It is slightly lighter than air and has a garlic-like odor. Acetylene is stored in high pressure cylinders filled with a porous material and containing acetone, into which the acetylene is dissolved. Unless dissolved in a solvent, acetylene will dissociate at pressures above 15 psig and form lamp black and hydrogen.
Heat is generated with dissociation, which in turn, produces a danger of explosion.
Acetylene is manufactured by the reaction of water with calcium carbide. It is also manufactured by thermal cracking of hydrocarbons, or by partial combustion of methane and oxygen. Acetylene has become increasingly prominent as a raw material for a whole series of organic compounds, among them acetaldehyde, acetic gas, and acetic anhydride. Flammable Gas DOT ID No. UN1001 CAS No.