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.

Most processes make the production of an otherwise rare material vastly cheaper in price, thus changing it into a commodity; i.e. the process makes it economically feasible for society to use the material on a large scales, in machinery, or a substantial amount of raw materials, in comparison to batch or craft processes. Production of a specific material may involve more than one type of process. Most industrial processes result in both a desired product(s) and by-products, many of which are toxic, hazardous, or hard to deal with. Very, very few processes are self-contained.

General processes

These may be applied on their own, or as part of a larger process.

  • Liquefaction of gases - for ease of transportation
  • Supercritical drying, Freeze drying - removal of excess liquid
  • Scrubber - removing of pollution from exhaust gases

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.

Electrolysis

Main article: 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 particals 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
  • 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 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.

  • Froth flotation, flotation process - separating minerals through floatation
  • Fractional distillation, Vacuum distillation - separating materials by their boiling point
  • Solvent extraction - dissolving one substance in another
  • Frasch process - for extracting molten sulfur from the ground

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
  • Formox process - the oxidation of methanol to produce formaldehyde.

Others

Organized by product:

  • Aluminium - (Deville process, Bayer process, Hall-Héroult process, Wöhler process)
  • Ammonia, used in fertilizer & explosives - (Haber process)
  • Bromine - (Dow process)
  • Chlorine, used in chemicals - (Chloralkali process, Weldon process)
  • Fat - (Rendering)
  • Fertilizer - (Nitrophosphate process)
  • Gold - (Bacterial oxidation)
  • Gold - (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

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