ELECTROLYTIC INDUSTRIES

1.________________is extensively consumed by the chemical process industries, not only to ___________
through electric motors but to give ______________ and directly to cause _____. Energy in the form of
electricity causes ___________ that are used by the electrolytic industries. The process being used is
_________which is the dissociation of electrolyte into ions at the electrodes by the passage of electric current.
A number of metals like _______, ________, ______, ________, ______, ______- and ________ are
manufactured electrolytically.

1___________most abundant metal in the world.

2.___________It makes up 8% of the solid portion of the earths crust.
3.____________major nonferrous metal

4.____________commonly alloyed with other metals such as _______, ________, ______, ________, ______ and
__________.

5.____________ dissociation of electrolyte into ions at the ________ by the _______________.

History:
1.IN _________, aluminum metal was first obtained in pure form By _____ who heated ___________ with a
____________.
2. _______: _________ produce aluminum from sodium-aluminum chloride by heating ___________.
3. _________: __________ produce the first aluminum by the present-day large-scale process, electrolysis of
alumina bath of fused cryolite.
4. ___________was granted a French patent for a process similar to that of ______.

MANUFACTURE(Production of Aluminium)

Properties of Aluminum
1.____________ aluminium is only about one-third the weight of steel.

2.____________Significant weight savings can be made in almost every type of mechanical application.

3.___________ Because aluminium quickly forms an impervious oxide skin on exposed surfaces, it is highly
resistant to atmospheric corrosion, even in marine conditions. So it

4.___________does not require painting for protection.

5.___________ The specific electrical conductivity of aluminium makes it indispensable for electronics and
electrics.

6.____________Aluminium cables carry twice as much current as copper of the same weight.

7.___________High thermal conductivity makes it very suitable for heating and cooling applications.

8.__________It is easy to cast, or die-cast to precise and complex shapes.

9.__________It can be forged, rolled to a superfine foil, and extruded into intricate sections, or pressed.
10.__________Aluminium is also one of the easiest and fastest materials to machine.

11.__________ Aluminium alloys can be stiff or supple, especially strong or particularly corrosion-resistant.

12._________It is easy to tailor the metal, by alloying and heat treatment, to meet a wide range of needs.

13.__________Aluminium is a "clean" material.

14._________It looks good without further finishing, but takes kindly to a wide range of applied coatings, from
paints to coloured anodising.

15.____________Aluminium is easily reprocessed using 5% of the energy needed for primary smelting:

16.____________ almost one third of all the aluminium used today is produced from scrap.

Some uses of Aluminum

1.__________A very light, silvery-white metal and the eight most abundant element in the world.
2.magnesium Major ores are ____________ (________), _____ (_______) and ______(_____________).

6
3.___________ found in seawater which contains 1.310 tons of magnesium per cubic kilometer of seawater.

4.________Considered as worlds lightest structural metal.

History:
The existence of magnesium was discovered by _________in _________.
Magnesium was first isolated in____ by the French chemist, ________.
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF MAGNESIUM BY ELECTROLYSIS is credited to _______, the
German scientist, who made a small laboratory cell for the electrolysis of fused magnesium chloride in
1852.
COMMERCIAL ELECTROLYTIC MAGNESIUM began in Germany in _______, by using a
modification of Bunsen's cell.
___________ was used for photographic flash powder and in pyrotechnics in the late 1918.
_____________was fabricated into complicated castings, sheets and forgings in 1930.
Uses:
Largest single use of magnesium is in aluminum alloying for building structures used in varied places as
space vehicles and automotive parts.
For preparation of Grignard reagent, pyrotechnics and explosives, sacrificial anodes to prevent
corrosion, lightweight housing for power tools and automobiles.

Manufacture:
A. Electrolytic Process
_______________ is the cheapest method of making magnesium.
The source of raw material for the manufacture of magnesium is the ____________that occurs
naturally in salt lakes.
 ELECTROTHERMAL INDUSTRIES
I. INTRODUCTION

____________ can be attained in an ____________which is probably the most general

term used for a group of heating apparatus using electrical energy as a source.

The high temperature attained in an electric furnace provides two important changes:
1. ________________
2. New conditions of _________ are established as a result of which new _________ not
known before the electric furnace have been produced
Ex. Silicon and calcium carbides

Advantages of Electric Furnace

1. It affords more _________and more ____________with less _______ compare to other types of
furnaces, such as ____ or ____________.
2. It is much ___________ and more______ to ________ than the fuel fired or combustion furnaces.
3. It is usually operated by __________ of large _____________, whereas the electrolytic industries
required direct current.
4. Temperature as high as 4100C can be attained in these furnaces, whereas the highest temperature
attained in combustion furnace is only 1700C.

