Login/Sign Up
Home » Describe the manufacture of H2SO4 by contact process.
Describe the manufacture of H2SO4 by contact process.
CBSE | Chemistry | Class 12 | NCERT | The p-Block Elements
Describe the manufacture of H2SO4 by contact process.

The steps which are required in the production of Sulphuric Acid by the contact process are mentioned as follows:

Step 1:

Sulphide ores or Sulphur are burnt in air to form sulphur dioxide or SO2​.

Step 2:

By a reaction with oxygen, SO2​ is converted into sulphur trioxide or SO3​ in the presence of vanadium pentoxide or V2O5​ as a catalyst.

2S{{O}_{2}}(g)+{{O}_{2}}(g)\xrightarrow{{{V}_{2}}{{O}_{5}}}2S{{O}_{3}}(g)

Step 3:

SO3​​ produced is absorbed on H2​SO4​ to give H2​S2​O7​ (oleum).

The reaction can be written as follows:

    \[S{{O}_{3}}+{{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}\to {{H}_{2}}{{S}_{2}}{{O}_{7}}\]

The oleum obtained is then diluted to obtain H2​SO4 ​of the desired concentration.

Generally, in practice, the plant is operated at 2 bar pressure and 720 K temperature. The sulphuric acid which is thus obtained has a purity around 96-98%.

i

More Material