Calcium carbide transportation
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Discussion: In acetylene production, calcium carbide powder needs to be transported, usually by gas-particle conveying to the generator. Question: Is it better to use nitrogen or compressed air for transportation? If nitrogen is used, is it necessary to recover it?
Since the transportation distance is not too long, dilute-phase transport can be considered, but only nitrogen can be used for transportation. The advantages of using nitrogen are as follows: 1. Nitrogen contains little moisture ； 2. High safety.
If pneumatic conveying is used, nitrogen must be employed, as acetylene has a very low explosion limit in air and is prone to exploding. Nitrogen should be recycled; firstly, nitrogen is expensive, and pneumatic transport requires a large volume of gas. Moreover, recycling it is not complicated – in terms of the process, only a small amount of nitrogen needs to be added to maintain circulation.
Using nitrogen is certainly safe, but the cost is too high, and nitrogen recovery is also difficult. Using compressed air, in my opinion, is also an option; the key is to remove water thoroughly. At the same time, an alarm device is installed on the pipeline to automatically switch to nitrogen supply once the compressed air contains moisture. I think it is feasible to use compressed air for transportation as long as the safety measures are in place.