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Explain the action of water and Calcium carbonate in waste waterwaste gases cntaining...

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Explain the action of water and Calcium carbonate in waste water

waste gases cntaining sulphur dioxide are passed through a mixture of water and calcium carbonate to remove the sulphur dioxide.explain the action in water and CaCO3.

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When sulfur dioxide (SO2) is bubbled through a solution of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in water it is converted to the sulfite ion.  The chemical equation is shown below.

SO2 + CaCO3 --> CaSO3 + CO2

The carbon dioxide bubbles away and helps drive the reaction forward.  CaSO3, however, is not the most stable chemical that can be formed here.  It can be oxidized with oxygen from the atmosphere dissolved in the water to form calcium sulfate, a highly stable solid.

2CaSO3 + O2 --> 2CaSO4

So the net equation is shown below:

2SO2 + 2CaCO3 + O2 --> 2CaSO4 + 2CO2

So we can see that the net result is that noxious SO2 gas is converted to harmless calcium sulfate (CaSO4).


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