# Ruthenium



## JosephC (Apr 5, 2013)

Recently I watched a youtube video regarding dissolving Ruthenium with Clorox.

So to see for myself I placed 1 drop of Clorox on a glass slide, then placed a tiny amount of 999 Ru powder in the Clorox.
While watching via microscope there was an immediate reaction and all the Ru quickly dissolved. 

A search was conducted and all the Ru discussions here were read and unless I overlooked such I could not find any reference to this procedure.

I sure hope someone will answer this request: can a Ru salt be precipitated in/from this Clorox and if so by what/how?

Respectfully,
Joseph


----------



## Lou (Apr 5, 2013)

I would advise against working with ruthenium unless you are well equipped and familiar with its hazards. If you have to ask about its chemistry, you should not be doing chemistry with it.

Ru and Os both are capable of forming very poisonous tetroxides. 

Not much is on this forum about it due to the fact that a.) Ru isn't encountered often, b.) it's not really worth recovering unless large quantities are available.


----------



## JosephC (Apr 5, 2013)

Thanks Lou for replying.

I agree about leaving this substance alone. 
Unfortunately I have to deal with both Ru and Os, and worse -- Tl.

It would sure help if someone would indicate whether or not a Ru precip can be accomplished from the Clorox, assuming that not all the Ru became RuO4 and is no-longer a resident of the Clorox.


----------



## solar_plasma (Apr 5, 2013)

Excuse me, I ask, why do you *have to* deal with it, if I may ask? I am just curious.


----------



## grance (Apr 5, 2013)

Well I know or at least I think I know Ru and Os are used for hardening other metals for high ware applications. So if I were guessing he alloys metals for jet engine fan blades or is trying to recover PM's from them maybe. But all in all I dont know just my guess I'm probly way off


----------



## Lou (Apr 5, 2013)

Let Colonial Metals handle it. They have the equipment, staff, and experience to do this and are the only people here in the US doing it on anything resembling production.


----------



## JosephC (Apr 5, 2013)

Lou:

To answer your question without being long-winded – a mineralized formation that long ago captured my attention.

I really need to know what will precipitate microscopic amounts of Ru from a Clorox solution.

Do you know of a specific ingredient/methodology?


----------



## HAuCl4 (Apr 9, 2013)

A distillation rig is described in the Gilchrist papers. 

I suggest to not distillate anything, add a little HCl till your solution is evidently acid, and then drop all interesting metals with sodium sulphide. Always watch the fumes. Also an alternative is using sodium formate/formic acid on the acid solution, but this last method produces blacks which are difficult to handle. 

Pure metal will require distillation, but it is not as simple as it looks and can explode in your face.


----------



## Lou (Apr 9, 2013)

Borohydride ought to work on the ruthenates--can't say that I've tried.

What's wrong with just getting it into solution and running it on ICP? Determining small amounts of Ru gravimetrically is to be avoided. 

It is preferable to distill it (chlorine, ozone, even peroxide or peroxydisulfate can work, pH 8-9; if using chlorine, pH needs to be monitored). The volatile oxide can be caught in a series of traps with alcoholic KOH to give ruthenates and those post-reduced with H2.


----------



## JosephC (Apr 24, 2013)

HAuCl4

After obtaining a few chemicals and getting the time I tried sodium sulfide and formic acid, neither of which produced any quick or multi-hour precipitation(s).

It appears that most, perhaps all the Ru metal in Clorox actually and eventually becomes gaseous RuO4.

I was amazed at how much RuO4 is produced which was reduced upon various types of paper from a 1mg bead of Ru.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Joseph


----------



## HAuCl4 (Apr 24, 2013)

Are you sure you have any Ruthenium to begin with?. It is a very rare metal and generally there is some Platinum mixed with it. If any of those are in solution, the methods described work fine.


----------



## JosephC (Apr 25, 2013)

HAuCl4

If you would like to see some notes with images on ONE Ruthenium Red tests I can email them.


----------



## HAuCl4 (Apr 25, 2013)

Post them here, and then everyone can benefit. These are all 100+ year old "secrets". So really only the techniques and craftmanship are an art that must be practiced, the rest of the information is all in the public domain available to all, mostly.


----------



## Lino1406 (Apr 27, 2013)

Ruthenium, Rhenium and osmium "dropping" will result in a mixture of
valences joining the metal. Therefore they will be recovered
in the technical grade. Discussed in "30 recovery procedures..."


----------

