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Acids and Alkalis

Manufacture of Sulfuric Acid  -  The Contact Process.

Sulfur dioxide can react with oxygen to produce sulfur trioxide.
This is another example of oxidation.
This reaction is reversible (shown by the reversible arrow arrow).
The forward reaction (from left to right) is
exothermic.

sulfur dioxide + oxygen  reversible arrow  sulfur trioxide.
2SO2(g)        +    O2(g)   reversible arrow          2SO3(g)

The industrial conditions are
1) Temperature 450 °C.
2) Pressure between 1 and 2 atmospheres.
3) Use a Vanadium(V) oxide
(V2O5) catalyst.

About 99% of the sulphur dioxide
is converted into sulfur trioxide under these conditions.
The sulfur trioxide is used to make sulfuric acid.

The effect on the rate of reaction and the yield
which you get from a reversible reaction
depends on the conditions (use of temperature, pressure and catalyst).
These have been summarized for the Haber Process.

1. Increasing the temperature favours the endothermic reaction.

2. Increasing the pressure favours the smaller volume.

3. Using a catalyst gives the equilibrium conditions more quickly.

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