Sulfuric Acid → Aluminum Sulfate

Reaction equation

[OH-].[Al+3:2].[OH-].[OH-].[S:5](=[O:9])(=[O:8])([OH:7])[OH:6]>O>[S:5]([O-:9])([O-:8])(=[O:7])=[O:6].[Al+3:2].[S:5]([O-:9])([O-:8])(=[O:7])=[O:6].[S:5]([O-:9])([O-:8])(=[O:7])=[O:6].[Al+3:2]

Participants

Conditions

Temperature: 150 °C

Procedure

The process 300 begins with a reaction step 308 wherein the aluminum hydroxide is fed, either as a wet cake or as a dry powder, with a slurry water 310 and an acid 312 into a pressure cooker. The acid 312 can be sulfuric acid. The temperature is raised to approximately 150° C. to produce an aluminum sulfate in a molten hydrate form. The pressure is held high enough to maintain a liquid state, e.g., 1100 kilo-Pascals. The residence time is between one to ten minutes, and preferably about two minutes.