Many chemical reactions release energy in the form of heat, light, or sound. These are exothermic reactions. Exothermic reactions may occur spontaneously and result in higher randomness or entropy (ΔS > 0) of the system. They are denoted by a negative heat flow (heat is lost to the surroundings) and decrease in enthalpy (ΔH < 0). In the lab, exothermic reactions produce heat or may even be explosive.

There are other chemical reactions that must absorb energy in order to proceed. These are endothermic reactions. Endothermic reactions cannot occur spontaneously. Work must be done in order to get these reactions to occur. When endothermic reactions absorb energy, a temperature drop is measured during the reaction. Endothermic reactions are characterized by positive heat flow (into the reaction) and an increase in enthalpy (+ΔH).

Examples of Endothermic and Exothermic Processes

Photosynthesis is an example of an endothermic chemical reaction. In this process, plants use the energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. This reaction requires 15MJ of energy (sunlight) for every kilogram of glucose that is produced:

sunlight + 6CO₂(g) + H₂O(l) = C₆H₁₂O₆(aq) + 6O₂(g)

An example of an exothermic reaction is the mixture of sodium and chlorine to yield table salt. This reaction produces 411 kJ of energy for each mole of salt that is produced:

Na(s) + 0.5Cl₂(s) = NaCl(s)

Along with the growing interest in Fuel Cell powered cars comes the need for higher production methods of Hydrogen, both in bulk form and in-car conversions (for fuels such as methanol and ethanol to be converted to hydrogen on board). Previous methods of converting Ethanol to hydrogen was by means of high-temperature steam reformation (at temperatures in excess of 600° C) to produce Hydrogen gas and CO.

This journal describes a special method of low-temperature dehydrogenation of ethanol over special Raney catalyst with Cu added to it. The first step produces one mole each of hydrogen gas and acetaldehyde (per mole of ethanol). This is followed by the decarbonylation of acetaldehyde to form methanol and CO. The whole reaction undergoes a water-gas shift to net one mole each of Methane and Carbon dioxide and two moles of Hydrogen.

Compared to high temperature reformation methods, which produces 6 moles of hydrogen per mole of ethanol, this reaction doesn’t seem as fuel efficient, though the authors were confident, that with an internal combustion engine on-board that uses the methane produced as fuel, the total output energy would be equal.

This is a potential pathway for the oxidation of toluene in Fe(III)-reducing microorganisms, which play important roles in sediments naturally composed of hydrocarbons. The oxidation of toluene, an aromatic hydrocarbon, in these microorganisms is coupled to Fe(III) reduction. GS-15 is the first microorganism discovered to link aromatic compound oxidation to the reduction of Fe(III). The oxidation of p-cresol and phenol in these organisms is also coupled to Fe(III) reduction. Under strict anaerobic conditions in these organisms, GS-15 can completely oxidize toluene to carbon dioxide by utilizing Fe(III) as the only electron acceptor in the reaction.
This mechanism can be used to clean up toxic oil spills or other toluene contaminations by introducing the microorganisms to the site.