While risk reduction was the primary motive for converting to "just in time"
sulfur trioxide, the switch also freed the Alexandria plant from worrying about the EPA's RMP because oleum, a regulated chemical, is no longer stored there.
Sulfur trioxide (S[O.sub.3]) is manufactured on a large scale for production of sulfuric acid by a continuous catalytic oxidation of sulfur dioxide (S[O.sub.2]).
In Chicago this past August, 19 people were treated for chemical exposure at area hospitals after the hose on a truck pumping
sulfur trioxide into a holding tank broke and released a 50 foot high lethal cloud.
Sulfonation is an off-line process in which a tank is rinsed with
sulfur trioxide, neutralized with ammonia, and again rinsed with water.
The Georgia Tech scubber converts the sulfur dioxide into a concentrated stream of
sulfur trioxide, which can be sold as is or transformed into other chemicals.
(Bi)sulfite can be oxidized by peroxidases to form the very reactive
sulfur trioxide anion radical (*S[O.sub.3]-).
A part of formed S[O.sub.2] is oxidized further to
sulfur trioxide (SO3), which accounts for only some per cent from the total amount of sulfur oxides in flue gas.