Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: philpense on August 31, 2016, 06:05:07 PM
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Had Chemistry 30 years ago and I write to inquire if any technology has developed anything that can remove reaction products so that the equilibrium always favors product. Much thanks in advance for an informed reply.
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eg: esterification of acids with ethanol and azeotropic removing of water.
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Reverting a physical law with a technique or device isn't possible, by definition. That said, there are many ways to drive a reaction to completion -- it can give off a gas or give a solid precipitate, and those can be removed, are simple examples.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process#Reaction_rate_and_equilibrium
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Had Chemistry 30 years ago and I write to inquire if any technology has developed anything that can remove reaction products so that the equilibrium always favors product. Much thanks in advance for an informed reply.
To quote from Asimov: "Insufficient data for a meaningful response". Technology to remove product from ANY reaction would be impossible, in an equilibrium reaction, by definiton, the reaction is going both ways at the same time so how would the technology differentiate between reactants and products.
In the reaction A+B ::equil::C+D we call C & D the products, but that's just for convenience sake, the reaction would be just as correct written as C+D ::equil::A+B .
There are ways of removing product from specific reactions, some chemical, some physical, but it's on a reaction by reaction basis.
For example in the Haber process (3H2 + N2 ::equil:: 2NH3) the ammonia is removed by cooling, this liquefies the ammonia.