Oxidation-reduction free energy

Thermodynamic Oxidation-Reduction Free Energy Heat Content Entropy... 

Let us now consider the reduction of a metal oxide by carbon which is itself oxidised to carbon monoxide. The reaction will become energetically feasible when the free energy change for the combined process is negative (see also Figure i.i). Free energies. 

Calcium metal is an excellent reducing agent for production of the less common metals because of the large free energy of formation of its oxides and hahdes. The following metals have been prepared by the reduction of their oxides or fluorides with calcium hafnium (22), plutonium (23), scandium (24), thorium (25), tungsten (26), uranium (27,28), vanadium (29), yttrium (30), zirconium (22,31), and most of the rare-earth metals (32). 

We have already noted that the standard free energy change for a reaction, AG°, does not reflect the actual conditions in a ceil, where reactants and products are not at standard-state concentrations (1 M). Equation 3.12 was introduced to permit calculations of actual free energy changes under non-standard-state conditions. Similarly, standard reduction potentials for redox couples must be modified to account for the actual concentrations of the oxidized and reduced species. For any redox couple. 

The standard electrode potentials , or the standard chemical potentials /X , may be used to calculate the free energy decrease —AG and the equilibrium constant /T of a corrosion reaction (see Appendix 20.2). Any corrosion reaction in aqueous solution must involve oxidation of the metal and reduction of a species in solution (an electron acceptor) with consequent electron transfer between the two reactants. Thus the corrosion of zinc ( In +zzn = —0-76 V) in a reducing acid of pH = 4 (a = 10 ) may be represented by the reaction ... 

Free energies, barriers and reactivity patterns in oxidation-reduction reactions. N. Sutin. Acc. Chem. Res., 1968,1, 225-231 (39). 

FIGURE 1-10 Effect of a change in the applied potential on the free energies of activation for reduction and oxidation. 

Excited state electron transfer also needs electronic interaction between the two partners and obeys the same rules as electron transfer between ground state molecules (Marcus equation and related quantum mechanical elaborations [ 14]), taking into account that the excited state energy can be used, to a first approximation, as an extra free energy contribution for the occurrence of both oxidation and reduction processes [8]. 

Figure 18.2 Summary of respiratory energy flows. Foods ate converted into the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), a strong reductant, which is the most reducing of the respiratory electron carriers (donors). Respiration can he based on a variety of terminal oxidants, such as O2, nitrate, or fumarate. Of those, O2 is the strongest, so that aerobic respiration extracts the largest amount of free energy from a given amount of food. In aerobic respiration, NADH is not oxidized directly by O2 rather, the reaction proceeds through intermediate electron carriers, such as the quinone/quinol couple and cytochrome c. The most efficient respiratory pathway is based on oxidation of ferrocytochrome c (Fe ) with O2 catalyzed by cytochrome c oxidase (CcO). Of the 550 mV difference between the standard potentials of c)Tochrome c and O2, CcO converts 450 mV into proton-motive force (see the text for further details).

One of the important differences between calciothermic and aluminothermic reduction of oxides concerns the interaction between the reduced metal and the reductant. Calcium does not form stable solid solutions or alloys with the reduced metals calcium contamination in the metal is, therefore, relatively small. Aluminum, on the other hand, readily forms solid solutions with the reduced metals, and the product generally contains appreciable quantities of residual aluminum. This is not a serious problem because in many cases either a certain aluminum content is desired in the reduced metal or the residual aluminum can be effectively removed in post-reduction purification operations. The extent of the contamination of a reduced metal with the reductant can be related to factors such as the reaction temperature, the standard free energy change associated with the reaction, and the slag composition. Let the following generalized reaction be considered ... 

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