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Home >50-00-0>Q&A>How many moles of oxygen are required to react with methanol in order to produce 20 moles of formaldehyde?

# How many moles of oxygen are required to react with methanol in order to produce 20 moles of formaldehyde?

I think the mile is mole

Let's consider the reaction between methanol and oxygen, then compare the mole ratios

CH3OH + ½O2 => CH2O + H2O.

The mole of CH2O to O2 is 1 : ½

20 moles of CH2O = 1/2 x20 = 10 moles of O2

The moles of oxygen required is 10 mol

I am assuming that ‘miles’ is a typo and the question should read ‘How many moles …’. If so then first, one needs to know the equation for this process. I believe that in this reaction, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is also formed so

CH3OH + O2 → CH2O + H2O2

The ratio of methanol (CH3OH) to formaldehyde (CH2O) is 1:1 so you will need 20 moles of methanol to get 20 moles of formaldehyde. Further, the ratio of formaldehyde to oxygen (O2) is also 1:1, so you will need 20 moles of oxygen to get 20 moles of formaldehyde. There is a caveat, the numbers assume the reaction gives 100% yield.

Edit

If the reaction I wrote above was the correct one, then the answer I gave is fine. However, as Lloyd Brown points out, the correct reaction is

CH3OH + 1/2 O2 → CH2O + H2O
or
2 CH3OH + O2 → 2 CH2O + 2 H2O

So the ratio of O2:CH2O is 1:2 so to get 20 moles of CH2O, you will need 10 moles of O2.

2CH3OH(g) + O2(g) → 2CH2O(g) + 2H2O(g)

The mole ratio of oxygen to formaldehyde is 1:2 as scene in the balanced chemical equation. To make 20 moles of CH2O requires 10 moles of O2.

Clearly, you can do this in your head or you can set up the conversion factor.

20 mol CH2O x (1 mol O2 / 2 mol CH2O) = 10 mol O2

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Formaldehyde CAS No: 50-00-0 MF: CH2O
 Density 1.083 Melting Point -15℃ Boiling Point 97℃ Vapour greater than 1 atm (NIOSH, 2016) Refractive Index 1.3755-1.3775 Flash Point 60℃ HS Code 29121100
METHANOL CAS No: 170082-17-4 MF: CH4O
 Density 1.053 g/mL at 20 °C Melting Point ?98 °C(lit.) Boiling Point 64.7 °C(lit.) Vapour 410 mm Hg ( 50 °C) Refractive Index n20/D 1.329(lit.) Flash Point 72 °F HS Code 29051100
oxygen CAS No: 17410-58-1 MF: C22H22N2
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