Sulfuric acid history

MCA Case History No. 282 Erroneous addition of cone, sulfuric acid to sodium chlorate instead of sodium chloride caused an explosion owing to formation of chlorine dioxide [1]. Accidental contact of 93% acid on clothing previously splashed with sodium chlorate caused immediate ignition [2],... 

Similar to the history of many other elements, iodine s discovery was serendipitous in the sense that no one was looking for it specifically. In 1811 Bernard Courtois (1777—1838), a French chemist, attempted to remove sodium and potassium compounds from the ash of burned seaweed in order to make gunpowder. After removing these chemicals from the ash, he added sulfuric acid (H SO j) to the remaining ash. However, he mistakenly added too much acid, which produced a violet-colored vapor cloud that erupted from the mixture. This violet vapor condensed on all the metallic objects in the room, leaving a layer of sohd black iodine crystals. Sir Humphry Davy (1778—1829) confirmed this discovery of a new element and named it iodine after the Greek word iodes, which means violet, but it was Courtois who was given credit for the discovery of iodine. 

As stated earlier in this paper, FGD wet scrubbers can produce either calcium sulfite (the typical product) or calciiun sulfate. The DDO crystallizer is advantageous for either product. The following industrial case history describes the production of calcium sulfate dihydrate (or gypsum) product fi om an industrial in-plant weak sulfuric acid liquor using a DDO crystallizer configuration. 

The first large chemical industries that developed in modern times involved the production of acids and alkalis. The most important industrial chemical used throughout history is sulfuric acid. Each year sulfuric acid tops the list of chemicals used by industry, and it is often said that a country s economic status can be gauged by the amount of sulfuric acid it consumes in a year. In ancient times sulfuric acid was produced by heating the ore green vitiriol, FeSO -mp-. 

Sulfur is used in a wide variety of industrial processes, however, its single most important use is as sulfuric acid in the production of phosphatic fertilizers. World demand for sulfur (in all forms) has traditionally grown at a fairly steady pace while world supply has been subjected to various sudden surges and shortfalls. The resulting interplay of supply/demand forces has led to an interesting price history for this commodity both worldwide and in North America. 

But to retain the proper perspective here, let s remember that chlorination is probably the most important public health measure in the history of the world. Chlorine was first used to disinfect water at Maidstone, England, in 1897, during an outbreak of typhoid fever. People had known about the pale green gas since 1774, when the German scientist Scheele generated it by treating salt (sodium chloride) with sulfuric acid and man-... 

History. Some traditional names (a selection is in [Table 1-4]) were introduced by Lavoisier. Under his system, oxoacids were given a two-word name, the second word being acid. In the first word, the endings -ous or -ic were added to the stem of the name, intended to indicate the content of oxygen, which is known today to be related to the oxidation states of the central atom. Unfortunately, these endings do not describe the same oxidation states in dilTerent families of acids. Thus sulfurous acid und sulfuric acid refer to oxidation stales IV and VI, whereas chlorous acid and chloric acid refer to oxidation states 111 and V. 

The traditional unpredictably violent nature of the Skraug reaction has been attributed to a lack of stirring and adequate temp control, as reported in many published descriptions (Ref 2). An MCA case history (Ref 5) reports on a large-scale (450 liter) reaction, in which sulfuric acid was added to a stirred mixt of aniline, glycerol, nitrobenzene, ferrous sulfate and w, which went out of control soon after the addition. A 150mm rupture disc blew out first, followed by the manhole cover of the vessel. The violent reaction was attributed to doubling the scale of the reaction, an unusually high ambient temp (reaction con-... 

History. Braun and Tschemak [23] obtained phthalocyanine for the first time in 1907 as a byproduct of the preparation of o-cyanobenzamide from phthalimide and acetic anhydride. However, this discovery was of no special interest at the time. In 1927, de Diesbach and von der Weid prepared CuPc in 23 % yield by treating o-dibromobenzene with copper cyanide in pyridine [24], Instead of the colorless dinitriles, they obtained deep blue CuPc and observed the exceptional stability of their product to sulfuric acid, alkalis, and heat. The third observation of a phthalocyanine was made at Scottish Dyes, in 1929 [25], During the preparation of phthalimide from phthalic anhydride and ammonia in an enamel vessel, a greenish blue impurity appeared. Dunsworth and Drescher carried out a preliminary examination of the compound, which was analyzed as an iron complex. It was formed in a chipped region of the enamel with iron from the vessel. Further experiments yielded FePc, CuPc, and NiPc. It was soon realized that these products could be used as pigments or textile colorants. Linstead et al. at the University of London discovered the structure of phthalocyanines and developed improved synthetic methods for several metal phthalocyanines from 1929 to 1934 [1-11]. The important CuPc could not be protected by a patent, because it had been described earlier in the literature [23], Based on Linstead s work the structure of phthalocyanines was confirmed by several physicochemical measurements [26-32], Methods such as X-ray diffraction or electron microscopy verified the planarity of this macrocyclic system. Properties such as polymorphism, absorption spectra, magnetic and catalytic characteristics, oxidation and reduc-... 

GICs have been first discovered from the reaction of graphite with sulfuric acid more than 150 years ago.30 In the long history of GICs research, a huge number of compounds have been yielded with a large variety of donors and acceptors, in which alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metal chlorides, acids, and halogens are involved as typical intercalates. 

Wikipedia (2005) History of Sulfuric Acid. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric acid... 

Weiss, W. and Puricelli, S. (2004) Case histories from the H2S04 industry (Observe cell temperatures of spent acid oxygen analyzers). Sulfuric Acid Today, Spring-Summer, 18. www.sulfuricacidtoday.com... 

Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry , Springer, Berlin, includes the following Sulfur A1 (History, 1942) A2 (Occurrence, Technology, 1953) A3 (The Element, 1953) B1 (Hydrides and Oxides, 1953) B2 (Sulfur-Oxygen Acids, 1960) B3 (Compounds, 1963) Sulfur Suppl. Vol. 1 (Thionyl Halides, 1978) Sulfur Suppl. Vol. 2 (Sulfur Halides, 1978) Sulfur Suppl. Vol. 3 (Sulfur Oxides, 1980) Sulfur Suppl. Vol. 4a/b (Sulfanes, 1983) as well as several volmnes on S-N chemistry. 

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