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Acetylene: Possible shortage

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#2 ·
Here in Lynchburg VA I went to my supplier with my usual 5 tanks of ox acetylene gas and was only able to get 2 filled they refused to fill the others for me and said until further notice I can only get 1 at a time. so its true. Hate to say it but might have to break out the propane and oxygen tanks
 
#3 ·
#4 ·
Found this on WELDING INFO source.

The acetylene shortage is real and indefinite, and nationwide. The only producer of calcium carbide in the US had a fire last week with 2 casualties and is shut down. Carbide is used in the production of acetylene. Acetylene suppliers are looking outside the US for other sources, but as you can imagine, the shortage will be long, the prices will rise, and there will be surcharges
 
#5 ·
We had this in the uk last year when BOC's plant caught fire, have replaced one oxy acetylene set with an oxy propylene (which is the same as mapp-pro) which burns hotter than oxy propane but not quite as good as acetylene. I haven't tried it yet but the guy who's truck its on is happy with it.

Might be worth looking into.
 
#6 ·
monkeyspanners said:
We had this in the uk last year when BOC's plant caught fire, have replaced one oxy acetylene set with an oxy propylene (which is the same as mapp-pro) which burns hotter than oxy propane but not quite as good as acetylene. I haven't tried it yet but the guy who's truck its on is happy with it.

Might be worth looking into.
Click to expand...
I use propane/oxy for my cutting torch. Not setup for welding :gah: Looks like a good reason to buy some more tools :grin2:
 
#7 ·
Our supplier stopped by today and informed us of the shortage. Fortunately, we just filled all of our tanks last Monday. He said we most likely won't be able to get any more for the remainder of the school year. He also mentioned that this will be a relatively short term deal. Well, if you consider 4-6 months short term.
 
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#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
hey guys this is real. i am a general manager at an acetylene production facility in decatur, alabama. our carbide supply has been completely cut off. the carbide industries plant in kentucky is the only carbide manufacturing facility in north america and we have no clue as to when the carbide supply will open up again. all the major companies have put their customers on alottment and i cant get ANYTHING for myself and my customers because i am competition.....or at least i was. i have been on the phone and email for two weeks trying to arrange a shipment from overseas but thats going to take at least a month. soon we will get some sort of flow going but expect prices to skyrocket because the destroyed plant fed about 60-70% of the acetylene market while western and airgas picked up the rest. now its down to the two and at the current rate they cant keep up with demand. their are many plans across the states to get some kind of supply so bear with your local company and maybe we can rebuild this industry soon. in the meantime check out Magnegas. we are in the works to be the southeast distributor for magnegas. its burns cleaner and hotter than acetylene and costs about the same. the best part is its made from recycling waste oil, antifreeze, and just about any other hydro-carbon. i've seen it in action and i'm excited to get the opportunity to work with the company. look it up it's awesome. thanks guys.

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#9 ·
Does magnegas or any other substitute work with our existing torch setups? Or do I need to buy the 100 Kw Plasma Arc Flow Mobile Refinery and a tractor to pull it?
 
#10 ·
I haven't really messed with it that much but I have seen it demo'd at my facility and I believe it uses propane tips but your regular torch and you will need either a new regulator or an adapter to make your reg fit a cga350 valve. Acetylene bottles hold only about 350 psi but magnegas is filled to around 1600 psi (O2 is at either 2216 psi or 2640 psi depending on your bottle size) so I would suggest a new reg. Propane is good fuel gas but it's not hot enough for welding some stuff or cutting certain sizes and types of metal but this stuff is. This is not a pitch by any means. I'm just trying to spread the word that there are alternatives that perform like acetylene. I'm hearing the stories about production being halted in fab shops and such cause guys can't get acetylene. Being in the cylinder industry I lost half my monthly sales and I don't want families to go without. That's my sole purpose. I don't make another penny if this stuff sells I only want to help
 
#11 ·
Also I know we are going to offer the new regs to our customers at just a little above cost and the magnegas reps are saying that other distributors plan to do the same but I'm not sure. If you have questions I can try to answer or you can call Scott Wainright at magnegas or his email is on their site. Or you can call my company 1-256-355-2426 and ask me or my boss and one of us can get an answer. Once again this is not a bs scam or a pitch I just want to help guys keep working. Thanks


Matt
 
#14 ·
I've often wondered why no one has ever built another carbide plant here. I'm sure this whole situation will spur someone into action to do so. At least I hope it does. It is plentiful in china but the shipping rates from china to here are climbing since it's all shipped via sea freight. I have contacted several overseas companies and their price per ton is really good but when I get the total price per ton with shipping it's like oooooookkkkkkkkk.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Switching from acetylene to propane is really pretty simple. We are switching people over at the company I work for due to the fact that we have been cut off from Acetylene from our supplier.

You must replace the cutting tip and hose. If you run a R-Grade hose with any alternative fuel it will deteriorate and could lead to an explosion. You really only need to change out the regulator if you are doing a lot of heating which requires a higher PSI. The other thing to remember is that Propane makes it's heat in the outer flame, where as acetylene makes it's heat in the inner cone..

There is some more info here:

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#18 ·
looks like were all going to be flairin more crap on, buying new setups and maybe some #8. :gah:
 
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#19 ·
Planning uh Head (sic)

J&MCylinderGase said:
I've often wondered why no one has ever built another carbide plant here. I'm sure this whole situation will spur someone into action to do so. At least I hope it does.
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Are you kidding? That would mean Economic Planning. And that's BAD - with 13 "A"s. Just let the Market Mechanism take care of it.

Well, it's about to. By the time they get up and running again, we'll all be converted to alternative fuels, and accustomed to them. They will have that much less business, therefore that much less impetus to build two plants. Then, in 13 years, it'll all happen again. Aaaaarrrrrgh!

[Don't be superstitious ... It brings bad luck.]
 
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