Hydration of Ethylene

The hydration of ethylene to produce ethanol is useful in producing ethanol for use as fuel or chemical additives. Ethanol is used widely in a variety of application of which includes the use of denatured1 ethanol in cleaning and ethanol in addition of alcohol content.

Ethylene is hydrated by the following equation:

$\text{CH}_2 \text{CH}_{2(aq)} + \text{H}_2 \text{O}_{(l)} \rightarrow \text{CH}_3 \text{CH}_2 \text{OH}_{(aq)}$