Ethylene Oxide (EO, C2H4O) is a chemical widely used in the health care industry to sterilise medical devices that is a colourless flammable toxic compound obtained by the oxidation of ethylene, and used for the manufacture of the automotive antifreezer, surfactants, solvents, amines, sterilant and the treatment of spices and other foodstuffs, and in the synthesis of ethylene glycol. An EO is highly toxic and dangerous for household application and consumers that kills all known bacteria and viruses and is extremely harmful to human life with carcinogenic and DNA altering properties.
Reference Definition by Wikipedia: Ethylene Oxide (EO), called oxirane by IUPAC, is an organic compound with the formula C2H4O. It is a cyclic ether and the simplest epoxide: a three-membered ring consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Ethylene oxide is a colorless and flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor. Because it is a strained ring, ethylene oxide easily participates in a number of addition reactions that result in ring-opening. Ethylene oxide is isomeric with acetaldehyde and with vinyl alcohol. Ethylene oxide is industrially produced by oxidation of ethylene in the presence of silver catalyst.
Related Definitions in the Project: The Plant and Process Unit
