Calcium Nitrate Tetrahydrate

Brief Overview

Calcium nitrate is an inorganic, highly soluble compound that has a chemical formula of Ca(NO₃)₂ and it usually exist as a tetrahydrate.

Manufacturing Process

There are many ways of producing calcium nitrate:

Method 1: Limestone is first reacted with nitric acid and then neutralised with ammonia to obtain calcium nitrate:

CaCO₃ + 2 HNO₃ → Ca(NO₃)₂ + CO₂ + H₂O

Method 2: It is filtered out as an intermediate process of the Odda process:

Ca₃(PO₄)₂ + 6 HNO₃ + 12 H₂O → 2 H₃PO₄ + 3 Ca(NO₃)₂ + 12 H₂O

Method 3: Calcium nitrate is obtained from the reaction of aqueous ammonium nitrate and calcium hydroxide:

2 NH₄NO₃ + Ca(OH)₂ → Ca(NO₃)₂ + 2 NH₄OH

Applications

Agricultural Industry:

• Used as fertilizer to promote growth of crops
• Also used to keep certain plant diseases under control. For instance, dilute calcium nitrate is used to control cork stop in apple trees.

Wastewater treatment Industry: Added to waste water for odour emission prevention.

Other Applications:

• Fuel and fuel additives

• Laboratory chemicals

• Explosive materials

• Process regulators