Hydrogen gas is used for many purposes, including the hydrogenation of vegetable oils to make margarine. The most common industrial process for producing hydrogen is "steam reforming," in which methane gas, CH4, from natural gas reacts with water vapor to form carbon monoxide gas and hydrogen gas
Write a conversion factor that could be used to convert between moles of methane and moles of hydrogen
1 mole of CH4 : 4 moles of H2
To convert between moles of methane (CH4) and moles of hydrogen (H2), we can use the balanced equation for the steam reforming process:
CH4 + H2O -> CO + 3H2
From this equation, we can see that for every mole of methane, we get 3 moles of hydrogen. Therefore, the conversion factor is:
1 mole CH4 = 3 moles H2
To convert between moles of methane (CH4) and moles of hydrogen gas (H2), you can use the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation for the steam reforming reaction.
The balanced chemical equation for the reaction is:
CH4 + H2O -> CO + 3H2
From the equation, we can see that for every mole of methane (CH4), we get 3 moles of hydrogen gas (H2).
Therefore, the conversion factor can be written as:
1 mole CH4 : 3 moles H2
This means that for every 1 mole of methane, there will be 3 moles of hydrogen gas produced.