, such as alkaloids and their salts, glycosides, volatile oils, resins, tannins, organic acids, and lipophilic pigments. Alcohol is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to make medicinal wine and to deliver Chinese medicines in order to make the effects of the medicines more effective; it is also used for storage and safekeeping of items using its antiseptic effect.

As the pigments in chloroplasts are soluble in anhydrous ethanol, anhydrous ethanol is commonly used in biology to extract the pigments in chloroplasts.

Automotive Fuel

Ethanol can be used alone as a vehicle fuel or mixed with petrol as a blended fuel. Adding 5%~20% fuel ethanol to gasoline to make ethanol gasoline can reduce the pollution of the air from vehicle exhaust. In addition, ethanol can also be added to gasoline as an antiknock agent to replace tetraethyl lead.