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Sulfuric acid is one of the most important compounds made by the chemical industry.
It is used to make, literally, hundreds of compounds needed by almost every industry.
Data from:
1. Federal State Statistics Service: Russian Federation 2011
Other metals manufactured from their sulfide ores include copper, nickel and zinc.
Worldwide about 35% of the sulfur is obtained as sulfur dioxide from sulfide ore roasting and
this is increasing, as plants which traditionally passed the sulfur dioxide to atmosphere are
recovering it as sulfuric acid. In particular, China makes most of its sulfuric acid from pyrites, an
iron sulfide ore.
Sulfuric acid is also obtained from ammonium sulfate, a by-product in the manufacture
of poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate) and also recovered from 'spent' (i.e. used) sulfuric acid.
If sulfur is the feedstock, it must first be converted to sulfur dioxide. Molten sulfur is sprayed
into a furnace and burnt in a blast of dry air at about 1300 K. The sulfur burns with a
characteristic blue flame:
As excess air is used the emerging gas contains about 10-12% sulfur dioxide and 10% oxygen,
by volume. The gases are very hot and so are passed through heat exchangers (waste heat
boilers).
The gases are cooled to about 700 K and the water in the surrounding boiler pipes is converted
into steam. In manufacturing one tonne of sulfuric acid, one tonne of high pressure steam is also
produced.
The catalyst, vanadium(V) oxide on silica, is generally in the form of small pellets, to which
caesium sulfate has been added as a promoter (Figure 2). The function of the promoter is to
lower the melting point of vanadium(V) oxide so that it is molten at 700 K.
However, water itself cannot be used for absorption as there is a large temperature rise, and a
sulfuric acid mist is formed, which is difficult to handle. Instead, sulfuric acid of about 98%
concentration is used. This is kept at this concentration by addition of water and removal of acid
at that concentration.
To keep the temperature at about 400 K, the heat is removed by heat exchangers, Figure 4.
Figure 4 A line diagram illustrating a heat exchanger used in the manufacture of sulfur trioxide.
The gases not absorbed contain about 95% nitrogen, 5% oxygen, and traces of sulfur dioxide.
The gas stream is filtered to remove any traces of sulfuric acid mist and is returned to the
atmosphere using a high stack.