Make Sulfuric acid (metabisulfite/oxidizer method)

We make concentrated sulfuric acid from sodium metabisulfite, hydrochloric acid and an oxidant such as hydrogen peroxide or nitric acid.

Warning: The procedures in this video produce large quantities of toxic gases and deal with highly corrosive acids. All work must be performed in a fume hood with proper safety equipment. And all apparatus must be glass to withstand the acids.

Sodium metabisulfite upon reaction with acid will generate sulfur dioxide. This provides a convenient source of sulfur dioxide that is easier to handle than burning sulfur, but it is acceptable if you want to go that route. You'll just need to build a sophisticated gas capture and scrubbing system so the sulfur vapors and soot don't clog your tubes, poison your air and possibly burn down your workspace.

Sulfur dioxide is converted into sulfuric acid by reacting it with an oxidizer in water. In this case either hydrogen peroxide or nitric acid.

Industrially, sulfur dioxide is reacted with oxygen over a catalyst to make sulfur trioxide. This is cheaper but extremely difficult to do safely for the home chemist so the metabisulfite/oxidizer method is used instead.

You may use potassium metabisulfite instead of sodium metabisulfite. Both are used by home brewers to sterilize winemaking and beermaking mixtures. It's also used for homemade dyeing processes. Therefore it is very easy to obtain the metabisulfites without the need for expensive shipping fees or licenses.

The oxidizers must be present for this reaction to work. You cannot simply use water or you'll just make sulfurous acid which decomposes on heating and is useless for the reactions that sulfuric acid is intended for.

In future videos, we may show other methods of sulfuric acid production including sulfur trioxide based methods so please subscribe!

-EDIT-

You CANNOT use a sulfate in place of a sulfite, they are chemically different and cannot be substituted.


our website at: http://www.nurdrage.com

Category:

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• sulfuric
• acid
• hydrogen
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• nitric
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• metabisulfite

[Socioistic]

This seems like a lot of trouble to go through for something you can buy pretty readily. I mean, if you're the owner of a lab where you have copious amounts of all of those materials, I guess you could save a little by making it yourself, but is it enough to make it worth the time needed?

[NurdRage]

@Socioistic The is completely and totally 100% wasteful. the cost is hundreds of times more than buying it directly.

The objective here is the explore the science.

[eduajvhades]

i have a question can I do the boiling to the sulfuric acid of the car batterys to make it pure ?

[NurdRage]

@eduajvhades yup, go for it.

[alcid34]

wait, if you have hydrochloric acid.....

why do you need to make sulfuric acid?

Aren't they both the same?

[NurdRage]

@alcid34 no they are different.

[shoottherunner8008]

Can you make concentrated acids from dilute ones?

[supermodel5011]

@NurdRage johny was a chemist but now he is no more what he thought was H2O

was H2SO4 HAY!!

[MrSuednym]

@iskatelikeanoob A chemical supplier. Although you could likely just buy the Sulfuric acid at said supplier.

[MrSuednym]

@KewneRain Probably not easily... I'm sure you could find a way, but would you want to work with it? It's very nasty stuff.

[TheGuyInUrCloset]

Kinda funny how it takes HCl to make sulfuric acid, and it takes sulfuric acid to make HCl.

[ThePickledsoul]

@kbtoxicwaste87 All strong acids are considered the same strength, as they all disassociate completely in solution. Sulfuric acid( H2SO4) only gives up one H+ under normal circumstances. only if there is a mix of acids would sulfuric acid be considered "stronger" due to the fact that it is easier to separate the extra hydrogen ion from it.

of course, it has been a while since i took chemistry so i could be mistaken.

[Riskteven]

@Socioistic It's for educational purpose.