Encyclopedia > Ostwald process

Article Content

Ostwald process

The Ostwald process is a commercial process, invented by Wilhelm Ostwald, used to produce nitric acid. Ammonia is heated with a catalyst (platinum) to form nitric oxide that is then oxidized to yield nitrogen dioxide, which in turn reacts with water to yield nitric acid and nitric oxide:

2 NH₃ + 4 O₂ --> 2 NO + 3 H₂O

2 NO + O₂ --> NO₂

2 NO₂ + 1/2 O₂ + H₂O --> 2 HNO_3(aq)

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

Digital Rights Management

... way, they were able to impose whatever restrictions they chose on the playback of such movies. See also DIVX for a more draconian and less commercially successful ...