Question

What is the actual reducing agent of haematite in a blast furnace?

Answer 1

Hint:Haematite is the ore of iron and to know about the reducing agent of the iron ore, you should know about the reactions occurring in the blast furnace to reduce the iron oxide to iron and then, you can easily identify that compound which acts as the reducing agent. Now answer the given statement accordingly.

Complete step-by-step answer:First of all let’s discuss the Haematite. Haematite is one of the largest ore of the iron from which iron is being extracted and reduced to iron through the process of smelting ( the process of the reduction of iron oxide to iron) in the blast furnace.
The impure form of iron is first converted to its oxide form through the process of calcination and roasting where ferrous oxide is oxidized to ferric oxide. The reaction occurs as;
$4FeO+{{O}_{2}}\to 2F{{e}_{_{2}}}{{O}_{3}}$
After that, in the blast furnace , smelting is done where carbon monoxide reduces ferric oxide to iron as;
$3F{{e}_{2}}{{O}_{3}}+CO\to 2F{{e}_{3}}{{O}_{4}}+C{{O}_{2}} \\
F{{e}_{3}}{{O}_{4}}+CO\to 2FeO+C{{O}_{2}} \\
FeO+ CO\to FeO +C{{O}_{2}} \\
$
So, thus, from these reactions it is clear that carbon monoxide reduces the ferric oxide to iron and uses the actual reducing agent of haematite in blast furnaces.

Note:Don’t get confused in the reducing agent and the oxidizing agent. By the term reducing agents, we mean those substances or the compounds which undergo oxidation i.e. which loses electrons and the oxidation number of those compounds increases. Whereas on the other hand, by the oxidizing agents, we mean those substances or the compounds which undergo reduction i.e. which gains electrons and the oxidation number of those compounds decreases.