Riking
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Can you buy Conc. Sulphuric Acid in the UK?
Hi,
I've been a lurker here for a while now, and I felt the need to sign up because something's been nagging me for a long time. No matter how hard I try,
I can't seem to find a concrete 'yes' or 'no' about whether or not concentrated sulphuric acid is legal to purchase here in the UK.
For instance, ReAgent.co.uk won't sell it to private individuals, and it is listed in European law as a Category 3 Precursor, but everywhere else I've
seen it it's freely for sale without any legal warnings (it's even available on Amazon for about £9!). It's all so confusing, and I'm not risking
buying it until I've had a proper answer, as I don't want to get in trouble with the law.
I've been learning chemistry for a while now, and I would like sulphuric acid because it has so many uses in both organic and inorganic chemistry. So
if you could help clear this up for me, I'd be very grateful.
[Edited on 24-2-2014 by Riking]
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." – Albert Einstein
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Zyklon-A
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Yes, you can.
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Riking
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That's great! Thanks for the help!
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." – Albert Einstein
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zig
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Oh yeah c.H2SO4 should be the least of your worries amigo! I order mine from the mighty Amazon, but if you're old fashioned it can apparently be found
at home depot as some sort of product or something. I worry about additives in repurposed home-use products. Dyes and god knows what else.
Try searching the site for past threads, I gotta good feeling you will find what you seek.  Good luck and Godspeed!
Bear in mind that the availability of these high purity acids / solvents / hardware juices vary state by state. You might be disappointed if you're in
California (I sure was until moving out of state)
"The chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek their pleasures amid smoke and vapor, soot and flame,
poisons and poverty; yet among all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that I may die if I were to change places with the Persian king."
-Johann Joachim Becher
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ZIGZIGLAR
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You can get concentrated sulphuric acid as drain cleaner, but it has crap added into it to prevent it dissolving well, drain piping. I don't know
about you, but I wouldn't be attempting my own purification of concentrated h2s04 unless I knew what I was doing. Some of the drain cleaners are
90-98% concentrated and this strength h2s04 can cause some pretty explosive or volcanic reactions in many circumstances. It may not be a super acid,
but it's still not something I'd want flowing around uncontrolably as it will burn through most things in a short amount of time - including human
flesh, in about 5 seconds.
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fez
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Since you can buy it in B&Q, I guess it's probably legal  There are endless
legitimate uses for sulphuric acid, so you shouldn't raise any eyebrows unless you're buying huge quantities or you are 'acting supiciously'.
http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/plumbing-central-heating/waste-ov... - I think it said 94% on the package when I looked into it a year ago. I ended up
buying a 5L can on eBay instead though, worked out a lot cheaper.
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