Department of Chemical Engineering

VISHWAKARMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PUNE

666, Upper Indira Nagar, Bibwewadi, Pune 411037

A Presentation on

CHEMICAL PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

Presented by ,

Prof. Amruta Mokashi

Lecture 25 & 26 : 25th & 26th Nov 2021

 Sulfuric acid
• Properties of Sulfuric acid (100% H₂SO₄)
 Molecular weight: 98.079 g/mol
 Density : 1.83 g/cm³ Melting Point: 10.31°C
 Boling Point: 337°C
 Solubility : miscible in water, exothermic
 Methods of production
1. Contact process 2. Chamber process
1. Contact H₂SO₄ Process
 Catalysts
• Vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) dispersed on a porous carrier in a pellet form
• Platinum catalyst

Characteristics of catalysts :
• Porous carriers
• Active catalytic agent
• Promoter

Advantages of V₂O₅ catalyst :

• Relatively immune to poisons
• Low initial investment
• Requires only 10 kg of catalyst

Disadvantages of V₂O₅ catalyst :

• Catalyst is less active and requires high O₂/SO₂ to give economic conversion
Chemical Reactions:
(a) S (s) + O2 (g) → SO2 (g)

(b) SO2 (g) + ½ O2 (g) ↔ SO3 (g)

(c) SO3 (g) +H2SO4 (l) → H2S2O7 (l)

(d) H2S2O7 (l) + H2O (l) → 2H2SO4 (l)

Quantitative requirements :
a) Basis : 1 ton of 100% H₂SO₄
SO2 0.67 tons
Air 1450-2200 Nm³

b) Plant Capacities : 50-1000 tons/day of 100% acid

 Major Engineering Problems
a) Design of multistage catalytic converter for highly exothermic
reaction
b) Optimization space velocity in catalyst chamber
c) Corrosion problems-
d) Adaptation of process to various types of gas feeds
e) Gas velocity through the bed is too low
f) Removal of heat of absorption of SO₃ in acid
 Economics

1. Types of process
2. Production units
3. Plant location and production in India
Use of sulfuric acid