Question

Blast furnaces extract pure iron from the iron(III) oxide in iron ore in a two step sequence.

In the first step, carbon and oxygen react to form carbon monoxide: 2C (s) + O2 (g) → 2CO (g)

In the second step, iron(III) oxide and carbon monoxide react to form iron and carbon dioxide: Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g) → 2Fe (s) + 3CO2 (g)

Write the net chemical equation for the production of iron from carbon, oxygen and iron(III) oxide. Be sure your equation is balanced.

Answer 1

Given :
2C (s) + O2 (g) → 2CO (g)   ....eqn 1
Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g) → 2Fe (s) + 3CO2 (g) ...eqn 2

Multiply eqn 1 by 3 and eqn 2 by 2 to get below eqns,
6C (s) + 3O2 (g) → 6CO (g)   .... eqn 3
2Fe2O3 (s) + 6CO (g) → 4Fe (s) + 6CO2 (g) ...eqn 4

Now add eqn 3 and eqn 4 to get the desired equation:
6C (s) + 3O2 (g) + 2Fe2O3 (s) → 4Fe (s) + 6CO2 (g)