II. ELECTROTHERMAL FURNACES

A. Arc Furnaces
Heat is __________ in the ___arc between two or more ________ which are usually
of ______ or _______which can burn only in _____________.
 .1

1. Indirect Arc Furnace

Heat is transferred solely by _________ and _________. This technique was employed in
_______________, which are, however, no longer in use because they are not economical.

2. Direct Arc Furnace

Heat is transferred via the ______ produced by the arc by ______, ________, and
__________ to the melt.

Applications:
______________________ are melted in arc furnaces in which the arc is situated above the
molten slag.
In vacuum arc remelting (VAR) a consumable electrode, made from the metal to be
melted/refined, is melted in a vacuum to produce high-purity metals. An example is the
production of ______________from titanium sponge.

B. Resistance Furnace
In these furnaces heat transfer occurs either directly or indirectly according to Ohms and
Joules laws. The higher the resistance of a conductor or the larger the current, the more electric
energy is converted into heat.

1. Direct heating resistance furnace

When the ___________ acts as the _______ required for the necessary ____, the furnace
is called direct heating resistance furnace.
 Applications:
Resistance furnaces for _________, e.g., production of __________and _____.
Resistance furnaces for the production of ___, ___, ____, ___, and ___ or their intermediate
products from ___ and ___ materials and ___.
__________ (________) for the production of clean _______ or __________ metals and alloys
such as____, _____, and ____.
___________ cells for the production of ______ and ___metals may also be considered to be
electrochemical thermal reactors.

2. Indirect heating resistance furnace.

Indirect heating is mostly performed in a _____________ in which heating elements,
situated in the walls or suspended in the chamber, transfer their heat via radiation,
conduction, and convection to the object to be heated.

Applications:
This type of furnace is applied for heat treatment of ___, ___, and for the production of
carbides.
C. Induction Furnace
In induction furnaces the heat is generated according to Lenzs, Ohms, and Joules laws.
An AC coil induces a potential in an electrical conductor (in induction furnaces solids and/or
melts) situated inside the coil due to the changing magnetic field, which creates eddy currents.
The eddy currents or induced current produce heat.
1. Crucible induction furnaces have a cylindrical induction coil consisting of water-cooled copper
tubes. The crucible is located inside the coil and usually consists of rammed or brick refractories,
graphite, or clay graphite.
Appications:
Crucible furnaces are used mainly to melt particulate cast iron, (stainless) steel, base
metals, copper, and aluminum.

2. In the channel induction furnace the induction coil is located under or beside the crucible and
has an iron core. The coil is enclosed in a channel. The metal in the channel is heated and
pumped back to the metal reservoir in the crucible by the repulsive force of the coil and the
induced currents.
Applications:
Channel furnaces are applied in the ferrous industry as a holding furnace.
In the nonferrous industry they are also used as a melting furnace for aluminum, zinc, and
copper.

D. Electron-Beam Furnaces
In electron-beam furnaces electron guns produce high energy electrons, which impart their
energy to the furnace charge to affect its melting.
 Applications:
Electron-beam furnaces are used to melt and/or refine refractory metals such as
vanadium, niobium, and tantalum; metals such as molybdenum and tungsten; reactive
metals such as zirconium and hafnium; and ceramics such as zirconia, alumina, and
uranium carbide.

E. Plasma Furnaces
The principal difference between plasma furnaces and arc furnaces is the use of a plasma
torch instead of electrodes.
A plasma is a partially ionized (up to 50 %) gas that contains electrons, ions, energized
molecules, dissociated molecules, neutral molecules, and atoms
Applications:
Plasma furnaces have been employed commercially, e.g., to produce ferrochromium, to
melt steel scrap, and to recover valuable metals from steel flue dust

F. Miscellaneous Types of Heating

Although laser furnaces are nonexistent, many applications of laser heating have been
reported in metallurgy, e.g., in cutting, welding, machining, and surface treatment of metals.
In addition to the heating methods discussed, infrared, dielectric, and microwave heating
are also available, as these are not presently used to effect a chemical reaction at high
temperature on an industrial scale.

