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Acids and Alkalis

Manufacture of Sulfuric Acid  -  The Contact Process.

Effect of Temperature.

The forward reaction (from left to right) is exothermic.

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

Increasing the temperature will increase the rate of the reaction
 but decrease the yield of sulfur trioxide
 (compare this with the formation of ammonia from the Haber process).

The temperature of 450 °C gives fast production of sulfur trioxide.

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