Hydrogen sulfide gets the blame for eating away at concrete sewers. But there’s another step in the chemistry.
Joseph Talley of Imerys delivers a crash course: bacteria breaking down waste under low-oxygen conditions generate hydrogen sulfide, which can escape from wastewater into the air above it.
On moist sewer surfaces exposed to oxygen, other bacteria convert that sulfide—and sulfur compounds formed along the way—into sulfuric acid.
The acid reacts with compounds in the cement, forming gypsum and weakening the material that holds concrete together.
The gas sets the process in motion. The acid does the damage.
Episode at https://www.waterloop.org/the-chemistry-eating-our-sewers/
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