SULPHUR

Sulphur is a non metal found in group 6 of the periodic table. It exists as a yellow brittle powder

PRPOPERTIES OF SULPHUR

1. It burns in air with a blue flame to produce sulphur dioxide.

S(s) + O2(g) SO2(g)

2. It forms chains and rings with other elements and ionically with metals to form compounds
(metal sulphates)
3. It makes crown shaped molecules with 8 atoms
4. It forms allotropes i.e. monoclinic and rhombic sulphur
5. Sulphur is very expensive to extract
6. It is insoluble in water

SOURCES OF SULPHUR

1. Volcanic regions as large underground sulphur beds in some countries like Poland, Mexico
and USA. Sulphur is extracted by the Frasch process

Frasch Process

 Super heated water (at 1700C) and hot compressed air are forced underground
through pipes into the sulphur beds.
 A mixture of molten sulphur and water is forced to the surface
 Sulphur does not mix with water, so it is very separated
 The element sulphur obtained is 99.5% pure.

2. Oil and Gas

Sulphur is found on an impurity in natural gas and crude oil. It is obtained by the
desulphurisation of the fossil fuels. The sulphur is removed from the fossil fuels as it causes
serious environmental problems as they are burnt.

3. Minerals

Sulphur is also found in some important ores like Zinc blende (ZnS), Galana (PbS) and Copper
Pyrites (CuFeS2). The metals are extracted from the ores by roasting them in air. This
produces sulphur in form of sulphur dioxide

PREPARATION OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE

Sulphur dioxide is prepared by burning sulphur in air. The sulphur burn with a blue flame to form
sulphur dioxide.

PROPERTIES OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE

 It is an acidic gas with a chocking smell

 It is poisonous
 It dissolves in water to form sulphurous acid
 SO2(g) + H2O(l) H2SO3(aq)

USES OF SULPHUR DIOXIDE

 As a food preservative in fruit juices and soft drinks to kill bacteria

 As a reducing agent in paper making
 As a reducing agent as it bleaches certain substances by reduction.
 As bleach in the manufacture of wood pulp

MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID FROM SULPHURIC DIOXIDE BY CONTACT PROCESS

Sulphur burning sulphuric dioxide 1. air sulphur trioxide H2O sulphuric acid
In air 2. Vanadium (v) oxide
3 Temp - 4500C
4 Pressure - 2 atm

1. Sulphur dioxide in air burn to produce sulphur dioxide

2. Sulphur dioxide is then reacted in a reaction vessel at a temperature at a temperature of
about 4500C and over a Vanadium (V) oxide catalyst which catalyses the reaction between
sulphur dioxide and oxygen to produce sulphur trioxide. The reaction is reversible. The
forward reaction is exothermic.

2SO2(g) + O2(g) 2SO3(g)

The sulphur trioxide reacts with water to produce sulphuric acid

SO3(g) + H2O(l) H2SO4(aq)

This reaction is very violent and a thick mist is produced which is difficult to deal with. To
avoid this, sulphur trioxide is dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid (98%) to give oleum

SO3(g) + H2O(l) H2SO4(aq)

The oleum formed is then added to the water to form sulphuric acid

H2S207(l) + H2O(l) 2H2SO4(aq)

USES OF SULPHURIC ACID

 As a dehydrating agent
 In the manufacture of fertilizers e.g. ammonium sulphate
 Making paints and pigments, dyes and fibres
 As a catalyst in the hydrogenation process.
 In cleaning metals
 In the manufacture of soaps and detergents
 In making chemicals and plastics
 In leather tanning
 NITROGEN AND AMMONIA
NITROGEN

 It makes up to 78% of the air

 It is unreactive gas compared to oxygen
 It is colourless and odourless
 It’s a trivalent element with formula N2 and the nitrogen ion is N3-
 Oxides of nitrogen such as nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen monoxide are acidic

Note: Nitrogen dioxide is a pollutant gas which dissolves in water to form nitric acid, (HNO3), this
how acid rain forms.

SOURCES OF NITROGEN

Nitrogen is obtained industrially by the fractional distillation of liquid air.

