How is oxalic acid prepared by:
(i) laboratory method
(ii) industrially from sodium formate.

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Solution

Preparation of oxalic acid-
(i) In lab-
In lab, oxalic acid can be prepared by oxidising sugar using nitric acid in presence of vanadium pentoxide as catalyst.
$C_{12} H_{22} O_{11} (Cane sugar) + H N O_{3} V_{2} O_{5} - -- \to {(C O O H)}_{2} (Oxalic acid)$
(ii) Industrially from sodium formate-
Oxalic acid is usually prepared by heating sodium formate with sodium hydroxide to form sodium oxalate, which is converted to calcium oxalate and treated with sulfuric acid to obtain free oxalic acid.
$2 H C O O N a (Sodium formate) N a O H - --- \to {(C O O N a)}_{2} C a {(O H)}_{2} - ---- \to C a {(C O O)}_{2} H_{2} X O_{4} - --- \to {(C O O H)}_{2} (Oxalic acid)$

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