Preparation
P4O10 is prepared by burning elemental phosphorus with sufficient supply of air:
- P4 + 5 O2 → P4O10
For most of the 20th century, phosphorus pentoxide was used to provide a supply of concentrated pure phosphoric acid. In the thermal process, the phosphorus pentoxide obtained by burning white phosphorus was dissolved in dilute phosphoric acid to produce concentrated acid. Improvements in filter technology is leading to the "wet phosphoric acid process" taking over from the thermal process, obviating the need to produce white phosphorus as a starting material. The dehydration of phosphoric acid to give phosphorus pentoxide is not practicable; on heating, metaphosphoric acid will decompose before it loses water.
Read more about this topic: Phosphorus Pentoxide
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—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
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