Calcium Carbide

Basics

• A chemical compound with the chemical formula of CaC2
• Used for production of Acetylene and for Carbon Capture

Production

“Easy” Way

• Used Metallic Calcium and

“Hard” Way

• The more traditional large scale route
• Uses Calcium Oxide and Carbon
  • Industrially “Lime” and Coke are used
• These are put into an Electric Arc Furnace
• Then Calcium Carbide is Produced

To-Do’s

• Open Source Electric Arc Furnace
• Open Source Carbon Arc Electrode / Carbon Electrode
  • The main DIY/OS method used is the Carbon Electrode from 6v Lantern Battery
  • The main downside about this is they are becoming harder to find, and this is a bit wasteful of a sourcing method
  • Smaller Electrodes (Even “Pencil Leads” ) are pretty common
  • Synthetic Graphite seems to be made from a Carbon Matrix and/or Base such as Carbon Black / Petcoke which is then put in a Kiln and heated until fusion
    • Need to look into if pressure is needed too / if so how much
    • Carbon-Carbon Composites are a related material
  • Another Disadvantage is Even “Proper” Materials like Fire Bricks and Refractory Rement etc still degrade over time, and ESPECIALLY do so under the conditions of an EAF
    • Looking into industry solutions may be needed, if they use Sacrificial Walls or Water Jacketed Walls etc
    • Emissive Heat Resistant Coatings may be relevant as well
    • To an extent, a Carbon Foam “bowl” / Crucible and a SINGLE Graphite Electrode may suffice and be far easier to produce

Internal Links

• Acetylene production
• Regenerative Calcium Cycle

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Calcium Carbide