Inorganic economic importance

The reactions shown above are just a few of the enormous number of processes that involve catalysis by acids and bases. Some of the reactions are of economic importance and they certainly serve to illustrate that this type of chemistry is not solely the province of either the organic or inorganic chemist. 

For many industrial-scale operations involving the oxidation or reduction of both inorganic and organic substances, and especially for the production of the more active metals such as sodium, calcium, magnesium, and aluminum, the most cost-effective reducing agent is electrons supplied by an external power source. The two most economically important of these processes are described below. 

Sewage treatment has both ecological and economical importance. Ammonium and phosphate ions are the primary inorganic contaminants in municipal wastewater and these ionic compounds are responsible for the phenomenon of eutrophication. In common sewage treatment, ammonium is removed by biological denitrification and phosphates are precipitated with the help of aluminum and iron salts [56], However, the use of low-cost natural zeolites has been found promising for... 

It has been stated that chemistry is the study of matter and its transformations. One of the major objectives of this book is to provide information on how the basic raw materials from the earth are transformed to produce inorganic compounds that are used on an enormous scale. It focuses attention on the transformations of a relatively few inorganic compounds available in nature into many others whether or not they are at present economically important. As you study this book, try to see the connection between obtaining a mineral by mining and the reactions that are used to convert it into end use products. Obviously, this book cannot provide the details for all such processes, but it does attempt to give an overview of inorganic chemistry and its methods and to show its relevance to the production of useful materials. Petroleum and coal are the major raw materials for organic compounds, but the transformation of these materials is not the subject of this book. 

Processes using H2O2, oxygen or air as oxidants in the presence of catalysts have the advantage that less inorganic waste is generated. Such methods are of great interest for the efficient production of economically important compounds in the life science industry." ... 

Organic and inorganic paint systems are widely used to protect and enhance appearance because they are often economic and always flexible in use. In many industries paint is chosen when other coating processes are technically impossible or uneconomic. Because it is so often used upon subjects which are difficult to coat, sensible design detailing becomes even more important. 

Homogeneous catalysis is a very important research field within inorganic chemistry [1, 2]. Transition metal complexes are able to catalyze a large number of organic reactions, and they therefore provide the key to the synthesis of many industrially relevant products. Homogeneous catalysis is not yet economically as important in terms of sheer size as its heterogeneous alternative, but its relative use has been growing steadily for the last 40 years. 

The application of 33S NMR spectroscopy to the qualitative characterization of sulphur compounds in coals and petroleum has been another subject of a certain interest.99-10 The presence of organic and inorganic sulphur derivatives in variable amounts in fuels has serious economic and environmental consequences. Coals and crude oils can be treated chemically to reduce sulphur content, and it is of fundamental importance to develop an analytical method to rapidly and accurately analyse sulphur before and after the desulphurization process. 

---