I agree. Calcium carbide is mainly used for production of
acetylene for welding where it is not available in tanks. In the
West that is increasingly rare. My guess is that carbide will soon
cease to be available at reasonable cost. (It is already hazardous cargo.)
Mark
At 10:07 PM 8/23/2012, DONALD G. DAVIS wrote:
>Mark,
>You'd be the best to answer this, wasn't calcium carbide a byproduct of
something else, and used to produce commercial acetylene gas quantities? What
is the current practice to get the gas?
>john Lyles
No, calcium carbide was never a byproduct. It was, from the late
1800s, and still is, produced by reacting calcium carbonate and coke in
electric furnaces. Its major use is still for making acetylene, but where
petroleum and natural gas are plentiful, most acetylene today is derived
from those instead. The Wikipedia article "calcium carbide" explains it.
--Donald
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