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Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 04:34AM
Location: Harlowton, MT, United States
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I may have come up with a relatively straightforward process that unites the production of sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and calcium silicate, all from extremely cheap materials. While it is by no means something that can be cobbled together in a day, it should alleviate the need for the contact process or lead chamber process, HCl furnaces, and other difficult or finicky types of processes.
The process starts with two fundamental pieces of equipment: a Castner-Kellner amalgam cell, and a high temperature reduction furnace. An air compressor, glass reflux still, and a few simple reaction vessels are also needed. The real heart of the process is the repeated reduction of cupric chloride to cuprous chloride with sulfur dioxide.
Gypsum is reduced with coke or coal and silica sand at high temperature to produce SO2: 2CaSO4 + 2C + SiO2 --> 2SO2 + 2CO Ca2SiO4
SO2 could also be generated by several alternative methods including burning of sulfur or H2S, or smelting sulfate ores.
SO2 is cooled in a heat exchanger and then easily liquefied by a compressor to separate it from carbon monoxide, which is used as a fuel to help heat the coke reduction furnace. The SO2 is then bubbled through a solution of CuCl2 to produce the acids and precipitate CuCl: 2CuCl2(aq) + SO2 + 2H2O --> 2CuCl + 2HCl(aq) + H2SO4(aq)
An amalgam cell produces Cl2, H2 and NaOH. H2 may be stored during this prolonged step (possibly as a metal hydride) and then combined with CO from the coke reduction to help fire the furnace, or even used as syngas. Wet Cl2 from this step is combined with CuCl from the previous step bath: Cl2 + 2CuCl --> 2CuCl2
CuCl2 is kept for use in the reduction step with SO2. Alternatively the aqueous H2SO4 produced earlier can be reacted with half of the CuCl2 produced in the chlorination step: CuCl2 + H2SO4 --> CuSO4 + 2HCl
The CuSO4 can be thermally decomposed to SO3 and CuO. The CuO can then be reacted with the HCl from the prior step to regain CuCl2 for the reduction step.
When it is finally time to distill the acids from the SO2 reduction bath, waste heat from the next coke reduction may be used to help power the still.
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Unified Copper Process
