STOICHIOMETRY CHAPTER 4

CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERS

 After mastering this chapter, you should be able to:
• describe the chemical composition of
gasoline.
• write balanced chemical equations for the
combustion of fuels.
• calculate the amount of product expected
from a chemical reaction, given the amounts
of reactants used.
• calculate the amounts of reactants needed in
LESSON a chemical reaction to produce a specified
amount of product.

OBJECTIVES • identify a limiting reactant and calculate the

amount of product formed from a
nonstoichiometric mixture of reactants.
• calculate the percentage yield of a chemical
reaction.
• identify at least two common additives in
gasoline and explain why they are used.
 INSIGHTS INTO GASOLINE AND OTHER FUELS
• Gasoline is the most widely used fuel in our
society.
• The exact composition of gasoline varies
somewhat depending on factors including
the grade of gas, geographic location, and
time of year. But the predominant
compounds are hydrocarbons, molecules
containing only carbon and hydrogen
atoms. Most of the hydrocarbon molecules
in gasoline are alkanes, compounds whose
carbon atoms are linked together by single
bonds.
• When gasoline is burned in an engine, all of these various compounds undergo combustion
simultaneously, reacting with oxygen from the air.
• The simplest possible model is one in which a single compound is used to represent the gasoline
mixture, and the most common choice for that compound is octane, .
 Fundamentals of Stoichiometry
• Stoichiometry is a term used to describe quantitative
relationships in chemistry.
• Any chemistry question that asks “How much?” of a
particular substance will be consumed or formed in a
chemical reaction is a stoichiometry problem.
• And at the heart of every such stoichiometry problem, you’ll
always find a balanced chemical equation.
• The key concept is the use of the balanced chemical equation
to establish ratios among moles of the various materials in
the reaction.
 Obtaining Ratios from a Balanced
Chemical Equation
• The simplest combustible hydrocarbon—and therefore one of the simplest of all fuels—is
methane, . So the combustion of methane will provide a good place for us to begin our exploration
of reaction stoichiometry.
We start by writing a balanced chemical equation:

• In either case, we must have a 1:2 ratio of methane molecules to oxygen molecules, a 1:1 ratio of
methane molecules to carbon dioxide molecules, a 1:2 ratio of methane molecules to water
molecules, and a 2:2 (or 1:1) ratio of oxygen molecules to water molecules.
• The coefficients in a chemical equation can be interpreted as molar relationships as well as molecular
relationships. So we can say that the equation shows that one mole of methane reacts with two moles of
oxygen to produce one mole of carbon dioxide and two moles of water.
From the chemical equation, we can write the following set of mole ratios:

We could also write the last one as 1:1.

• When doing stoichiometric calculations, mole ratios are very often written to look like fractions.
They are used analogously to unit conversion factors, relating the amount of one substance to that of another:
 EXAMPLE PROBLEM
1. In the combustion of methane, how many moles of are required if 6.75 mol of is to be completely consumed?
Strategy
2. We start with the balanced chemical equation and use the stoichiometric coefficients to establish the mole ratio
between methane and oxygen.
3. Then, we can use that ratio to relate the amount of methane in the reaction to the amount of oxygen needed.
• The balanced chemical equation provides all the mole ratios needed to relate the amounts of the
compounds in a reaction.
• The ratios from the chemical equation are in numbers of molecules or moles. So we need to be
able to convert between grams and moles. As we have seen, the molar mass provides the way to
do this.
• The use of ratios to convert from one unit to another is no more complicated in stoichiometry than
in simple physical measurements.
• The important difference, however, is that in many stoichiometry problems, ratios are used three
or more times.
• The main challenge is to determine which ratio to use and when to use it.
• One way to keep track of the steps needed is to create a flow chart using blocks to indicate when
information is derived from a relationship, such as the balanced chemical equation or the molar
mass.
EXAMPLE PROBLEM
1. We considered the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to form water. How
many grams of water can be produced if sufficient hydrogen reacts with 26.0 g of
oxygen?
Strategy
2. First, it will help if we recognize that this is a reaction stoichiometry problem.
3. Two signs of this are that it asks “How much . . .” and that there is obviously a chemical reaction
involved.
4. Once we see that, we should immediately realize that we need a balanced chemical equation to
give us the mole ratio between water produced and oxygen reacted.
5. We will convert the mass of oxygen given to moles of oxygen, use the mole ratio between
oxygen and water to provide moles of water, and then use the molar mass of water to find the
mass of water produced.
EXAMPLE PROBLEM
 Limiting Reactants
• When we carry out chemical reactions, the available supply of one reactant is often
exhausted before the other reactants. As soon as we run out of one of the reactants, the
reaction stops.
• The reactant completely consumed has determined how far the reaction can go, limiting
the quantity of product produced. We say that the reactant completely consumed in the
reaction is the limiting reactant.
• In many cases, we manipulate the amounts of reactants to make certain that one
compound is the limiting reactant. If the synthesis of a particular compound or material
involves one scarce or expensive reactant, then a clever process engineer would most
likely be sure to make that the limiting reactant by using large excesses of other
reactants.
• Determining the limiting reactant requires comparing the amount of each reactant
present. As always, we should keep in mind that balanced chemical equations tell us the
ratios in which moles of one substance react with moles of another. So we cannot
compare masses to determine the limiting reactant; we must do the comparison using
the relevant mole ratios.
EXAMPLE PROBLEM
EXAMPLE PROBLEM
 Theoretical and PercentageYields
• For chemical reactions and especially for reactions that produce commercial products we would
generally prefer to have reactions that are efficient, producing as much of the desired products as
possible while minimizing any unwanted byproducts.
• Many factors such as temperature of the reaction, the possibility of side reactions, or further
reaction of the product to form something else can decrease the amount of desired product
obtained.
• We can rate the efficiency of a reaction by calculating how much product would form under
perfect or ideal conditions and then comparing the actual measured result with this ideal. The ideal
amount of product is called the theoretical yield, and it is obtained by working a stoichiometry
problem. Measuring the amount of product formed gives us the actual yield. From the ratio of the
actual yield to the theoretical yield, we can calculate the percentage yield.

• Increasing this percentage yield is one of the foremost goals for a chemical engineer working on
an industrial process.
EXAMPLE PROBLEM