Originally posted by Magpie
Early in my career I had a job in the technical service department of a paper pulp mill. For the "sulfite" cooking liquor the operators
would make SO2 by burning sulfur. We (tech staff) would have to periodically go down to the burner room to run an Orsat analysis (must have been for
O2 content of the exit gas). It would nearly gag us around the burner. But the operators did not complain - in fact they said it increased their
sexual potency! (I'm not recommending this.)
The SO2 was mixed with lime water to form Ca(HSO3)2 for the liquor. This was done by running the gas countercurrent to the lime water in an
absorbtion column. The column packing was small wood logs about 12" (30cm) long. This always made me laugh just thinking about it as I was
fresh out of school where we of course only talked of Raschig rings and Intalox saddles. |