Sulfuric Acid Index

Burning elemental sulfur to create SO2 followed by absorption into water.

Hi Rodent - I mean er.. Vermin,

Traditionally, industrial manufacture is effected by the "Contact Process" (see Wiki) where (1)sulfur is burned, creating SO₂. The SO₂ is then (2) catalytically oxidized (W/V₂O₅) to form SO₃. The SO₃ is then (3) hydrated to form H₂SO₄.

FYI (to poster #2) - Hydrated SO₂ is Sulfurous Acid

For a lot of general info on chemicals including pharmaceuticals, the Merck Index is quite helpful.

Mike

FYI (to poster #2) - Hydrated SO₂ is Sulfurous Acid

I mean poster #1.

I actually have a copy of the Merck index! I didn't look there because I didn't think the industrial process would be in there. Besides, I get distracted by all the L.D. information.

Anyway thanks! And to our family's shame, I think my great great great uncle Morris might have been a rodent, but my parents don't talk about it much.

Hello everybody,

Can anybody tell about the Sulphur recovery process from Exhaust gases, which contains H2S or SOx compounds...

I designed an Seawater FGD (Flue Gas Desulphurisation) process for AMERADA in Indonesia and it also works succesfully. But, I must find another way instead of using seawater or any other source for gaining Sulphur...

Thanks,

Hi cemataser,

Were you able to isolate elemental sulfur in the FGD process? My thinking is that, unless H2S/SOx removal is regulationally mandated, the cost would be commercially prohibitive for the relatively small amount of sulfur obtained.

Mike

Dear Mike,

I am not able to isolate sulphur compounds from other exhaust gases.

You may think that Sulphur compound recovery from exhaust gases is expensive, not commercial. But, on the other hand, if you must use an FGD system, you can also pay for investing and operating costs. So, it may be cheaper to recover and sell sulphur...

Also, some plants SOx or H2S emiiisons are not small amount.

Regards,

Cem ATASER

Mechanical Engineer

See the side of NORAM ENGINEERING CANADA THEY CAN HELP

Dear All

Could anyone help me out by providing a url that updates prices of Sulfuric acid on a weekly , monthly or yearly basis and what is the current price of Sulfuric Acid / Metric tonne for 98% concentrate ? Besides if anyone could also help in providing the shelf life i.e. for how long the sulfuric acid can be stored ? 20 days , 2 months etc.

Kindly email me on hussain_assar@yahoo.com

I would be grateful if you could send me the above information.

Thanking You

Best Regards

Hussain Yousuf

Close. I confess I didn't read all the responses. If one dissolves SO3 in water, the Rx is quite slow. The preferred method is to dissolve SO3 in sulfurinc acid, producing pyrosulfuric acid (oleum), which then is Rx'd with 1 mole of water to form 2 moles of sulfuric acid. One mole is withdrawn as product, the 2nd mole is recycled.

Almost all sulfuric acid is produced from elemental sulfur by the Contact Process. See these two articles on the Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid#Manufacture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_process

Milton,

It might be a good idea to read previous posts.

Mike

Mikerho:

I did indeed read the previous posts. I thought the original poster might want to learn more detail than just "The Contact process".

I suspect that your response to my posting was merely a way of increasing your number of posts. If not, then please accept my apology.

Apology accepted! (also means another post for me - hee hee!)

Seriously though, I see a lot of people posting information that has already been posted. It's more a pet peeve of mine than a real problem. However, if a thread gets really long, then there's so much more to have to read to be able to answer intelligibly.

Just my thoughts.

Mike

Well, this brings up another good question... If all this sulphuric acid is made using elemental sulphur, where do they get so much elemental sulphur from?

One source of sulphur is sour natural gas which contains H₂S or rotten egg gas. After going through some chemical jigery-pokery molten sulphur is poured into an area sourounded by forms and they end up with a huge block of sulphur several feet high and the size of a couple of football fields. The solid sulphur is boken off in small pieces and loaded into rail cars. Here in western Canada it is not unusual to see unit trains of sulphur.

Holly crap!!!

Native (elemental) sulfur is also mined from underground deposits. Steam is injected down into the deposit at a temperature sufficient to melt the sulfur and the molten sulfur, using the pressure of the steam, is piped to the surface either into containers or to areas where it can later be reclaimed.

Mike

P.S. Sorry about calling you rodent earlier - that wasn't very nice.

The sulfur for H2SO4 largely comes from crude oil which can have S content ranging into the 1-3% level or even higher.

Oil refineries remove sulfur from the fuels they make using an amine (diethylamine for example). The sulfur is then stripped from the amine to make H2S which then goes to the Sulfur Removal Unit which removes the sulfur. It is stored at 290F (in molten form it looks like motor oil), typically in pits heated with steam coils and then shipped it out in rail cars to pharmeceutical companies, fertilizer manufacturers and also the makers of soap. Soap manufacturers will burn the elemental sulfur to make SO2, put through several passes of a reactor bed with air to make SO3 which is then mixed with an organic to make the monopolar molecules which are the feedstocks for detergents. Mix with water instead, as mentioned above, and you have sulfuric acid. Which can then be used by the refinery to make high octane fuel in an Alkylization Unit. One big circle.

vermin:

To add some information to the other responses:

The worldwide production of sulfur in 2005 was 64,000,000 metric tons. The vast majority of that was byproduct sulfur from oil refineries, raw natural gas processing plants and various petrochemical plants.

Hey Vermin,

Did these replies help?

Mike

Yep! Thanks!!!

The CIA et al have long used the production, import and usage (tonage) of sulfuric acid to understand the economic level of a country. It is a very reliable key. Sulfuric acid is so widely used in industry.

Yeah, see?! Even the CIA keeps track of it.

Also, I'm amazed that they can make a chunk of pure sulphur several feet thick and the size of several football fields just from gas!!! I don't want to start a debate on global warming, but I wonder how large a chunk of elemental carbon one could make?!

Put them together with a little mercury and we could make the world's biggest snake for the next 4th of July (as seen on SP).

Let's see: first you need to extract the CO2 from the atmosphere. Then, you need to enough material (e.g. magnesium) and energy (e.g. burning) to reduce the CO2 to elemental carbon. Okay, it's doable. Whether or not it's feasible is another matter. How's your offer to buy the haunted house for $35/- going, anyway? Did the owners accept it?

Nah! There's nothing like a bunch wise-quacking engineers to drive the fear of the devil right outta ya. Dang!!!