Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
Sodium or lithium peroxides are preferred in space applications because of their lower molar
mass and therefore higher oxygen yield per unit weight.
Inorganic peroxides are used as oxidizing agents for digestion of organic samples and in
the synthesis of organic peroxides. They react violently with reducing agents and with several
classes of organic compounds to generate organic peroxide and hydroperoxide products.4 Dry
Caros reagent (monopersulfuric acid K2O2 " con. H2SO4) reacts readily with carbonyl
compounds (in the synthesis of organic peroxides) and can react explosively with aldehydes and
alcohols.
II.
Barium peroxide was once used to produce pure oxygen from air. This process relies on
the temperature-dependent chemical balance between barium oxide and peroxide: the reaction of
barium oxide with air at 500 C results in barium peroxide, which upon heating to above 700 C
in oxygen decomposes back to barium oxide releasing pure oxygen.
III.
Many inorganic peroxides are used for bleaching textiles and paper and as a bleaching
additive to detergents and cleaning products. The increasing environmental concerns resulted in
the preference of peroxides over chlorine-based compounds and a sharp increase in the peroxide
production. The past use of perborates as additives to detergents and cleaning products has been
largely replaced bypercarbonates in order to decrease the emission of boron to the environment.
Sodium percarbonate is used in such products as OxiClean and Tide laundry detergent. When
dissolved in water, it releases hydrogen peroxide and soda ash (sodium carbonate).
The use of peroxide compounds in detergents is often reflected in their trade names; for
example, Persil is a combination of the words perborate and silicate.
B. Hydrogen Peroxide
Industrial
About 60% of the world's production of hydrogen peroxide is used for pulp- and
paper-bleaching. The second major industrial application is the manufacture of sodium
percarbonate and sodium perborate which are used as mild bleaches
in laundry detergents.
Hydrogen peroxide is used in certain waste-water treatment processes to remove
organic impurities. This is achieved by advanced oxidation processes, such as the Fenton
reaction, which use it to generate highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH). These are able
to destroy organic contaminates which are ordinarily difficult to remove, such
as aromatic or halogenated compounds. It can also oxidize sulphur based compounds
present in the waste; which is beneficial as it generally reduces their odour.
Medical
Disinfectant - Hydrogen peroxide is seen as an environmentally safe alternative
to chlorine-based bleaches, as it degrades to form oxygen and water. It can be used for the
disinfection of various surfaces. However studies have found it to be ineffective in certain
cases and hospitals and other medical institutions are now being advised to use chlorinebased bleaches for disinfection.
Cosmetics - Hydrogen Peroxide (between 1.9% and 12%) mixed with ammonium
hydroxide is used to bleach human hair. The chemical's bleaching property lends its name
to the phrase "peroxide blonde". Hydrogen peroxide is also used for tooth whitening and
can be mixed with baking soda and salt to make a home-made toothpaste.
Alternative - Practitioners of alternative medicine have advocated the use of
hydrogen peroxide for the treatment of various conditions, including emphysema,
influenza, AIDS and in particular cancer.
Both the effectiveness and safety of hydrogen peroxide therapy is disputed by
mainstream scientists. Hydrogen peroxide is produced by the immune system but in a
carefully controlled manner.
Propellant
High concentration H2O2 is referred to as High Test Peroxide (HTP). It can be
used either as a monopropellant (not mixed with fuel) or as the oxidizer component of
a bipropellant rocket. Use as a monopropellant takes advantage of the decomposition of
7098+% concentration hydrogen peroxide into steam and oxygen.
Explosives
Hydrogen peroxide has been used for creating organic peroxide based explosives,
such as acetone peroxide, for improvised explosive devices. These explosives tend to
degrade quickly and hence are not used as commercial or military explosives.
Other Uses
Hydrogen peroxide has various domestic uses, primarily as a cleaning and
disinfecting agent.
a.) Glow sticks
Hydrogen peroxide reacts with esters, such as cyalume and phenyl oxalate ester, to
produce chemiluminescence; this application is most commonly encountered in the form
of glow sticks.
b.) Horticulture
Some horticulturalists and users of hydroponics advocate the use of weak
hydrogen peroxide solution in watering solutions. Its spontaneous decomposition releases
oxygen that enhances a plant's root development and helps to treat root rot (cellular root
death due to lack of oxygen) and a variety of other pests.[60][61][62]
c.) Fish aeration
Laboratory tests conducted by fish culturists in recent years have demonstrated that
common household hydrogen peroxide can be used safely to provide oxygen for small
fish. The hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen by decomposition when it is exposed
to catalysts such as manganese dioxide.
IV.
BIBLIOGRAPHY