Sulfuric acid recovery through solvent aided decomposition of ammonium sulfate

Aharon Eyal, Chaim Appelbaum, Avraham Baniel

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14 Scopus citations

Abstract

A process for the recovery of sulfuric acid through ammonium sulfate (1) is described. This process is based on extraction-aided disproportionation of arrmonium hydrogen sulfate to ammonium sulfate and sulfuric acid. Acid-base couple solvents were found to be more suitable for this process than oxygenated solvents as they can operate at higher temperatures and concentrations. A solvent composed of 0.50M methyl tricaprylyl ammonium salt of dinonyl naphthalene sulfonic acid in aromatics-free white spirits, was chosen. Sulfuric acid, at a concentration of about 35%, can be obtained from the H2SO4-(NH4)2SO4-H2O system. This disproportionation may be applied to recover sulfuric acid from gypsum. CaSO4 is converted in reaction with carbon dioxide, ammonia and water to CaCO3 and arrmonium sulfate, which is thermally decomposed to ammonia and arrmonium hydrogen sulfate. The overall process is equivalent to the displacement of H2SO4 from CaSO4 by means of CO2 and thermal energy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)803-821
Number of pages19
JournalSolvent Extraction and Ion Exchange
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1986

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