On Fri, 5 May 2006 12:29:34 -0500, "Steve Peterson"
wrote:


"Don Foreman" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 5 May 2006 06:52:11 -0700, "azotic" wrote:


Kinda scary and interesting at the same time.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...r_on_Acetylene

I wonder how many miles per pound he gets.

Best Regards
Tom.

There is the minor matter of what to do with the approximately 207 lb
of calcium hydroxide left from making each 100 lb of acetylene. 100
lbs of gasoline is about 15 gallons, one fill at the pump. At one
fill per week, you'd have about 5 tons of white alkaline goo after a
year of operation. Perhaps one could treat the goo with HCL to make
calcium chloride and sell it to the highway departments in snow states
to rust out people's cars......thus getting support from the
automakers!



It appears there are plenty of uses for calcium hydroxide although I am
thinking there is also no shortage of the stuff either. Did the stationary
acetylene generators have a poor safety record or did they fall from use due
to more convenient acetylene in a cylinder?
Steve

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_hydroxide

About a year ago I curious about acetylene manufacture. It turns out
that a whole lot of places still use acetylene generators. especially
large users. And of course the folks who bottle it. Surprisingly to me
it turns out that comercially sold acetylene is still produced with
calcium carbide even though other methods are used.
ERS