Explain the Deacon's process.

Explanation

(i) In this process a mixture of air and hydrochloric acid is passed up a chamber containing a number of shelves, pumice stones soaked in cuprous chloride are placed.
(ii) Hot gases at about 723 K are passed through a jacket that surrounds the chamber.
`4HCl+O_(2) underset(Cu_(2)Cl_(2)) overset(400^(@)C)rarr 2H_(2)O+2Cl_(2)uarr`
(iii) The chlorine obtained by this method is dilute and is employed for the manufacture of bleaching powder. The catalysed reaction is ,
`2Cu_(2)Cl_(2)+O_(2) rarr underset("Cuprous oxy chloride")(2Cu_(2)OCl_(2))`
`Cu_(2)OCl_(2)+2HCl rarr underset("Cupric chloride")(2CuCl_(2)) + H_(2)O`
`2CuCl_(2) rarr underset("Cuprous chloride")(Cu_(2)Cl_(2))+Cl_(2)`