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
