Experimental study on new route to acetylene by using powder of coal and limestone in plasma reactor

Summary form only given. In the paper, a new route to acetylene is described using coal and precrushed limestone powder to produce CaC/sub 2/ and the plasma reactor design was also shown. The new route to acetylene has been developed with proprietory techniques using pulverized coal and limestone to produce calcium carbide in a reactor with plasma jets. At the reactor temperature >2200/spl deg/C, coal and limestone fuse to form calcium carbide, and then this is reacted with water to produce acetylene, and a slag of calcium silicate and silicon dioxide that is reused. Significant advantages over the coke and CaO based route are: the system produces no effluent; coal and limestone as raw material; clean fuel gas (H/sub 2/, CO...) that can be burned to provide heat for electricity generation; calcium hydroxide can be treated with salt to give caustic soda and calcium chloride by products.