Industrial processes

Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacture of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy industry.

Most processes make the production of an otherwise rare material vastly cheaper in price, thus changing it into a commodity; i.e. the process makes it economically feasible for society to use the material on a large scales, in machinery, or a substantial amount of raw materials, in comparison to batch or craft processes. Production of a specific material may involve more than one type of process. Most industrial processes result in both a desired product(s) and by-products, many of which are toxic, hazardous, or hard to deal with. Very, very few processes are self-contained.

General processes

These may be applied on their own, or as part of a larger process.

• Liquefaction of gases - for ease of transportation
• Supercritical drying, Freeze drying - removal of excess liquid
• Scrubber - removing of pollution from exhaust gases

Chemical processes

• Smelting - chemically enhancing metals
• Disinfection - chemical treatment to kill bacteria and viruses
• Pyroprocessing - using heat to chemically combine materials, such as in cement.

Electrolysis

Main article: Electrolysis

The availability of electricity and its effect on materials gave rise to several processes for plating or separating metals.

• Gilding, Electroplating, Anodization, Electrowinning - depositing a material on an electrode
• Electropolishing - the reverse of electroplating
• Electrofocusing - similar to electroplating, but separating molecules
• Electrolytic process - the generic process of using electrolysis
• Electrophoretic deposition - electrolytic deposition of colloidal particals in a liquid medium
• Electrotyping - using electroplating to produce printing plates
• Metallizing, Plating, Spin coating - the generic term for giving non-metals a metallic coating

Physical processes

There are several physical processes for reshaping a material by cutting, folding, joining or polishing, developed on a large scale from workshop techniques.

See also: Fabrication (metal)

• Forging - the shaping of metal by use of heat and hammer
• Casting - shaping of a liquid material by pouring it into moulds and letting it solidify
• Machining - the mechanical cutting and shaping of metal
• Progressive stamping - the production of components from a strip or roll
• Hydroforming - a tube of metal is expanded into a mould under pressure
• Sandblasting - cleaning of a surface using sand or other particles
• Soldering, Brazing, Welding - a process for joining metals
• Tumble polishing - for polishing
• Precipitation hardening - heat treatment used to strengthen malleable materials
• Work hardening - adding strength to metals, alloys, etc.
• Case hardening, Differential hardening, Shot peening - creating a wear resistant surface
• Die cutting - A "forme" or "die" is pressed onto a flat material to cut, score, punch and otherwise shape the material.

Moulding

The physical shaping of materials by forming their liquid form using a mould.

• Casting, Sand casting - the shaping of molten metal or plastics using a mould
• Sintering, Powder metallurgy - the making of objects from metal or ceramic powder
• Blow moulding as in plastic containers or in the Glass Container Industry - making hollow objects by blowing them into a mould.
• Compression molding

Separation

Many materials exist in an impure form, purification, or separation provides a usable product.

• Froth flotation, flotation process - separating minerals through floatation
• Fractional distillation, Steam_distillation, Vacuum distillation - separating materials by their boiling point
• Solvent extraction - dissolving one substance in another
• Frasch process - for extracting molten sulfur from the ground

Iron and steel

Early production of iron was from meteorites, or as a by-product of copper refining. Heating iron ore and carbon in a crucible at 1000 K produces wrought iron. This process gained popularity during the Iron Age. Temperatures of 1300 K were produced around the 8th century by blowing air through the heated mixture in a bloomery or blast furnace (12th century); producing a strong but brittle cast iron. Furnaces were growing bigger, producing greater quantities; a factor contributing to the Industrial Revolution. In 1740 the temperature and carbon content could be controlled sufficiently to consistently produce steel; very strong and very workable. The 19th century saw the development of electric arc furnaces that produced steel in very large quantities, and are more easily controlled.

• Smelting - the generic process used in furnaces to produce steel, copper, etc.
• Catalan forge, Open hearth furnace, Bloomery, Siemens regenerative furnace - produced wrought iron
• Blast furnace - produced cast iron
• Direct Reduction - produced direct reduced iron
• Crucible steel
• Cementation process
• Bessemer process
• Basic oxygen steelmaking, Linz-Donawitz process
• Electric arc furnace

Petroleum and organic compounds

The nature of an organic molecule means it can be transformed at the molecular level to create a range of products.

• Cracking (chemistry) - the generic term for breaking up the larger molecules.
• Alkylation - refining of crude oil
• Burton process - cracking of hydrocarbons
• Cumene process - making phenol and acetone from benzene
• Friedel-Crafts reaction, Kolbe-Schmitt reaction
• Olefin metathesis, Thermal depolymerization
• Transesterification - organic chemicals
• Raschig process, Ketazine process, Peroxide process - part of the process to produce nylon
• Formox process - the oxidation of methanol to produce formaldehyde.

Others

Organized by product:

• Aluminium - (Deville process, Bayer process, Hall-Héroult process, Wöhler process)
• Ammonia, used in fertilizer & explosives - (Haber process)
• Bromine - (Dow process)
• Chlorine, used in chemicals - (Chloralkali process, Weldon process)
• Fat - (Rendering)
• Fertilizer - (Nitrophosphate process)
• Gold - (Bacterial oxidation, Parkes process)
• Heavy Water, used to refine radioactive products - (Girdler sulfide process)
• Hydrogen - (Steam reforming, Water Gas Shift Reaction)
• Lead (and Bismuth) - (Betts electrolytic process, Betterton-Kroll process)
• Nickel - (Mond process)
• Nitric acid - (Ostwald process)
• Paper - (Pulping, Kraft process, Fourdrinier machine)
• Rubber - (Vulcanization)
• Salt - (Alberger process, Grainer evaporation process)
• Semiconductor crystals - (Bridgeman technique, Czochralski process)
• Silver - (Patio process, Parkes process)
• Sodium carbonate, used for soap - (Leblanc process, Solvay process, Leblanc-Deacon process)
• Sulfuric acid - (Lead chamber process, Contact process)
• Titanium - (Hunter process, Kroll process)
• Zirconium - (Hunter process, Kroll process, Crystal bar process, Iodide process)

A list by process:

• Alberger process, Grainer evaporation process - produces salt from brine
• Bacterial oxidation - used to produce gold
• Bayer process - the extraction of aluminium from ore
• Chloralkali process, Weldon process - for producing chlorine and sodium hydroxide
• Crystal bar process, Iodide process - produces zirconium
• Dow process - produces bromine from brine
• FFC Cambridge Process
• Girdler sulfide process - for making heavy water
• Hunter process, Kroll process - produces titanium and zirconium
• Industrial rendering - the separation of fat from bone and protein
• Lead chamber process, Contact process - production of sulfuric acid
• Mond process - nickel
• Nitrophosphate process - a number of similar process for producing fertilizer
• Ostwald process - produces nitric acid
• Pidgeon process - produces magnesium, reducing the oxide using silicon
• Steam reforming, Water Gas Shift Reaction - produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide from methane or hydrogen and carbon dioxide from water and carbon monoxide
• Vacuum metalising - a finishing process

See also

• Chemical engineering
• Mass production