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'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, 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.

Contents

General processes

Physical reshaping

Moulding

Purification

Electrolysis

Iron and Steel

Petroleum and organic compunds

Others

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

Physical reshaping

There are several processes for reshaping a material by cutting, folding, joining or polishing, developed on a large scale from workshop techniques.

★ Forge - the shaping of metal by use of heat and hammer

★ 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 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.

Purification

Many materials exist in an impure form, purification, refining 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

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

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

★ Crucible steel

★ Cementation process

★ Bessemer process

★ Basic oxygen steelmaking, Linz-Donawitz process

★ Electric arc furnace

Petroleum and organic compunds

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)

★ 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)

★ 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)

★ Sulphuric 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

★ Industrial rendering - the separation of fat from bone and protein

★ Chloralkali process, Weldon process - for producing chlorine and sodium hydroxide

★ FFC Cambridge Process

★ Bayer process - the extraction of aluminium from ore

★ Lead chamber process, Contact process - production of sulphuric acid

★ Bacterial oxidation - used to produce gold

★ Hunter process, Kroll process - produces titanium and zirconium

★ Crystal bar process, Iodide process - produces zirconium

★ Pidgeon process - produces magnesium, reducing the oxide using silicon

★ Dow process - produces bromine from brine

★ Girdler sulfide process - for making heavy water

★ Ostwald process - produces nitric acid

★ Steam reforming, Water Gas Shift Reaction - produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide from methane or hydrogen and carbon dioxide from water and carbon monoxide

★ Nitrophosphate process - a number of similar process for producing fertilizer

★ Vacuum metalising - a finishing process