This is the passage that comes with the questions:
During the 1970s, soaring prices for imported petroleum had a marked effect on the New Zealand economy. New Zealand has limited oil reserves but it has abundant supplies of natural gas, which can be readly converted into methanol.
A synthetic zeolite (a fascinating looking tailor-made catalyst made of crystalline substances where the catalytic effect happens inside the catalyst. They're three-dimensional with channels containing mobile cations that maintain the electrical neutrality of the zeolite, and the molecules fit into these channels. Charged sites in the channels catalyse the break-up of the molecules-- forming products) which allows methanol to be converted to petrol, with code name ZMS5, was developed in the US. They were keen to demonstrate that the process was economically viable and a 'synfuel' plant was established in North New Zealand. Today, a large proportion of NZ's petrol supplies are made with this process.
Methane piped piped from nearby gas fields first reacts with steam in the presence of a nickel catalyst to form 'synthesis gas', a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The synthesis gas is cooled, compressed, reheated and passed over a ctalyst to produce methanol. Finally, the mehanol passes through the microscopic channels in the ZMS5 catalyst to yield high-octane petrol and water.
-What advantage does this source of petrol offer?
-Certain zeolites containing sodium cations are used to soften water. Suggest why this is possible.
:wave:
During the 1970s, soaring prices for imported petroleum had a marked effect on the New Zealand economy. New Zealand has limited oil reserves but it has abundant supplies of natural gas, which can be readly converted into methanol.
A synthetic zeolite (a fascinating looking tailor-made catalyst made of crystalline substances where the catalytic effect happens inside the catalyst. They're three-dimensional with channels containing mobile cations that maintain the electrical neutrality of the zeolite, and the molecules fit into these channels. Charged sites in the channels catalyse the break-up of the molecules-- forming products) which allows methanol to be converted to petrol, with code name ZMS5, was developed in the US. They were keen to demonstrate that the process was economically viable and a 'synfuel' plant was established in North New Zealand. Today, a large proportion of NZ's petrol supplies are made with this process.
Methane piped piped from nearby gas fields first reacts with steam in the presence of a nickel catalyst to form 'synthesis gas', a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The synthesis gas is cooled, compressed, reheated and passed over a ctalyst to produce methanol. Finally, the mehanol passes through the microscopic channels in the ZMS5 catalyst to yield high-octane petrol and water.
-What advantage does this source of petrol offer?
-Certain zeolites containing sodium cations are used to soften water. Suggest why this is possible.
:wave:
So the Na+ goes into the water instead of the Mg2+ and Ca2+? (beats me why they call it hard and soft water, but...)