Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
7820af48-00b6-4dac-9dff-e0fd3793cdb2
Materials
Associated ID
bca7bd8d-711e-41ca-895d-208f3c6678f3
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
Sulfuric acid is widely used in industries such as inorganic and organic chemicals, metallurgy and material processing; Sulfuric acid is modelled as a pure substance; when modelling this substance the user needs to add a solvent of their choice in the model; the dataset contains the main raw and auxiliary materials, energy, waste and atmospheric emissions of the production process, in which the preliminary treatment of wastewater in the auxiliary units and the waste gas treatment process are included within the dataset boundary, and infrastructure such as the manufacture of production equipment and the construction of plant buildings is not included within the dataset boundary; the data inventory is formed by merging data from multiple sources; with sulfur as the main raw material, sulfuric acid is produced through unit operations such as sulfur melting, sulfur burning, conversion, and drying and absorption.
Activity Description
Using sulfur as the main raw material, sulfuric acid is produced through unit operations such as sulfur melting, sulfur burning, conversion, and dry absorption.
Process Description
The chemical formula of sulfuric acid is H2SO4 (CAS No. 7664-93-9). It is usually a colorless to slightly yellow oily viscous liquid. Its volatility increases with the increase of temperature and concentration. High-concentration working conditions are often accompanied by irritating acid mist. It can be freely miscible with water and significantly exothermic. The density and viscosity increase with the increase of concentration. The aqueous solution is strongly acidic, has dissolution and reactivity for most metal oxides and typical carbonate minerals, and can be used as a proton donor or reaction in the esterification, sulfonation, and nitration reaction pathways. The medium should be used to participate in the acid catalytic conversion; under closed storage conditions, the chemical properties are relatively stable and highly hygroscopic. The dilution must be controlled according to the standard order of acid addition to prevent violent splashing. The oxidation property is enhanced when heated or coexisting with reducing agents. Concentrated acid has a tendency to dehydrate and carbonize organic matter containing hydroxyl groups. Industrially, it is mainly used in phosphate fertilizer manufacturing, chemical production of inorganic salts and inorganic acids, metal surface pickling and hydrometallurgical leaching processes; it is also used in petroleum refining and oil refining processes, sulfonation modification reactions of dyes and fine chemicals, industrial water treatment and pH adjustment.
Time period
2023
2026
Geography
China
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
The mainstream production process of sulfuric acid is the sulfur contact method, and this dataset represents this mainstream technology. The production uses industrial sulfur as the sulfur source. After melting and purification of the liquid sulfur, it enters the sulfur incineration furnace and reacts with air to generate process gas containing sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide is oxidized to sulfur trioxide under the action of a vanadium catalyst, and then contacts water or circulating acid in the absorption section to produce finished sulfuric acid. At the end of the process, the process gas is washed and subjected to mist elimination to control emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfuric acid mist. The main chemical reactions involved are: S+O2→SO2; 2SO2+O2→2SO3; SO3+H2O→H2SO4.