MANUFACTURED SUBSTANCES IN INDUSTRY

9.1: SULPHURIC ACID

Uses of sulphuric acid

1. Sulphuric acid is the one of the most important industrial chemicals.
2. It is used in industries to make fertilizers, detergents, paints, chemicals and
many other uses.

Manufactured of sulphuric acid

1. Sulphuric acid can be prepared by using the contact process using vanadium(V)
oxide as a catalyst.
2. There are three main stages in the manufacture of sulphuric acid namely:
a) combustion of sulphur
b) Conversion of sulphuric dioxide to sulphur trioxide.
c) Formation of sulphur acid
3. The process at each stages is summarized as follow:

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Combustion of sulphur Conversion of sulphur Formation of sulphuric acid
trioxide
• sulphur is burnt in • the sulphur dioxide • Sulphur trioxide is
the furnace to produced together dissolved in
produce sulphur with air are passed concentrated
dioxide over vanadium sulphuric acid to
• sulphur dioxide oxide(V O ) catalyst form oleum ( )
must be purified to at a temperature of •
remove foreign 450-500ºc to • Oleum is diluted
compounds which produce sulphur with water to
may poison the trioxide produce sulphuric
catalyst • acid
• •
 Environmental problems of sulphur dioxide
1. Sulphur dioxide is released to the air from the burning of coal.
2. The sulphur dioxide is oxidized to sulphur trioxide by used the atmosphere such
as ozone (O ) and hydrogen peroxide (H O )
3. The sulphur trioxide forms acid rain which dissolves in the rainwater causing
environmental damage.
4. Some of the environmental problem cause by acid rain are:
a) Pollution by increasing the acidity of soil, rivers and pond
b) Corrosion of metallic structures
c) Corrosion of marble structure

9.2: AMMONIUM AND ITS SALTS

Uses of ammonium
Some of the examples of industries associated with ammonium salts are
summarized as follow:
Industries Uses
fertilizers Production of:
 ammonium sulfate, (NH )² SO

 ammonium phosphate, (NH )³ PO

 ammonium nitrate, NH NO
 urea CO(NH ²) ²
chemicals Synthesis of:
 nitric acid, HNO³ which is used in making explosives
such as TNT (2,4,6-trinitroluence)
 sodium hydrogen carbonate(sodium bicarbonate),
NaHCO
 sodium carbonate Na²Co
explosive  ammonium nitrate
Fibres & plastic Nylon and other polyamides
refrigeration Used for making ice, large scale refrigeration plants air-
conditioning units in buildings and plants
pharmaceutical Used in manufactured of drugs such as anti-malaria drugs and
vitamins as vitamin B

Properties of ammonium
1. physical properties of ammonia:
a) colorless gas
b) pungent smell
c) very soluble in water
d) an alkaline gas
e) less dense in air
2. chemical properties of ammonium:
a) reacting as base
- dissolves in water to give an alkaline solution
-undergoes neautralisation with acids to form ammonium salts
b) Reacts with aqueous ions
3. some examples of ammonium salt:
• ammonium sulphate - can be prepared by reacting ammonia with
sulphuric acid
• ammonium nitrate – can be prepared by reacting ammonia with nitric acid
• ammonium phosphate – can be prepared by reacting ammonia with
phosphoric acid
• urea - can be prepared by reacting ammonia with carbon dioxide

Manufactured of ammonia in industries

1. Widely produced industrially in the industrilised countries.

2. Ammonia is produced industrially by a process called Haber process.
3. In the Haber process, ammonia is produced by the direct combination of one
nitrogen molecule and three hydrogen molecule under established condition.
4. The two gases were mixed at established conditions and were fed into a
reaction chamber containing iron catalyst in order to speed up the reaction.
5. established condition:
 temperature-medium temperature
 pressure-very high pressure
 catalyst-iron catalyst
9.3 ALLOYS

1. An alloy is a combination, either in solution or as a compound of two

or more elements, with at least one of which being a metal and the
resulting materials has metallic properties.
2. The resulting metallic substance generally has properties significantly
different from those of its components.
3. Alloys are usually designed to have properties that are more desirable
than those of their components. For instance, steel is stronger than
iron, one of its main elements.

Arrangement of atom in alloys

1. One of the purposes of producing alloys is to increase the strength
and hardness of the pure metals.
2. in pure metals, all the atoms are of the same size arranged in layers
and easily slide over each other acted on by some force.
3. in an alloy, atoms with difference size are mixed in their molten states
produce different size of atoms in an alloy preventing the atoms from
sliding over each other. This will make the alloy stronger and not
malleable.