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Why is sulfuric acid added during the extraction of bromine from seawater?
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bromine
Bromine.
In the industrial extraction of bromine from seawater, sulfuric acid is added to the water to facilitate the chemical displacement process.12
Specifically, the seawater is acidified with sulfuric acid before being treated with chlorine. This acidification is a necessary step to enable the chlorine to effectively release bromine from the bromides naturally present in the ocean water. Once the bromine is liberated, it is removed from the solution as a dilute mixture using a current of air.12