# Sulfuric Acid



## jasonvoss (Mar 19, 2008)

Can anyone tell me if its possible to make this acid and if so how? Also my wife will be joining this great forum soon, she is trying her hand at scrapping computers, do any of you have a website link she could use to find out what terms like " fingers & pins" mean? and what to recover, thanks to all inadvance, this place is one of a kind!


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## Anonymous (Mar 19, 2008)

It is very cheap and available no need to make it although you may have to concentrate it.


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## jasonvoss (Mar 20, 2008)

Thanks , we didnt know if it was hard to come by or not? and we also heard you can use battery acid, is this correct?


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## draftinu (Mar 20, 2008)

Hi Jason, Yes it is used in batteries. Commonly known as drain opener (professional grade). Tim Sulfuric acid can purchased from Lowes, Ace hardware, Etc.


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## Harold_V (Mar 20, 2008)

Be advised that not all drain openers are sulfuric acid. Lye used to be very commonly used for drain opening. Be certain to read the contents if you go shopping. Don't assume that what you find is the right substance. 

Harold


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## Bernie Foley (Mar 21, 2008)

Harold is right. Best to buy sulphuric acid(battery acid) it is about 12.80
gravity or about 50%. For batteries it should be quite pure.One can boil i down if needed.....good luck and be careful...Hi Harold..I will incinerate!,filter,wash.....really what has to be done!....after a copy of the c.m.Hoke book..I had one i went by 30yrs ago..The info does not change!
It gives the correct order to do things!..Thanks for your many comments of wisdom.....Bernie


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## Lou (Mar 21, 2008)

Usually it's cheap enough to just buy...it's probably the most widely produced chemical in the world.


Industrially it is made by burning sulfur with excess air and then passing over a vanadium catalyst. If you really want to, and you're crazy enough to do it, you can actually do this at home and make your own sulfuric acid!

http://sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=8923&page=1#pid102790

someone there did it on the small scale. Such a process would be suitable for making at most a couple gallons in a day of running. Nice thing about it is that once it's up to temp. it runs by itself. That fellow there has a passion for doing it the hard way 

You can also make your own nitric acid from the elements too, but that requires some expensive platinum catalysts. Maybe I'll do that sometime.


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## Harold_V (Mar 22, 2008)

Bernie Foley said:


> Thanks for your many comments of wisdom.....Bernie



Thanks, Bernie. It's nice to know that folks read my ravings. 

Hope you find some of them useful.

Harold


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## Harold_V (Mar 22, 2008)

Lou said:


> Industrially it is made by burning sulfur with excess air and then passing over a vanadium catalyst. If you really want to, and you're crazy enough to do it, you can actually do this at home and make your own sulfuric acid!



Perhaps you've heard of Kennecott Copper, in Utah. For years, they dumped SO2 from their stack at the smelter. The original stack was replaced by one that was larger, both in diameter and height, but regulations finally forced them to control their emissions. The smelter is located at the south tip of the Great Salt Lake, on the north end of the Oquirrh Mountain range. The SO2 had denuded the mountains for miles. 

A sulfuric plant was installed to remove SO2 from their emissions. Sulfuric acid is now produced by the train car. 

I grew up in Midvale, Utah, a smelter town. They dumped all of their SO2 into the atmosphere by a very tall stack, something like 500'. The smelter was closed permanently, and the stack(s) toppled in 1958. While the smelter was in operation, it was common to have SO2 lingering in the atmosphere on calm days. On stagnant days, a haze hung over the entire valley, the result of several smelters that used to operate. Closing their doors was met with mixed emotions, for jobs lost, but all breathed better afterwards. 

We've come a long ways!

Anyone interested in reading about Bingham Canyon, and Kennecott Copper can follow this link.

http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/kennecott.html

Harold


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## Palladium (Mar 22, 2008)

Kennecott Copper >>>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJXYnTHY04I


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## draftinu (Mar 23, 2008)

Interesting links guys. Thanks,Tim


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## Anonymous (Apr 1, 2008)

You do know you can go to your nearest Napa Auto Store and get sulfuric acid right? IT cost me 15 bucks for 5 gallons. Its only 30% concentration, but it can be more concentrated by boiling it down.


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