SULPHURIC ACID
1. PROPERTIES
Molecular formula: H2SO4
Molecular weight: 98 g/mol
Sulphuric acid is a highly corrosive strong mineral acid.
It is colourless to slightly yellow viscous liquid, odourless liquid which is miscible with
water and highly exothermic in nature.
It is called king of acid because of its direct and indirect applications in manufacture of
many chemicals.
2. METHODS OF PRODUCTION
The Industrial manufacture of sulphuric acid is done mainly by two processes:
i. The Chamber process
ii. The Contact process
Chamber process was developed first but it produced acid of concentration less than
80% with high production cost. Contact process yields 98% H2SO4 and higher which can be
diluted, if necessary. That’s why, Chamber process is virtually obsolete and not popular.
3. RAW MATERIALS
The sources of sulphur and sulphur dioxide (SO2) are as follows:
Sulphur from mines
Pyrites
Metal sulphide ores
4. REACTION
S (s) + O2 (g) → SO2 (g)
SO2 (g) + O2 (g) ⇌ 2SO3 (g)
H2SO4 (l) + SO3 (g) → H2S2O7 (l)
H2S2O7 (l) + H2O (l) → 2H2SO4 (l)
CATALYST
Most widely used catalyst is Vanadium Pentoxide (V2O5) dispersed on a porous
carrier in pellet form. Platinum catalyst was previously used but suffers from easy poisoning,
fragility, rapid heat deactivation and high initial investment.
Flow sheet for manufacture of Sulphuric Acid by DCDA process
5. PROCESS DESCRIPTION
The steps involved in this Contact process are as follows:
i. Burning of sulphur:
The sulphur is melted in a melting pit followed by filtration of impurities.
Molten sulphur is pumped to the combustion chamber with dry air to produce
sulphur dioxide (SO2).
S(s) + O2 (g) → SO2(g)
The hot gas containing SO2 and excess air is cooled in a waste heat boiler.
Note for your understanding: Care is to be taken in this step so that the air supplied for
combustion process is dry. Any traces of water present will result in the formation of acid
and cause corrosion within the combustion equipment. Also if the sulphur contains
impurities then it has to be filtered. If the gas is not filtered for the impurities then they will
be carried over through the equipment and if they reach catalysts then they will tend to
deactivate it.
ii. Conversion of SO2 to SO3:
The mixture containing 7-10 % SO2 & 11- 15 % O2 is sent to multi stage catalytic
converter.
The active catalyst in multi stage catalytic converter is Vanadium pentoxide
(V2O5).
The multi stage catalytic converter consists of two stages:
i. High temperature stage followed by inter-stage cooling
Operating temperature: 500oC – 600oC; 80% conversion
ii. Low temperature stage
Operating temperature: 400oC – 450oC; 97% conversion
SO2 (g) + O2 (g) ⇌ 2SO3 (g)
iii. Conversion of SO3 to H2SO4:
SO3 product is cooled down and absorbed in oleum tower with concentrated H2SO4
to form oleum. SO3 isn’t absorbed in water directly because the reaction is highly
exothermic and difficult to control.
Note for understanding: Oleum is mixture of H2SO4 & SO3. 20% Oleum means 20 kg SO3
& 80 kg H2SO4.
H2SO4 (l) + SO3 (g) → H2S2O7 (l)
The produced oleum is then fed to absorption tower where water is added to
produce concentrated H2SO4 of desired concentration.
H2S2O7 (l) + H2O (l) → 2H2SO4 (l)
The spent gas is taken as top product and sent to the stack.
The overall process is exothermic & the moles of product are less than the moles of
reactants, so low temperature and high pressure favours the process.
6. USES OF SULPHURIC ACID
Preparation of fertilisers
Automobile batteries
Pharmaceuticals
Paper and Pulp industry
Steel manufacturing