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Concept
Phosphoric acid
Summary
Phosphoric acid (orthophosphoric acid, monophosphoric acid or phosphoric(V) acid) is a colorless, odorless phosphorus-containing solid, and inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is commonly encountered as an 85% aqueous solution, which is a colourless, odourless, and non-volatile syrupy liquid. It is a major industrial chemical, being a component of many fertilizers.
The compound is an acid. Removal of all three ions gives the phosphate ion . Removal of one or two protons gives dihydrogen phosphate ion , and the hydrogen phosphate ion , respectively. Phosphoric acid forms esters, called organophosphates.
The name "orthophosphoric acid" can be used to distinguish this specific acid from other "phosphoric acids", such as pyrophosphoric acid. Nevertheless, the term "phosphoric acid" often means this specific compound; and that is the current IUPAC nomenclature.
Phosphoric acid is produced industrially by one of two routes, wet processes and dry.
In the wet process, a phosphate-containing mineral such as calcium hydroxyapatite and fluorapatite are treated with sulfuric acid.
Calcium sulfate (gypsum, ) is a by-product, which is removed as phosphogypsum. The hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas is streamed into a wet (water) scrubber producing hydrofluoric acid. In both cases the phosphoric acid solution usually contains 23–33% P2O5 (32–46% ). It may be concentrated to produce commercial- or merchant-grade phosphoric acid, which contains about 54–62% (75–85% ). Further removal of water yields superphosphoric acid with a concentration above 70% (corresponding to nearly 100% ). The phosphoric acid from both processes may be further purified by removing compounds of arsenic and other potentially toxic impurities.
To produce food-grade phosphoric acid, phosphate ore is first reduced with coke in an electric arc furnace, to give elemental phosphorus. Silica is also added, resulting in the production of calcium silicate slag. Elemental phosphorus is distilled out of the furnace and burned with air to produce high-purity phosphorus pentoxide, which is dissolved in water to make phosphoric acid.
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