re: HSC Chemistry Marathon Archive
Thought I may revive this thread since I'm in my HSC currently with a few questions for marking that I hope anyone, whoever is great at chemistry can provide feedback on whether I need to expand on my info or make my answers more concise. (note: these were from the conquering chemistry textbook)
Q1. Why is it necessary to exclude air from catalytic and thermal cracking?
A. Because cracking occurs in the vapor phase which requires heat, so if oxygen is combined with the reactant, an explosion will occur.
Q2. Why do oil refineries carry out catalytic cracking?
A2. In order to turn long-chain hydrocarbons into smaller useful ones to increase efficiency during the process.
Q3. What is the difference between catalytic and thermal cracking? How do the experimental conditions differ for the two processes? What is the major purpose of each process?
A3. Catalytic cracking has a catalyst to break alkanes carried out at 500 degrees Celsius. It uses less heat than thermal cracking but cannot decompose large molecules into ethylene, so it does not meet the demands of the industry. Thermal cracking does not use a catalyst, only very high temperatures, between 700 to 1000 degress Celsius, whereby the use of steam allows for easy flow of hydrocarbon gases.