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Business Daily: Elements: Hydrogen and Acids

Elements: Hydrogen & Acids

19/08/2015

Elements: Hydrogen and Acids

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Elements: Hydrogen and Acids

These powerful chemicals are essential for industry, but are dangerous to handle.

These powerful chemicals are essential for industry, but how do we handle them safely, what happens when there is an accident, and what can be done to stop malicious acid attacks?

These powerful chemicals are essential to obtain the minerals that build our world, the fertilisers that feed the planet, and the fuels that propel our vehicles - as presenter Laurence Knight discovers on a trip to the Ineos Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland.
But while most traditional acids are based on the power of hydrogen ions, Prof Andrea Sella of University College London explains that many modern industrial "acids" do not, and come in startlingly unexpected forms such as powders.
Many of the most corrosive acids are very tricky to contain, resulting in the occasional nasty accident, as chemical engineer Keith Plumb explains.
Also, Justin Rowlatt has a report on acid attacks in southern Asia in which he speaks to campaigner Selina Ahmed of the Acid Survivors Foundation on how Bangladesh has tackled the problem.
(Picture: A team working with toxic acids and chemicals secures a chemical cargo train tanks crashed near Sofia, Bulgaria; Credit: Cylonphoto/Thinkstock)

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