Recently saw a report claiming that "water can be turned into hydrogen peroxide to disinfect and sterilize." As we all know, disinfection and sterilization of hydrogen peroxide is common sense, but the matter of "water turns into hydrogen peroxide" is worth pondering!
. Even Pan Jing, chairman of Titanium Robot, a well-known domestic robot track company, refuted the rumors in his circle of friends: "No matter how much water is treated, it cannot become hydrogen peroxide. In fact, tap water is added. The tap water contains chlorine, and then electrolyzes it to produce very weak chloride-like ions to sterilize..."
Can water produce hydrogen peroxide? This is really a professional thing. To discuss this matter, we must first start with the birth of hydrogen peroxide.
The birth of "hydrogen peroxide" and the mainstream method
1818, the famous French chemist Teiner (J.H. Thènard did an experiment. First, he heated the barium nitrate that had removed the transition metal ions and obtained barium oxide:
2Ba(NO3)2→2BaO+O2↑+4NO2↑
Then, when Tener passed oxygen through the red hot barium oxide (BaO) he obtained barium peroxide (BaO2):
2 BaO+O2→2BaO2
Then, he found that reacting BaO2 with sulfuric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid or phosphoric acid can obtain a "oxygen-rich product". After analysis, it was found that
, the oxygen-rich product, contains hydrogen equal to water and oxygen that is twice as much as water, thus it is called "hydrogen dioxide", which is the origin of the "hydrogen peroxide" hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) we are now familiar with.
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As a peroxide, its molecular structure is extremely unstable. The oxygen (O-) in hydrogen peroxide exists in a high-energy state and can be decomposed and reduced to oxygen (O2) at any time at room temperature:
H2O2 → H2O + (O)Oxygen atom
This is also the reason why hydrogen peroxide can sterilize. When the single atom oxygen O in hydrogen peroxide escapes, it will immediately search for atoms and electrons in nearby molecules to "plunder", that is, plunder the atoms and electrons of nearby microorganisms and bacteria, thereby destroying their protein molecular structure and killing bacteria. After experiments, it has a good killing effect on various microorganisms such as E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus albicans, poliovirus and fungi.
At the same time, as a sterilization and disinfection expert, it removes organic pollutants in the air, hydrogen peroxide can also remove odors and produce non-toxic substances. After disinfection is completed, it is decomposed into oxygen and water. This pollution-free and clean green characteristic is also in line with the tone of the current "double carbon" environment. Therefore, hydrogen peroxide has also become one of the popular sterilization and disinfectants for pre-order. According to relevant data statistics, my country's hydrogen peroxide production and apparent consumption have maintained a steady increase in recent years. In 2021, my country's hydrogen peroxide industry output reached 12.35 million tons, and the apparent consumption was 12.4 million tons. (Including papermaking, textile printing and dyeing, sewage treatment, chemical smelting and other fields)
So, then, what are the main methods for making hydrogen peroxide at present?
Before the 1950s, the electrolytic method was used to prepare hydrogen peroxide - electrolyzing a bisulfate solution (such as ammonium bisulfate and potassium bisulfate) to obtain perdisulfate, and then adding sulfuric acid to hydrolyze the perdisulfate to obtain hydrogen peroxide.
In 1953, DuPont, the United States, developed an anthraquinone method, which uses 2-ethylanthraquinone and palladium as catalysts to directly combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce hydrogen peroxide:
H2 + O2 = H2O2 (2-ethylanthraquinone, palladium)
During this process, 2-ethylanthraquinone is reduced by hydrogen to 2-ethylanthra alcohol under the catalysis of palladium, and 2-ethylanthra alcohol reacts with oxygen to obtain hydrogen peroxide. It is understood that countries around the world are basically using this technology now. Relevant data show that hydrogen peroxide synthesized by the anthraquinone method accounts for 95% of global production and 98% of domestic production.
In China, hydrogen peroxide production started slightly later. In the early 1970s, the first anthraquinone production device was completed and put into production at the Beijing Oxygen Plant. Subsequently, according to Modern Chemical Industry, the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in 2003 prompted the surge in the use of hydrogen peroxide for disinfection, and comprehensively promoted the domestic hydrogen peroxide project launch. In 2005, my country's hydrogen peroxide production capacity doubled compared with four years ago, reaching 2.2 million t/a (27.5%), and its production capacity, output and apparent consumption exceeded that of the United States, ranking first in the world.
Of course, the synthesis method of hydrogen peroxide is not the only two above. There are inorganic chemical reaction method, hydrocarbon self-oxidation method, isopropanol oxidation method, direct synthesis of hydrogen and oxygen, etc., but can hydrogen peroxide be generated by directly using ordinary water? Dear readers, please share your professional insights.
