[planke]

Please help me with this problem.

Nitric acid is produced commercially by the Ostwald process. The three steps of the Ostwald process are shown in the following equations.

4 NH3(g) + 5 O2(g) -> 4 NO(g) + 6 H2O(g)
2 NO(g) + O2(g) -> 2 NO2(g)
3 NO2(g) + H2O(l) -> 2 HNO3(aq) + NO(g)

What mass of NH3 must be used to produce 6.50 x 10^6 kg HNO3 by the Ostwald process, assuming 100% yield in each reaction?

[Borek]

Please read forum rules.

You may treat it as a simple stoichiometry, calculating how much NO₂ must eneter last reaction, how much NO is required to produce this amount of NO₂, and how much NH₃ must be used to produce this amount of NO. But you may also go shorter route, just tracing what happens to nitrogen throughout the process. Hint: how many moles of HNO₃ are produced for every 3 moles of NH₃?