Sulfamic acid, also known as
amidosulfonic acid,
amidosulfuric acid,
aminosulfonic acid, and
sulfamidic acid, is a molecular compound with the formula H
3NSO
3. This colorless, water-soluble compound finds many applications. Sulfamic acid melts at 205 °C before decomposing at higher temperatures to water, sulfur trioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen.
Sulfamic acid is
used as an
acidic cleaning agent, sometimes pure or as a component of proprietary mixtures, typically for metals and ceramics. It is frequently
used for removing rust and limescale, replacing the more volatile and irritating hydrochloric
acid, which is cheaper.
Sulfamic acid is used as an acidic cleaning agent, sometimes pure or as a component of proprietary mixtures, typically for metals and ceramics. It is frequently used for removing rust and limescale, replacing the more volatile and irritating hydrochloric acid, which is cheaper. It is often a component of household descaling agents, for example, Lime-A-Way Thick Gel contains up to 8% sulfamic acid and has pH 2.0–2.2,
[12] or detergents used for removal of limescale. When compared to most of the common strong mineral acids, sulfamic acid has desirable water descaling properties, low volatility, and low toxicity. It forms water-soluble salts of calcium and ferric iron.
t also finds applications in the industrial cleaning of dairy and brewhouse equipment. Although it is considered less corrosive than hydrochloric acid, corrosion inhibitors are often added to the commercial cleansers of which it is a component. It can be used for descaling home coffee and espresso machines and in denture cleaners.
Other uses :
- Catalyst for esterification process
- Dye and pigment manufacturing
- Herbicide
- Coagulator for urea-formaldehyde resins
- Ingredient in fire extinguishing media. Sulfamic acid is the main raw material for ammonium sulfamate which is a widely used herbicide and fire retardant material for household products.
- Pulp and paper industry as a chloride stabilizer
- Synthesis of nitrous oxide by reaction with nitric acid
- The deprotonated form (sulfamate) is a common counterion for nickel(II) in electroplating.
- Used to separate nitrite ions from mixture of nitrite and nitrate ions( NO3-+ NO2-) during qualitative analysis of nitrate by Brown Ring test.
Silver polishing
According to the label on the consumer product, the liquid silver cleaning product TarnX contains thiourea, a detergent, and sulfamic acid.