Ethylene is a hydrocarbon which has the formula C2H4. Ethylene is widely used in the chemical industry, and its worldwide production. It is a colorless flammable gas with a faint “sweet and musky” odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds).

Ethylene is the raw material used in the manufacture of polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS) as well as fibres and other organic chemicals. These products are used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer markets such as the packaging, transportation, electrical/electronic, textile and construction industries as well as consumer chemicals, coatings and adhesives.