Herr Haber
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Looking for CaC2 in ton quantities (EU)
Hi all,
Yes, another topic about Calcium Carbide.
The same people who supplied me with the carbide I'm offering to SM members are also looking for carbide by the ton / pallet / several drums.
What seems now a long time ago several associations I've been involved with used to order carbide from China or Romania by pallet or even container.
Customs have made this too complicated and expensive over time to get containers from China. Romania has stopped producing Calcium carbide.
We're looking for suppliers within Europe.
The carbide is to be used in carbide lamps / acetylene generators so any size and grade are acceptable.
If you can supply or have a suggestion on where to look I will tranmit them.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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Σldritch
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Look for manufacturer in Russia, Norway or Iceland? They have cheap/excess energy. Europe hardly manufactures anything anymore, though. You could look
at countries with aluminium production, too, similar requirements I think and should be easier to find data on.
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Elemental Phosphorus
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Quote: Originally posted by Herr Haber  | Hi all,
Yes, another topic about Calcium Carbide.
The same people who supplied me with the carbide I'm offering to SM members are also looking for carbide by the ton / pallet / several drums.
What seems now a long time ago several associations I've been involved with used to order carbide from China or Romania by pallet or even container.
Customs have made this too complicated and expensive over time to get containers from China. Romania has stopped producing Calcium carbide.
We're looking for suppliers within Europe.
The carbide is to be used in carbide lamps / acetylene generators so any size and grade are acceptable.
If you can supply or have a suggestion on where to look I will tranmit them. |
Donau Chemie in Germany claims to sell calcium carbide packed in containers in 100kg or 250kg drums, and their website claims it is manufacture in
Landeck, Austria. However, whether or not they are actively producing calcium carbide or have available stock is unclear. The minimum order is also 20
tons, but they have another arm that deals with smaller acquisitions that you might be able to contact.
https://www.donau-chemie.com/Products-Solutions/BU-Chemie/Ka...
https://www.donauchem.com/LandingPageEN.aspx
They are headquartered in Austria but have facilities throughout Europe, including in Romania, so I'm not sure if this is the same supplier from which
the carbide became unavailable.
https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/DONA:AV#xj4y7vzkg
https://greco.services/more-procurement-logistics-resilience...
I don't know if it would work or if it's what you're looking for, but maybe worth giving them a call.
AlzChem, based in Bavaria also apparently has calcium carbide for sale in 120kg drums or 1 or 1.5 ton containers. I couldn't find much information on
that, not sure where it's manufactured or where it would ship from, and AlzChem also mostly manufactures organic chemicals, but could be worth
contacting them too.
[Edited on 12-3-2023 by Elemental Phosphorus]
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SuperOxide
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Just curious, what do they/you need so much CaC2 for?
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Herr Haber
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To feed carbide lamps / generators.
Besides chemistry my main other hobby is "everything underground".
Despite the advent of electricity last century and the LED revolution at the begining of this century many people still use acetylene for light.
With it's high carbon content just one lamp with a 14L/h burner will give more light than a dozen candles. For many people it's not just "more light"
but also a better, warmer light.
I'm in contact with two associations that have to storage capacity for many many tons. All of course veted by the fire department and located in non
floodable areas 
The idea, by getting such huge amount it to "postpone the problem" of not finding CaC2 anymore. It's been getting harder to find over the years and
the prices have climbed a lot. These associations used to pool their resources together and get container space for carbide from China.
The thing is that for them INCOTERMS are a pain in the ass and they're only looking for sources within Europe now. FOB seems nice until the bills
start to add up.
Right now I can go by carbide from a store for 18 Euros / 800 grams.
Years ago, through these associations used to sell it a 3.50/kg. It went up to 5.50 Euros.
The carbide I'm sending to SM members I traded for so price was irrelevant to me. I'm just happy if it helps members.
I will definitely look into the suggestions everyone gave me. Many thanks for these 
We're used to 50kg, 70kg and 120kg drums and to be honest, demand is so high that even a ton would get repackaged and distributed in less than a week.
Asking SM community an opinion on this is really a "hail Mary". There are a lot of smart people between these two associations and I'd be surprised if
I managed to find a supplier they didnt contact already and ruled out for some reason.
Suggestions are still welcome
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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clearly_not_atara
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Probably absurd, but could you make CaC2 "backwards" from acetylene? Modern chemical industry makes acetylene from methane these days, bypassing CaC2.
But if you had some Ca(OEt)2 or something in solution, maybe you can gas acetylene and get the desired carbide?
A bit difficult for ton quantities, I guess.
Alternatively, maybe calcium acetylenedicarboxylate decomposes to CaC2? Or calcium mellitate? Mellitic acid is relatively stable.
[Edited on 04-20-1969 by clearly_not_atara]
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Fantasma4500
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i was hinted at by a young carbide enthusiast that he got his 100kg from farmer supplies in holland
carbide cannons are kinda grey zone in holland, but if its really big amount i imagine they would care less, it seems more professional then
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Herr Haber
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@clearly_not_atara Well, I learnt a lot researching those compounds and it certainly would be poetic to use a chemical that has such ties to stone !
But it would be very impractical. Anything more than splitting drums between buyers, weighting and putting into HDPE buckets is beyond what they can
do.
Ah... if only I had an arc furnace and a nuclear plant...
@Fantasma4500
The people in these associations imported containers so the paperwork / professional aspect isnt a problem Maybe someone in Holland still has a few drums. It would be interesting to see the cost.
I've seen a couple of those crow cannons over the years. They are a thing of the past, as are carbide lamps, but they are pretty ingenious. The one I
liked the most just worked by building up pressure which would activate a piezo spark thingie at the moment the gas was released.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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Fantasma4500
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i just saw lately some CaC2 bags labeled as being used to make fruits ripen- theres a chance to get a backdoor deal with a fruit company, unsure if
this is used in europe as technique, there was some asian font on the bags ..
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