CHEMICAL 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.

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.

Heat processes

Flash smelting - a refinement on smelting, for sulfur-containing ores (produces copper,

nickel and lead)

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 particles 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 which involves the loss of the
material.

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 in order 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.

Comminution - reduces the size of physical particles (it exists between crushing and
grinding)

Froth flotation, flotation process - separating minerals through floatation

Solvent extraction - dissolving one substance in another

Frasch process - for extracting molten sulfur from the ground

Distillation

Fractional distillation, Steam distillation, Vacuum distillation - separating materials by

their boiling point

Batch distillation

Continuous distillation

Fractionating column

Spinning cone

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

Oxo process - Produces aldehydes from alkenes.

Polymerisation .

Aluminium - (Deville process, Bayer process, Hall-Hroult process, Whler process)

Ammonia, used in fertilizer & explosives - (Haber process)

Bromine - (Dow process)

Chlorine, used in chemicals - (Chloralkali process, Weldon process, Hooker process)

Fat - (Rendering)

Fertilizer - (Nitrophosphate process)

Glass - (Pilkington 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