Sulfuric Acid Manufacturing: Favored book and website

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Last year my work took my to a small group specialized in engineering support for sulfuric acid plants, mainly those helping the mining industry have plants on hand for processing ore. You know H2So4, right?

Copper mining and sulfuric acid plant, Copperhill], Tenn.

Acid plant in a Copper Mine (1939)

Sitting in the office of one of most the senior guys there, who I definitely respect, a huge yet well-worn and sticky-tabbed book caught my eye. It was the Handbook of Sulphuric Acid Manufacturing, Second Edition, by Douglas K. Louie, P.Eng. You can read about it here. The book covers everything from simulations to maintenance, written by a man who’s been doing it his entire professional life. This was a go-to resource for even the top people in the office, and a great learning resource for the younger engineers.

Asking about the book also lead me to a favorite haunt of the office, sulphuric-acid.com. Part technical manual, part suppliers resource, part repository of standards and maintenance tips, it’s a great site. You might even want to check out their brief articles on utilities like cooling towers and instrument air, even if you don’t care about this industry.

Bonus: Sulphur or sulfur? Many formal groups like the IUPAC have ruled that “sulfur” is officially correct, yet you’ll still see the “ph” spelling quite often. If in doubt I’d pick “sulfur,” but if a plant or company is already using “ph” you’re not going to be able to change it.

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2 Responses to Sulfuric Acid Manufacturing: Favored book and website

  1. Russ says:

    Having a resource like this available is great to have – thanks for sharing. There are lots of processes and industries (even developed ones) which don’t have a handbook. This means that experienced engineers are even more valuable, and young engineers have to learn by scouring through journal articles or other documentation.

  2. Harsh Shukla says:

    thanks for the details here . i am a chemical engineering final year students and i am currently doing internship at a Sulphuric acid plant so i would like access to the book but due to economic constraints i can’t access it .

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