Octave Boudouard

Octave Leopold Boudouard
Born	1872
Died	1923
Nationality	French
Occupation	Chemist
Known for	Boudouard reaction

Octave Leopold Boudouard (1872–1923) was a French chemist known for his 1905 discovery of the Boudouard reaction.

Career

Octave Leopold Boudouard became a professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris. He worked in various fields of applied chemistry, such as the chemistry of fuels and clays. His most important work was his research into chemical equilibria when reducing iron oxides in a blast furnace.^[1] In 1901 he proposed the first theory of the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide, where he considered that metal oxide was reacting with carbon.^[2] In 1905 Boudouard identified the Boudouard reaction, where carbon and carbon dioxide combine to form carbon monoxide at high temperatures, while the reverse occurs at lower temperatures.^[3] In 1912 he published a paper on the odors of Paris, researching the chemicals polluting the air of that city.^[4]

Boudouard reaction

The Boudouard reaction is:

2CO $\rightleftharpoons$ CO₂ + C

Boudouard found that when an excess of coke reacts with air or metal oxides, below about 400°C this produces carbon dioxide and soot, while at temperatures above 1,000°C it produces carbon monoxide. Between these extremes a mixture of the carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and soot is produced ^[5] Understanding the reaction is a significant factor in the design of blast furnaces where the goal is to maximize use of fuel while minimizing production of soot.^[6]

Bibliography

• Le Chatelier, H.; Boudouard, O. (1898). "Limits of Flammability of Gaseous Mixtures". Bulletin de la Société Chimique de France (Paris) 19: 483–488.
• Le Chatelier, H.; Boudouard, O. (1900). Mesure des températures élevées. Paris: G. Carré et C. Naud.
• Chatelier, Henri Le; Boudouard, Octave; Burgess, George Kimball (1912). High-temperature measurements. Wiley. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
• Boudouard, O. (1922). Paul Schutzenberger et l'isotopie.

References

Notes

Citations

1. Boudouard, Octave-Léopold: Trecanni.
2. Kemball & Dowden 1978, p. 53.
3. Holleman, Wiber & Wiberg 2001, pp. 810-811.
4. Barnes 2006, p. 300.
5. Holleman, Wiber & Wiberg 2001, pp. 811.
6. Zeman & Lackner 2006.

Sources

• Barnes, David S. (2006-05-17). The Great Stink of Paris and the Nineteenth-Century Struggle Against Filth and Germs. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8349-1. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
• Boudouard, Octave-Léopold. Trecanni. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
• Holleman, Arnold F.; Wiber, Egon; Wiberg, Nils (2001). Inorganic Chemistry. Academic Press. p. 810. ISBN 978-0-12-352651-9. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
• Kemball, Charles; Dowden, D. A. (1978-01-01). Catalysis:. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-85186-544-7. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
• Zeman, Frank S; Lackner, Klaus S (May 2006). "The Zero Emission Kiln" (PDF). Pollution Control. Retrieved 2013-05-17.