GB521281A - Improvements in or relating to dissolved acetylene - Google Patents

Abstract

521,281. Dissolved acetylene. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO., E. I., SCOTT, N. D., and HARRIS, C. H. Nov. 11, 1938, No. 32885. [Class 2 (i)] Solutions of acetylene are prepared by contacting acetylene or an acetylene containing gas with a liquid or dissolved organic compound having at least one carbonyl group and at least one dialkyl amino group. The preferred compound is dimethyl formamide. Other compounds mentioned include the dialkylacetamides tetralkyl ureas, tetralkyl oxamides, methyl and ethyl esters of dialkylcarbonic acids, methyl and ethyl esters of dialkyl glycine, methyl and ethyl esters of dialkyl oxamic acids, and acetonyl dialkylamines. In the case of compounds which are solid, there may be employed a solution of the coinpound in a liquid which may be either another member of the same class of compounds or a non-solvent for acetylene such as a hydrocarbon. For shipment and storage, containers are preferably filled with a porous material such as corn pith or balsa wood impregnated with the compounds of the present invention. The class of compounds used according to the present invention serve also as selective solvents for acetylene when it is present in admixture with elementary gases such as hydrogen or nitrogen. Polyacetylenes are particularly soluble in the compounds and this property may be used according to a further feature of the invention to separate a mixture of polyacetylenes, acetylene, and other hydrocarbon gases such as ethylene by first scrubbing the mixture with such a small amount of solvent that only the polyacetylehe is dissolved and then passing the scrubbed gas through a larger amount of the solvent. Acetylene is readily regenerated from solution of these solvents by heating, but polyacetylenes are regenerated by passing a current of inert gas accompanied by very moderate heating.