Petroleum Products: Antifreeze

We all know we need to put oil in our engines to keep it lubricated, but did you know that your antifreeze is derived from oil as well? Yet another feat of petrochemical engineering, antifreeze is used to both as the name suggests—to keep the coolant system from freezing—and inversely, to keep it from overheating.

The liquid is usually water-based, as water has coolant properties, and then some petrochemicals are thrown in to keep that water from freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. These chemicals are typically a type of alcohol (think about that bottle of Jack in the freezer that’s still not frozen), and a variety of them may be used.

Some of them, although from what we’ve gleaned not all are contemporarily used, include glycerol, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol.  Ethylene glycol is highly toxic and has a veritable laundry list of adverse side effects if ingested; propylene glycol, on the other hand, is considerably less toxic and has been used more commonly to curtail some of the danger involved in accidental ingestion.

You may also remember from previous articles that propylene glycol is used in deodorants and shaving creams to provide for smooth applicability and as a moisturizer, but what we didn’t mention is that the chemical is also commonly used in processed foodstuffs, such as ice cream, baked goods and cookie dough.