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Chemistry atom economy/ percentage yield question help!

1. Titanium can be extracted from its ore by two different methods. One uses a more reactive metal to displace the titanium:
TiO2 + 2 Mg Ti + 2 MgO
The second method is electrolysis of the ore. The overall reaction for this method is:
TiO2 Ti + O2
a. Calculate the atom economy for each reaction.
b. Which method is more sustainable? Explain.

For the first reaction I got an atom economy of 37.3% and second reaction 60.0%.
Is this correct?
Also, what reasoning do I use for part b? ( would I mention how the second reaction is more sustainable as it has a higher atom economy?)
Reply 1
Original post by Rxmxi
1. Titanium can be extracted from its ore by two different methods. One uses a more reactive metal to displace the titanium:
TiO2 + 2 Mg Ti + 2 MgO
The second method is electrolysis of the ore. The overall reaction for this method is:
TiO2 Ti + O2
a. Calculate the atom economy for each reaction.
b. Which method is more sustainable? Explain.

For the first reaction I got an atom economy of 37.3% and second reaction 60.0%.
Is this correct?
Also, what reasoning do I use for part b? ( would I mention how the second reaction is more sustainable as it has a higher atom economy?)


For the second one, you should also consider the electrical requirements (probably from fossil fuels) for electrolysis, as well as the huge thermal requirement to get molten titanium

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