https://doi.org/10.15255/KUI.2017.039
Published: Kem. Ind. 67 (5-6) (2018) 235–240
Paper reference number: KUI-39/2017
Paper type: Professional paper / History of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
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History of Calcium Carbide Production in Croatia (1897–1945)

N. Raos

Abstract

The first Croatian calcium carbide factory in Skradin on the Krka River near the city of Šibenik had been operative since 1897, only two years after the first production facility in Spray (now Eden), North Carolina, but ceased before World War II. However, the major production facility in Croatia was the “Dalmacija Dugi Rat” factory, near the city of Split, built by Italian company SUFID, Ltd. in 1914. The factory was situated on the Adriatic coast in order to facilitate the transport of coal, and near the newly built hydroelectric power plant Kraljevac on the Cetina River. Besides calcium carbide (25–43 thousand tons in years 1971–1975), it also produced calcium cyanamide and ferroalloys. However, production of carbide at Dugi Rat (now a small town, about 3000 inhabitants) ceased in 1979, and the factory was dismantled in 2003. In this paper, also given is a short history as well as the ecological aspects of the production of carbide and other products obtained from carbide (CO₂ emission and mercury pollution).

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Keywords

Croatia, Dalmatia, Dugi Rat, Šibenik, SUFID, Ltd., calcium carbide, calcium cyanamide, ferroalloys