Chapter 15, Problem 88AE

Le Chatelier noted that many industrial processes of his time could be improved by an understanding of chemical equilibria. For example, the reaction of iron oxide with carbon monoxide was used to produce elemental iron and CO₂ according to the reaction
Fe₂O₃ (g) + 3 CO (g) ⇌ 2Fe(s) + 3CO₂ (g)
Even in Le Chatelier's time, it was noted that a great deal of CO was wrote,”Because this incomplete reaction was thought to be due to an insufficiently prolonged contact between carbon monoxide and the iron or [oxide], the dimensions of the furnaces have been increased. In England, they have been made as high as 30 m. But the proportion of carbon monoxide escaping has not diminished, thus demonstrating, by an experiment costing several hundred thousand francs, that the reduction of iron oxide by carbon monoxide is a limited reaction. Acquaintance with the laws of chemical equilibrium would have permitted the same conclusion to be reached more rapidly and far more economically. “What does this anecdote tell us about the equilibrium constant for this reaction?