Calcium Carbide (CaC₂) & Calcium Silicon Cored Wire

Calcium carbide by gas yield and size for acetylene, desulphurisation and PVC feedstock, and CaSi lump and cored wire for ladle calcium treatment, from Chinese, Indian, South African and Brazilian producers

Calcium carbide is sold on how much acetylene a kilogram gives off, and on size. Technical-grade carbide is roughly 80–85% CaC₂ with the balance calcium oxide and minor sulphide, phosphide and nitride, and the Chinese standard GB 10665-2004 grades it by gas yield, which the size bands set: 25–50 mm, 50–80 mm and 80–120 mm lump reach 295–305 litres per kilogram, 15–25 mm about 280 L/kg, 7–15 mm about 270 L/kg, 4–7 mm about 260 L/kg and 1–4 mm fines about 240 L/kg, with phosphine (PH₃) and hydrogen sulphide in the generated gas limited because they poison the downstream use. The uses set the size: acetylene generators for welding, cutting and chemical synthesis take 25–80 mm lump; carbide-route PVC (acetylene to vinyl chloride), calcium cyanamide fertiliser and chloroprene rubber take plant-specific bands; steelworks and blast-furnace desulphurisation stations inject 1–4 mm or 0–2 mm carbide, often blended with lime and magnesium, into hot metal or the ladle. Carbide is a dangerous good, UN 1402, Class 4.3 (dangerous when wet), packing group I, hermetically sealed in 50 kg and 100 kg steel drums under a nitrogen or dry-air blanket, stowed under IMDG rules away from water and acids, and the receiving country's dangerous-goods import permits apply; acetylene gas yield and drum integrity are checked at destination because water ingress in transit destroys the product. Calcium silicon (CaSi) is the second product on this page: an alloy of about 28–32% calcium and 55–65% silicon (the 30/60 grade) made in submerged-arc furnaces from lime, quartz and coke, sold as 10–50 mm lump, as 0–2 mm powder, and above all as cored wire, the powder encased in 0.4–0.45 mm low-carbon steel strip at 13 mm diameter (9 mm and 16 mm on request) and fed by machine into the ladle after tapping. Calcium in the ladle deoxidises, desulphurises and modifies alumina and sulphide inclusions into liquid calcium aluminates, which is what keeps continuous-casting nozzles from clogging and gives clean, machinable steel. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 7202.99, the ferroalloy residual heading that includes calcium silicon alongside other alloys, total USD 807 million and 253,000 MT across 56 reporting countries; HS 2849.10 declarations for carbide were not retrievable at the time of writing and are not quoted.

The buyers are acetylene fillers and industrial-gas companies, PVC and cyanamide plants on the carbide route, steel mills and foundries injecting carbide desulphuriser, and, for CaSi, secondary-metallurgy shops at every continuous-casting mill, plus cored-wire manufacturers buying CaSi powder to fill their own wire. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers calcium carbide and calcium silicon from Chinese, Indian, South African (Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, where the country's carbide and calcium-silicon furnaces sit) and Brazilian (Iguatama, Minas Gerais) producer and trader allocations, against the producer's certificate of analysis per lot and SGS or Bureau Veritas sampling: for carbide, gas yield by the standard method, size distribution, PH₃ and H₂S in the generated gas and drum seal inspection; for CaSi, Ca, Si, Al, C, P and S and, for cored wire, the powder fill weight per metre and strip thickness. Carbide moves as a declared Class 4.3 cargo in sealed drums palletised in 20-foot containers on FOB, CFR and CIF terms; CaSi lump and powder in 1 MT big bags and cored wire in coils of about 1–2 MT on pallets, 20–24 MT per container. Send the product, the gas yield and size band or the CaSi grade and wire diameter, monthly tonnage and discharge port, with the dangerous-goods import permit position at destination for carbide, and the enquiry is worked against current producer positions.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.