Some questions:
1. If you were designing a sulfuric acid plant, briefly list important factors that you would consider when deciding:
a. Whether to use powdered sulfur from a local supplier or molten sulfur transported a greater distance
Cost of transport?
b. If sulfur were to be burnt in air or oxygen
which process is more energy and cost efficient, whether it's necessarily to extract oxygen from air first?
c. Whether to obtain sulfur dioxide by burning sulfur or from the waste gases of a copper smelter
d. Which catalyst to use, platinum or vanadium (V) oxide
Which one's less expensive? A sheet I have says you also have to consider 'the chance of the catalyst being "poisoned"'
e. whether to use air or oxygen for the reaction in the converter.
I did come up with some for some of them, there could be more. Others, I'm not sure about...
2. Air is thoroughly purified before it is used in the Contact process (for production of sulfuric acid). Suggest reasons for this.
Answer says: 'to prevent poisoning of the catalyst'. Again, i have no idea what this means.
3. During the Contact process, as gas passes through each catalyst bed in the converter, its temperature increases. The gas must be diverted for cooling before returning for another pass.
a. Why does the temperature of the gas rise?
Is it because the reaction's exothermic?
b. Why is it necessary to cool the gas?
To prevent converter from heating up too much?
c. What side-benefit is obtained from the need to cool gases?
4. What other industries (apart from sulfuric acid plants) emit sulfur dioxide?
Thanks
1. If you were designing a sulfuric acid plant, briefly list important factors that you would consider when deciding:
a. Whether to use powdered sulfur from a local supplier or molten sulfur transported a greater distance
Cost of transport?
b. If sulfur were to be burnt in air or oxygen
which process is more energy and cost efficient, whether it's necessarily to extract oxygen from air first?
c. Whether to obtain sulfur dioxide by burning sulfur or from the waste gases of a copper smelter
d. Which catalyst to use, platinum or vanadium (V) oxide
Which one's less expensive? A sheet I have says you also have to consider 'the chance of the catalyst being "poisoned"'
e. whether to use air or oxygen for the reaction in the converter.
I did come up with some for some of them, there could be more. Others, I'm not sure about...
2. Air is thoroughly purified before it is used in the Contact process (for production of sulfuric acid). Suggest reasons for this.
Answer says: 'to prevent poisoning of the catalyst'. Again, i have no idea what this means.
3. During the Contact process, as gas passes through each catalyst bed in the converter, its temperature increases. The gas must be diverted for cooling before returning for another pass.
a. Why does the temperature of the gas rise?
Is it because the reaction's exothermic?
b. Why is it necessary to cool the gas?
To prevent converter from heating up too much?
c. What side-benefit is obtained from the need to cool gases?
4. What other industries (apart from sulfuric acid plants) emit sulfur dioxide?
Thanks
