INTRODUCTION:Sulfuric acid (alternative spelling sulphuric acid) is a highly corrosive strong

mineral acid with the molecular formula H2SO4. It is a pungent-ethereal,

colorless to slightly yellow viscous liquid which is soluble in water at all
concentrations.Sometimes, it is dyed dark brown during production to alert
people to its hazards.The historical name of this acid is oil of vitriol.

Pure sulfuric acid is not encountered naturally on Earth in anhydrous form, due
to its great affinity for water. Dilute sulfuric acid is a constituent of acid rain,
which is formed by atmospheric oxidation of sulfur dioxide in the presence of
water i.e., oxidation of sulfurous acid. Sulfur dioxide is the main byproduct
produced when sulfur-containing fuels such as coal or oil are burned.
Sulfuric acid is formed naturally by the oxidation of sulfide minerals, such as
iron sulfide. The resulting water can be highly acidic and is called acid mine
drainage (AMD) or acid rock drainage (ARD). This acidic water is capable of
dissolving metals present in sulfide ores, which results in brightly colored, toxic
streams.

Alternative Names:1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Oil of vitriol
Sulfuric acid
Vitriol
Battery acid
Electrolyte acid

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:Appearance

colourless, oily, corrosive liquid

Melting point

10 deg C

Molecular Formula

H2O4S
337 deg C

Boiling point
Vapor pressure
Density
vapor density
pH of 10 % of solution
Flammability limits
Molar weight

1mm of Hg at 145.8 deg C

1.840 g/mL
<0.3 (25 C, vs air)
1.01
Non flammable
98.07848 g/mol

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES :Corrosive property

Sensitivity
Water solubility
Stability

Attacks most metals. Attacks cloth,

leather, and some plastics.
Hygroscopic
Highly soluble
Stable

CHEMICAL REACTIONS:Reaction with water and dehydrating property:Because the hydration reaction of sulfuric acid is highly exothermic, dilution
should always be performed by adding the acid to the water rather than the
water to the acid. Because the reaction is in an equilibrium that favors the rapid
protonation of water, addition of acid to the water ensures that the acid is the
limiting reagent. This reaction is best thought of as the formation of hydronium
ions:
H2SO4 + H2O H3O+ + HSO4

K1 = 2.4106 (strong acid)

HSO4 + H2O H3O+ + SO42

K2 = 1.0102

HSO4 is the bisulfate anion and SO42 is the sulfate anion.

K1 and K2 are the acid dissociation constants.
Acid-base properties:As an acid, sulfuric acid reacts with most bases to give the corresponding
sulfate. For example, the blue copper salt copper(II) sulfate, commonly used for
electroplating and as a fungicide, is prepared by the reaction of copper(II) oxide
with sulfuric acid:
CuO (s) + H2SO4 (aq) CuSO4 (aq) + H2O (l)
Sulfuric acid can also be used to displace weaker acids from their salts.
Reaction with sodium acetate, for example, displaces acetic acid, CH3COOH,
and forms sodium bisulfate:
H2SO4 + CH3COONa NaHSO4 + CH3COOH

Reactions with metals and strong oxidizing property:Dilute sulfuric acid reacts with metals via a single displacement reaction as with
other typical acids, producing hydrogen gas and salts. It attacks reactive metals
such as iron, aluminium, zinc, manganese, magnesium and nickel.
Fe (s) + H2SO4 (aq) H2 (g) + FeSO4 (aq)

Reactions with non-metal:Hot concentrated sulfuric acid oxidizes non-metals such as carbon[21] (as
bituminous coal) and sulfur.
C + 2H2SO4 CO2 + 2SO2 + 2H2O
S + 2H2SO4 3SO2 + 2H2O

Electrophilic aromatic substitution:Benzene undergoes electrophilic aromatic substitution with sulfuric acid to give
the corresponding sulfonic acids.

MANUFACTURERS:INDIA:Alok Enterprise Pvt Ltd, Mumbai.

