Calcium chloride is a bulk chemical used in a variety of industries. The global production capacity is 3.5 million tons per year. Demand may vary considerably depending on the severity of winter conditions in North America and Northern Europe but is generally on the order of 2.5 million tonnes per year.
Calcium chloride is widely used as a desiccant / deliquescent. A desiccant is a material that has a strong affinity for water. A cerebrospinal fluid also has a great affinity for water, but it absorbs water so much that it eventually dissolves and becomes a liquid. It is often referred to as a desiccant but is especially referred to as deliquescent because it eventually becomes liquid when it absorbs enough moisture. By absorbing water, it forms hydrated forms of calcium chloride. There are at least 4 hydration levels: 1, 2, 4 and 6 hydrate. As the water is absorbed, the degree of hydration increases until the calcium chloride dissolves as a function of the temperature and becomes a highly concentrated liquid. Liquid calcium chloride has its own useful properties, including high density and very low freezing points, as low as -50 ° C to -60 ° C, allowing its use in refrigeration and thawing applications.
LIQUID CALCIUM CHLORIDE FOR DIRT RACE TRACKS
Calcium chloride (CaCl2) is a widely used industrial chemical in many applications. It is used as a calcium source in industrial processes and in the treatment of water as a food additive (E509) as a sequestering or strengthening agent. It is also used as an accelerator under concrete, and liquid calcium chloride can be used for tire compaction in agricultural vehicles.
However, most of its applications use its desiccant/bleed properties, making it a low cost and convenient desiccant for producing high concentration solutions with low melting/freezing points. It is used for thawing applications, especially on roads where it absorbs water and forms solutions with freezing points that are much lower than those of water, preventing ice formation. The absorption of water by calcium chloride is exothermic, which accelerates the melting of already formed ice. Calcium chloride is widely used as a desiccant for the drying of technical gases and liquid hydrocarbons (propane, butane). More importantly, liquid calcium chloride is used on dirty race tracks to avoid dust and thus reduce the risk of racing accidents.
Calcium chloride is also used in the oil and gas industry as an additive for the equipment of liquids, where it is used to increase the density and as an additive for drilling mud.