Question

Sodium carbonate (na2co3) is used to neutralize the sulfuric acid spill. how many kilograms of sodium carbonate must be added to neutralize 6.05×103 kg of sulfuric acid solution?

Answer 1

THe balanced chemical reaction would be:
Na2CO3 + H2SO4 = Na2SO4 + H2O + CO2

We first convert the mass of sulfuric acid solution to moles by the molar mass. Then, we relate H2SO4 with Na2CO3 from the reaction. We do as follows:

6.05×10^3 kg H2SO4 ( 1 kmol / 98.08 kg) ( 1 kmol Na2CO3 / 1 kmol H2SO4 ) ( 105.99 kg / kmol ) = 6537.92 kg Na2CO3 needed