Gauri Acids Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad.
Jainson Labs Pvt Ltd. Hyderabad
Organo Chemical Industries, Gujarat
Raja Sulphur Industries New Delhi

Tecil Chemicals & Hydropower,Rajkot

APPLICATIONS: Sulfuric acid is a very important commodity chemical, and indeed, a

nation's sulfuric acid production is a good indicator of its industrial
strength.
Sulfuric acid at high concentrations is frequently the major ingredient in
acidic drain cleaners which are used to remove grease, hair, tissue paper,
etc.
largest amount of sulfuric acid is used to make phosphoric acid, used, in
turn, to make the phosphate fertilizers.
In the manufacture of fertilizers, ammonium phosphate and calcium super
phosphate.
In the manufacture of rayon and nylon and also in the preparation of dyes
and drugs from coal tar derivatives.
In the manufacture of the explosives such as Tri-nitro toluene , Tri-nitro
glycerine and picric acid.
In the manufacture of nitric acid, hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid.
In the manufacture of sodium sulphate for glass industry and ferrous
sulphate for ink industry.
In the purification of petrol, kerosene, and lubricants.
It is used in metallurgy for extraction of metals. Leaching of metallic
compounds gives sulphates which on electrolysis gives the metal in pure
form .It is used for pickling of metals.
It is used in storage of batteries.
It is used as a laboratory reagent for the preparation of iodine, carbon
monoxide and hydrogen.
Industrial Applications:The major use for sulfuric acid is the production of phosphoric acid, used for
manufacture of phosphate fertilizers. In this method, phosphate rock is used.
This raw material is shown below as fluorapatite. This is treated with 93%

sulfuric acid to produce calcium sulfate, hydrogen fluoride (HF) and phosphoric
acid. The overall process can be represented as:

Ca5F(PO4)3 + 5H2SO4 + 10H2O 5CaSO42H2O + HF + 3H3PO4

Sulfur-iodine cycle
The sulfur-iodine cycle is a series of thermo-chemical processes used to obtain
hydrogen. It consists of three chemical reactions whose net reactant is water and
whose net products are hydrogen and oxygen.

2H2SO4 2SO2 + 2H2O + O2

(830 C)

I2 + SO2 + 2H2O 2HI + H2SO4

(120 C)

2HI I2 + H2

(320 C)

The sulfur and iodine compounds are recovered and reused, hence the
consideration of the process as a cycle. This process is endothermic and must
occur at high temperatures, so energy in the form of heat has to be supplied.

METHODS OF PRODUCTION OF SULFURIC ACID: Contact process

Wet sulfuric acid process
lead chamber
Wet sulfuric acid process:In the first step, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas is incinerated to SO2 gas:
2H2S + 3O2 2H2O + 2SO2 (518 kJ/mol)

This is then oxidized to sulfur trioxide using oxygen with vanadium(V) oxide as
catalyst.
2SO2 + O2 2SO3 (99 kJ/mol) (reaction is reversible)
The sulfur trioxide is hydrated into sulfuric acid H2SO4:
SO3 + H2O H2SO4(g) (101 kJ/mol)
The last step is the condensation of the sulfuric acid to liquid 9798% H2SO4:
H2SO4(g) H2SO4(l) (69 kJ/mol)
Lead Chamber Process:Sulfur dioxide is generated by burning elemental sulfur or by roasting pyritic
ore in a current of air:
4FeS2 + 11O2 2Fe2O3 + 8SO2
Nitrogen oxides are produced by decomposition of niter in the presence of
sulfuric acid or hydrolysis of nitrosylsulfuric acid:
2NaNO3 + H2SO4 Na2SO4 + H2O + NO + NO2 + O2
2NOHSO4 + H2O 2H2SO4 + NO + NO2
In the reaction chambers, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide dissolve in the
reaction liquor. Nitrogen dioxide is hydrated to produce nitrous acid which then
oxidizes the sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid and nitric oxide. The reactions are
not well characterized but it is known that nitrosylsulfuric acid is an
intermediate in at least one pathway. The major overall reactions are:
2NO2 + H2O HNO2 + HNO3
SO2 (aq) + HNO3 NOHSO4
NOHSO4 + HNO2 H2SO4 + NO2 + NO
SO2 (aq) + 2HNO2 H2SO4 + 2NO

