An overview about the production and especially the handling of acetylene as well as the different reactions acetylene can undergo is studied. The high energy needed for its production makes acetylene much more expensive than olefins, although acetylene-based routes often require fewer production steps and show high overall product selectivity. The calcium carbide process produces acetylene as the only hydrocarbon and uses exclusively coal as a carbon source. The materials used for reactors and other equipment in contact with gaseous acetylene should be either steel that does not contain any alloy components except carbon or highly alloyed stainless steel. The use of pressurized acetylene in an advanced setup requires a compressor, as the available equipment allows just releasing acetylene with a relative pressure of 1.5 bar from the gas bottle. Base-catalyzed reactions of acetylene are more frequently encountered, since the protons of acetylene are relatively acidic for a hydrocarbon and thus, the molecule can be activated by bases.