Comparison of new two-step calcium carbide production process and traditional production process using numerical simulation of heat transfer and chemical reaction

The traditional calcium carbide (CaC2) production process (TCCPP) uses block CaC2 and coke as the main raw materials and produces CaC2 through electrothermal smelting in an arc furnace. The new two-step CaC2 production process (NTCCPP) uses hot pellets of calcium oxide powder and pulverized coal after pelletizing and pyrolysis as raw materials in the arc furnace to replace the block calcium oxide and coke to produce CaC2. In this study, the single-particle heat transfer and reaction models of TCCPP and NTCCPP were established. The reactions of the two processes under the same production conditions were numerically simulated, and the strengthening mechanism of NTCCPP was explored. The result showed that after the same time period, the mass of CaC2 in the traditional CaC2 raw material was lower than that in the pellet raw material of the new process. A higher initial temperature (973 K) can shorten the heating time required for the pellet to reach the reaction temperature and the CaC2 average mass fraction of the pellet with a higher initial temperature was higher than cold pellet in the same reaction time. These findings provide a reference for improving the design and operation of the NTCCPP.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Automated summary

The study establishes heat transfer and reaction models for the traditional and new calcium carbide production processes and compares their reactions through numerical simulations. The results show that the new process using pelletized raw materials produces a higher mass of CaC2 in the same time period, and a higher initial temperature can shorten the time for the pellets to reach the reaction temperature.