Until the 1970s, commercial quantities of sulfuric acid and cement were produced by this process in Whitehaven, England. Sulfur dioxide can also be a byproduct in the manufacture of calcium silicate cement CaSO 4 is heated with coke and sand in this process:Ģ CaSO 4 + 2 SiO 2 + C → 2 CaSiO 3 + 2 SO 2 + CO 2 These events can release millions of tons of SO 2. The roasting of sulfide ores such as pyrite, sphalerite, and cinnabar (mercury sulfide) also releases SO 2: 2 FeS 2 + 11⁄ 2 O 2 → Fe 2O 3 + 4 SO 2 ZnS + 3⁄ 2 O 2 → ZnO + SO 2 HgS + O 2 → Hg + SO 2 2 FeS + 7⁄ 2 O 2 → Fe 2O 3 + 2 SO 2Ī combination of these reactions is responsible for the largest source of sulfur dioxide, volcanic eruptions. The combustion of hydrogen sulfide and organosulfur compounds proceeds similarly. The significant amount of heat produced is recovered by steam generation that can subsequently be converted to electricity. The reaction is exothermic, and the combustion produces temperatures of 1000–1600 ☌ (1832–2912 ☏). To aid combustion, liquified sulfur (140–150 ☌, 284-302 ☏) is sprayed through an atomizing nozzle to generate fine drops of sulfur with a large surface area. Sulfur dioxide is the product of the burning of sulfur or of burning materials that contain sulfur:

The 'smoke' that exits the gas washing bottle is, in fact, a sulfuric acid fog generated in the reaction.

The product is sulfur dioxide (SO 2) with some traces of sulfur trioxide (SO 3). A flow-chamber joined to a gas washing bottle (filled with a solution of methyl orange) is being used. Īn experiment showing burning of sulfur in oxygen. Some sulfur dioxide is also produced by roasting pyrite and other sulfide ores in air. Most sulfur dioxide is produced by the combustion of elemental sulfur. short tons) of sulfur dioxide were used in this way, compared with 150,000 metric tons (165,347 U.S.

In the United States in 1979, 23.6 million metric tons (26 million U.S. Sulfur dioxide is primarily produced for sulfuric acid manufacture (see contact process). Īs an ice, it is thought to exist in abundance on the Galilean moons-as subliming ice or frost on the trailing hemisphere of Io, and in the crust and mantle of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, possibly also in liquid form and readily reacting with water. The James Webb Space Telescope has observed the presence of sulfur dioxide on the exoplanet WASP-39b, where it is formed through photochemistry in the planet's atmosphere. The atmosphere of Io, a natural satellite of Jupiter, is 90% sulfur dioxide and trace amounts are thought to also exist in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

On both Venus and Mars, as on Earth, its primary source is thought to be volcanic. It has been implicated as a key agent in the warming of early Mars, with estimates of concentrations in the lower atmosphere as high as 100 ppm, though it only exists in trace amounts. There, it reacts with water to form clouds of sulfuric acid, and is a key component of the planet's global atmospheric sulfur cycle and contributes to global warming. On other planets, sulfur dioxide can be found in various concentrations, the most significant being the atmosphere of Venus, where it is the third-most abundant atmospheric gas at 150 ppm. Sulfur dioxide is found on Earth and exists in very small concentrations in the atmosphere at about 15 ppb. The blue auroral glows of Io's upper atmosphere are caused by volcanic sulfur dioxide.

So2 molecular geometry name