Atom Economy

Contents

Key Stage 4

Meaning

Atom Economy is the percentage of atoms in the reactants which ends up in the desired products.

About Atom Economy

During a chemical reaction there is often more than one product. When there is more than one product often one is desired and one is a waste product that must be disposed of.

To reduce costs and increase the efficiency of a process chemical engineers design systems that produce the maximum amount of a desired product and a minimum amount of waste products.

Atom Economy Equation

Percentage Atom Economy = [(Relative Formula Mass of Desired Product)/(Sum of Relative Formula Masses of Reactants)] x 100%

% Atom Economy = \(frac{M_desiredproduct}{M_allreactants}\)

Where:

M_{desiredproduct} = Relative Formula Mass of Desired Product

M_allreactants = Sum of Relative Formula Masses of Reactants

Example Calculations