What are catalysts used for i industry?And examples also?

Answer 1

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There are too many examples to mention. Catalysts are used in a wide variety of applications, for numerous reasons.

A simple example is the catalytic converter in all newer motor cars. These reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (cause of acid rain; it reacts with water to form dilute nitric acid), unburnt hydrocarbons (which form ozone - toxic at ground level) and carbon monoxide (CO - again a toxic gas).

It works by three separate process - a platinum / rhodium catalyst which forms nitorgen and oxygen from nitrogen oxide, a platinum / palladium catalyst to oxidise unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, forming carbon dioxide and a sensor control which monitors the process and adjusts the air to fuel ratio in the engine for optimum results.

A catalyst enables a chemical reaction to take part by providing a substrate to attract the molecules concerned. If you imagine gas molecules whizzing around, they are unlikely to interact with each other, yet if they are attracted to a catalyst, the chance of them reacting with each other is greatly increased. The catalyst itself does not take part in the reaction.

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http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cats.htm

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Wonderful.

Answer 2

to speed up a chemical reaction. I believe that nickel is used when margarine is produced to speed up a reaction, but im not sure what for

Answer 3

Yes nickel is used to produce saturated fats (nickel aids the hydrogen in bonding with the hydrocarbon), Iron is used as a catalyst during the production of ammonia.

Answer 4

A catalyst is something which provides a surface area for a reaction to take place on. It also lowers the "activation energy" of a certain reaction. This in turn increases the number of successful collisions (i.e. when the atoms collide with the intended atoms they are meant to react with).

There are many different forms of catalysts. Three are catalyst powder, catalyst pellets and catalyst gauzes.
Transition metals are common catalysts in industrial reactions - e.g. the Haber Process.

The Haber process is the process used to make ammonia (NH3). Because this reaction is reversible not all of the hydrogen and nitrogen will convert to ammonia. The reaction reaches a dynamic equilibrium (when reactions are taking place at exactly the same rate in both directions). The hydrogen and nitrogen is mixed in a 3:1 ratio, fed into a column, passed over trays of iron catalyst and the ammonia is formed as a gas. It then cools down and liquifies in the condenser at the bottom.
The unused hydrogen and nitrogen is recycled.

Another catalyst used in industry is vanadium pentoxide (V2O5). The Contact process is the process used to make sulphuric acid. The first stage involves forming sulphur dioxide (SO2) which is usually done by burning sulphur in air or roasting sulphide ores. The sulphur dioxide is then oxidised with the help of the catalyst to form sulphur trioxide (SO3). Next, the sulphur trioxide is dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid to form fuming sulphuric acid, or oleum (H2S2O7). (You wouldn't be able to dissolve sulphur trioxide in water because the reaction would give out enough heat to evaporate the sulphuric acid). Finally, the oleum is diluted with measured amounts of water to form concentrated sulphuric acid.

That took me ages to type, hope that helps :)

Answer 5

As its ur homework just White this-

"catalysts increase the speed of a reaction without taking place in the reaction themselves. This is very useful in industry as it Menes that chemicals can be made much faster through usually slow chemical reactions, and as the catalysts don't take part in the reaction themselves, they can be reused as much as is needed. Examples of catalysts in industry's include the use of the biological catalysts enzymes to brake down substrates in baby foods into smaller simpler molecules"

I hope this helped. I had the same question for my homework last year, got an A* on it so use it! lol =P

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