Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: lukxiaofung on October 19, 2004, 09:54:24 AM
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I would like to know how to get carbon dioxide or other noble gases in air in the industrial method?
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You can separate components of air by its liquefication followed by a fractional distillation.
Liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon is produced by this method.
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But the problem is that it is very expensive to get carbon dioxide and noble gases from air through fractional distillation because there is just 0.03% carbon dioxide and <1% noble gases in air.
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Carbon dioxide is obtained on the large scale from combustion gases.
For noble gases, ther is no ther way, except for helium. Helium can be obtained by liquefacion of helium rich natural gas.
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But the problem is that it is very expensive to get carbon dioxide and noble gases from air through fractional distillation because there is just 0.03% carbon dioxide and <1% noble gases in air.
But when air is compressed and liquefied, it's not on a 2L scale. They liquify MASSIVE amounts of air so that the small percentage of Noble Gasses winds up becoming quite a bit of liquid gas.
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carbon dioxide has a pretty high boiling point among the gases. if i remember correctly, carbon dioxide and water is removed by freezing them in the air mixture before liquefying the remainder air for nitrogen and oxygen.
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You may all be suprised to learn that some argon is actually mined! Certain areas in the world contain resevoirs of argon, often mixed with other hydrocarbons. This probably results from the natural radioactive decay of uranium.