III. ARTIFICIAL ABRASIVES

A. Silicon Carbide (Carborundum)

Silicon carbide (SiC) is now manufactured by making use of sand or silica and carbon.
The sources of carbon are coke, pitch, petroleum cokes and anthracite. The sand contains pure
silica (98 to 99.5%) SiO2

The various reactions involved in the manufacture of silicon carbide are

SiO2+ 2C (amorphous) Si + 2CO + 144.8 k.cal
Si + C (amorphous) SiC - 30.5 k.cals
SiO2+ 3C (amorph) SiC + 2C0 + 114.3 k.cals

The temperature is maintained at 2000C. Higher temperature is prevented as SiC is

decomposed into graphite at high temperature.

B. Calcium Carbide
Calcium carbide is commercially manufactured from carbon and quick lime at 2000-
2200C in a specially designed calcium carbide electric furnace.
CaO + 3C (amorphous) CaC2+ CO
 H = +103 k.cals
The carbon is obtained from coke, anthracite or petroleum coke. Coke has, however,
widely been used. The quick lime is obtained by during limestone containing about 97 percent
CaCO3.
CaCO3 CaO + CO2

C. Boron Carbide (Norbide)

It is manufactured by heating boric oxide with coke in a carbon resistance furnace at
2600C. The product is about 99% boron carbide (B4C)
2B2O3+ 7C B4C + 6CO
It is used in the nozzles for sand blasting.

D. Boron Nitride (Borazon)

Its hardness is comparable with that of diamond with the advantage of resisting oxidation
much better. It is prepared by converting hexagonal boron nitride into cubic form at 1650C
temperature and 1 million psi pressure (6.9 Gpa). It is suitable for use in production grinding.

E. Synthetic Graphite
The raw material for the manufacture of artificial graphite is petroleum coke or anthracite
or pitch coke. All these contain small amount of ash (SiO 2) which acts as a catalyst. The reaction
for the allotropic change is 3000C.
C (amorphous) C (graphite) H=-2.5 k.cals

IV. MANUFACTURING

A. Silicon Carbide
Acheson Process
Special type of open top indirect heating resistance furnace is used for manufacture of SiC.
The furnace was consisting of a movable side wall with opening for gases, electrode, heating
core and permanent bed of cast iron pieces lined with fire brick on which the charge was placed.
A major disadvantage of the Acheson furnace is loss of by-product CO and even SO2 and
dust contains in the waste gases leads to pollution. These disadvantages of Acheson process leads
to the development of ESK (Elektroschmelzwerk Kemptent) process.
ESK (Elektroschmelzwerk Kemptent) Process
The ESK furnace consists of floor electrode, gas-permeable furnace bed, gas collector, plastic sheet and
heating core. Heating core used for this ESK furnace was horizontal as same in case of Acheson furnace. The
mixture of coke and sand was charged by wheel loaders into reaction zone, until the zone was full of raw
material or charge reached the top of the graphite columns. Graphite was placed on each electrode of
furnace. ESK furnace is considerably larger than Acheson furnace.
B. Calcium Carbide
 Manufacture Process
Coke and lime stone were crushed individually in crusher. Crushed coke was passed
from dryer where it was dried and then charged into the calcium carbide furnace. Coal was
charged into air swept pulverizer where it was pulverized with hot air. Resulting coal and
crushed lime stone were mixed and then passed from the kiln where counter currently hot
air was passed. The hot material was cooled in cooler and mixed with dried coke.
The mixture of dried coke, coal and crushed lime stone were then charged into
calcium carbide furnace. The reaction mass in furnace was heated at 2000 2200C. Air was
passed from the bottom of the furnace to maintain the temperature. Hot gases evolved from the
furnace were scrubbed by water in scrubber. Then reaction product was sent to the cooler. Cooled
calcium carbide product was then crushed and transferred to the packaging section.

V. REFERENCES

1. AUSTIN, G.R. (1945). Shreves Chemical Process Industries 5 th Edition. Mc-Graw Hill, Inc.

2. http://www.nkpatel.co.in/Old%20course/C-214/UNIT%203A%20ELECTROTHERMAL
%20INDUSTRIES.pdf
3. https://readingrockets.surge.sh/03-valerie-jaskolski-1/book-a-study-of-electrothermal-and-
electrolytic-indus.pdf
4. http://www.nptel.ac.in/courses/103106109/31-40/Lecture%2032%20Electrothrmal
%20industries.pdf
5. http://content.inflibnet.ac.in/data-server/eacharya-
documents/53e49b3fe4130172234433e1_INFIEP_57/27/ET/57-27-ET-V1-
S1__electrothrmal__industries.pdfhttps://web.vscht.cz/~vun/Metallurgical%20Furnaces.pdf