Bosch reaction

The Bosch reaction is a chemical reaction between carbon dioxide and hydrogen, which produces elemental carbon (graphite ), water and energy in the form of heat. It is named after the chemist Carl Bosch ( 1874-1940 ).

Reaction mechanism

The reaction proceeds according to the following principle:

The above reaction is the result of a redox reaction, which actually consists of two separate reaction steps.

The first reaction, the water gas shift reaction proceeds rapidly

The second reaction controls the rate of reaction

At a reaction temperature of 650 ° C 2.3 · 103 joules per gram of carbon are released.

The reaction can be accelerated by the presence of iron, cobalt, nickel or ruthenium as the catalyst. The reaction occurring in the elementary carbon tends to deposit on the catalyst surface. This has a detrimental effect on the efficiency of the reaction.

Applications

Currently, research is being done to use the Bosch reaction and the Sabatier process in space. As CO2 is always available on space stations and space ships ( the oxygen contained in the air is converted by the body into CO2), both methods could be used for the following purposes:

• ( Remove CO2) cleaning the air we breathe
• Recovery of oxygen from CO2
• Production of water
• Extraction of fuel