Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Mercury catalyst question

hygurum - 2-8-2013 at 19:45

If one uses Al/Hg catalyst for reactions do he need to scale up the mercury amount used? If one reaction needs like 50mg of mercury, if the amount reacted is multiplied by 10, does one need 10 times as much mercury and aluminium?

Oscilllator - 2-8-2013 at 21:09

A basic knowledge of catalysts will tell you that no, you dont need 10 times as much, since the Al/Hg is not consumed. Adding 10 times as much will greatly increase the reaction speed, however.

Organikum - 3-8-2013 at 02:17

You better dont scale up in x10 steps if you dont want to have to paint your ceiling.

There are enough posted Al/Hg reactions of every size on the net to estimate a suitable amount for your purposes, it also depends of course on how exactly its done.

/ORG