Nitric oxide escapes from the reaction liquor and is subsequently reoxidized by
molecular oxygen to nitrogen dioxide. This is the overall rate determining step
in the process:
2NO + O2 2NO2
Nitrogen oxides are absorbed and regenerated in the process, and thus serve as a
catalyst for the overall reaction:
2SO2 + 2H2O + O2 2H2SO4

ANALYSIS OF PROCESSES: Production from wet sulphuric acid is rejected because This process
produces an acid with low concentration instead of the high
concentrations that the Contact Process yields.
Production from lead chamber process is rejected because This process is
not used as widely as the Contact Process is today mainly because this
process produces a more dilute acid than the Contact Process which
yields pure sulfuric acid. The Contact Process also produces a much
larger amount of sulfuric acid than the Lead Chamber Process.

SELECTED PROCESS:Production of Sulfuric Acid by Contact process.

CONTACT PROCESS:The process can be divided into five stages:

Combining of sulphur and oxygen
Purifying sulphur dioxide in the purification unit;
Adding excess of oxygen to sulfur dioxide in presence of catalyst
vanadium pentoxide, with temperatures of 450 degrees Celsius and
pressure of 1-2 atm.;

 Sulfur trioxide formed is added to sulfuric acid which gives rise to oleum
(disulfuric acid);
The oleum then is added to water to form sulfuric acid which is very
concentrated.
Purification of air and SO2 is necessary to avoid catalyst poisoning
In the first step, sulfur is burned to produce sulfur dioxide.
S (s) + O2 (g) SO2 (g)
This is then oxidized to sulfur trioxide using oxygen in the presence of a
vanadium(V) oxide catalyst. This reaction is reversible and the formation of the
sulfur trioxide is exothermic.
2SO2 (g) + O2 (g) 2SO3 (g)
The sulfur trioxide is absorbed into 9798% H2SO4 to form oleum (H2S2O7),
also known as fuming sulfuric acid. The oleum is then diluted with water to
form concentrated sulfuric acid.
H2SO4 (l) + SO3 (g) H2S2O7 (l)
H2S2O7 (l) + H2O (l) 2H2SO4 (l)
Note that directly dissolving SO3 in water is not practical due to the highly
exothermic nature of the reaction between sulfur trioxide and water. The
reaction forms a corrosive aerosol that is very difficult to separate, instead of a
liquid.
SO3 (g) + H2O (l) H2SO4 (l)
Purification unit:This includes the dusting tower, cooling pipes, scrubbing tower, drying tower,
arsenic purifier and testing box.
DCDA
The next step to the Contact Process is DCDA or Double Contact Double
Absorption. In this process the product gases (SO 2) and (SO3) are passed

through absorption towers twice to achieve further absorption and conversion of

SO2 to SO3 and production of higher grade sulfuric acid.
SO2-rich gases enter the catalytic converter, usually a tower with multiple
catalyst beds, and are converted to SO3, achieving the first stage of conversion.
The exit gases from this stage contain both SO 2 and SO3 which are passed
through intermediate absorption towers where sulfuric acid is trickled down
packed columns and SO3 reacts with water increasing the sulfuric acid
concentration. Though SO2 too passes through the tower it is unreactive and
comes out of the absorption tower.
This stream of gas containing SO2, after necessary cooling is passed through the
catalytic converter bed column again achieving up to 99.8% conversion of SO 2
to SO3 and the gases are again passed through the final absorption column thus
resulting not only achieving high conversion efficiency for SO 2 but also
enabling production of higher concentration of sulfuric acid.

The industrial production of sulfuric acid involves proper control of

temperatures and flow rates of the gases as both the conversion efficiency and
absorption are dependent on these.