The gases present in the mixture have different boiling points. This is why the nitrogen is obtained by
fractional distillation

USES OF NITROGEN

Nitrogen has large number of uses

 Production of ammonia in the Haber process

N2(g) + 3H2(g) NH3(g)

 Production of nitric acid

 It is used in the refrigerant for freezing food
 Liquid nitrogen is used to store some living cells and biologically important tissues. e.g.
sperms are stored before artificial
 Nitrogen is also used in food packaging to help keep them fresh e.g. crisps packets

SOURCES OF HYDROGEN

 Reforming of steam and methane. Steam reacts with natural gas (methane) to produce
hydrogen
 Electrolysis of brine
 Cracking of hydrocarbons

MANUFACTURE OF AMMONIA
More than 90% of ammonia produced in the world comes from the Haber process. This process was
named after the German chemist fritz Haber. He discovered a way of making nitrogen reacts with
hydrogen in 1908

N2(g) + 3H2(g) NH3(g)

Ammonia can manufactured in the lab:

 Reacting the base with any ammonium salt

 Heating any nitrate salt in the presence of aluminium foil
USES OF AMMONIA

 It is used to make nitric acid, nitric acid is used for making explosives and textile (nylon)
 It is used to make artificial fertilers e.g. ammonium phosphate (NH4)3PO4
 It is used to treat wood pulp
 It is used to make nylon
 It is used as a cleaning agent

Test for ammonia gas

Test: bring gas into contact with red litmus paper
Result: red litmus paper turns blue

CHLORINE
Chlorine is a very halogen therefore it is never found as a free element in the earth crust. It occurs
mainly as sodium chloride or rock salt and as a gas.

PREPARATION OF CHLORINE GAS

Chlorine is prepared by oxidising concentrated hydrochloric acid. One of the following can be used
as an oxidising agent

Manganese (iv) oxide MnO2 lead

(iv) Oxide potassium
manganese (vi) or potassium permanganate

MnO2(s) + 4HCl(aq) MnCl2(aq) + 2H2O(l) + Cl2(g)

  The water absorbs any hydrogen chloride gas that might be carried along with the chlorine
gas because the hydrogen chloride gas is highly soluble in water while chlorine is slightly
soluble

 The concentrated sulphuric acid dries the chlorine gas

PROPERTIES OF CHLORINE GAS

It is a yellow green gas with a pungent smell

It is slightly soluble in water
It is denser than air
it forms chlorides in compound

TEST FOR CHLORINE GAS

Test: bring the gas in contact with a damp litmus paper

Results: chlorine gas bleaches the litmus paper

THE BLEACHING ACTION OF CHLORINE

Chlorine reacts with water forming Hypochlorous acid and hydrochloric acid

Cl2(g) + H2O(l) HCl(aq) + HOCl(aq)

The Hypochlorous acid is very reactive and readily gives up its oxygen to a dye to form a colourless
compound

Dye + HOCl HCl +[O]dye

USES OF CHLORINE

 In water purification
 In making plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
 In making solvents like tetrachloromethane in dry cleaners
 In making bleaches, disinfectants, insecticides and pesticides
IMPORTANT COMPOUNDS OF CHLORINE

The important compound of chlorine is sodium chloride. It is obtained from sea water and salt pans.

Sodium chloride is an important source of chlorine, sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. This is
because during electrolysis of sodium chloride solution, chloride ions are discharged at the anode
while hydrogen ions are discharged at the anode while hydrogen ions are discharged at the cathode
hence sodium ions and hydroxide ion remain in the solution forming sodium hydroxide

At the cathode: 2H+ + 2e- H2(g)

At the anode: 2CI- 2e- + Cl2(g)

Common salt is obtained from rock salt by dissolving it then crystalline to get crystals

EXTRACTION OF SODIUM CHLORIDE FROM SODA ASH

Sodium chloride occurs naturally in two forms:

As rock which is mined directly from underground
As solution called brine which is pumped out the ground through drilled holes

The brine (liquor) is pumped from the lake to the first pond where is concentrated by evaporating
excess water

The solution is the pumped to the second pond which is shallow for fractional crystallisation to
occur. During the day, sodium carbonate forms a layer on top of the sodium chloride while at night
sodium chloride crystallise and it is scrapped, washed and dried. The crystals are then ready for use.