Ferrous Sulfate - Did I buy the wrong thing?

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snoman701

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 8, 2016
Messages
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Location
SE MI
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ODUI76/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's what I bought. Now that I've researched it a little, it's very clearly aged, which would explain why it wouldn't work for me.

I'm trying to determine if i should return it as defective since it's oxidized, or if it fits within the description.

It is not green crystals, but brownish white with the occasional speck of green.
 
How did you prepare it before using it to precipitate?

When I had oxidized copperas, i recrystallized it.. Kind of a pain, but I had the time to do it.
 
snoman701 said:
Dissolve in distilled water and add just a small amount of HCl.

Did it turn vibrant green?
Did you filter it before adding it?(to the gold solution)

Was the solution denoxxed?
What ratio of copperas to gold (to be dropped) did you use?

What happened after adding it?
 
No green.

Yes filtered.

Yes denoxx, or at least I thought it was....

I don't remember my ratio, but do remember calculating it based upon Hoke, which was a lb coppers to dwt conversion.

Nothing happened. lol
 
Yeah, it should have turned green upon the addition of HCl.

I'm not sure if that caused your problem, but it probably didn't help any.
 
Topher_osAUrus said:
Yeah, it should have turned green upon the addition of HCl.

I'm not sure if that caused your problem, but it probably didn't help any.

Probably didn't add enough HCl. After doing some reading, wet low pH storage is recommended.
 
You're statement about it being "defective since it's oxidized" is valid. (Brownish white)

The Amazon listing says that it's Hepahydrate
Edit - The second picture listed looks more white than green, so they may have the "anhydrous" shown there instead. It should look about the same as the picture on the bag itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron%28II%29_sulfate

Other names
Ferrous sulfate, Green vitriol, Iron vitriol, Copperas, Melanterite, Szomolnokite

Appearance
White crystals (anhydrous)
White-yellow crystals (monohydrate)
Blue-green crystals (heptahydrate) If it's not this color, it went bad.

If it's not close to this color Green It's not Green Vitriol.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=23647&start=30
butcher said:
Oxidation of air can change the chemistry of the iron salt turning it white or brown which would no longer be good for precipitating or testing for gold in solution.
 
I have about 2 pounds of green vitrol, but it has brown oxidized speks in it. Will this contaminate my gold drop or will the filtering remove it?
 
Given my frustrations of the last three months....discard it. Go buy a bottle of battery acid and follow butchers instructions on preparation and storage. You'll be thankful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nah just buy the right stuff. Cheap as chips. You want the nice green crystals.

I add a bit of HCL then dissolve in hot water till the solution is saturated. Allow it to settle for a few minutes and pour it in. You can see the gold drop right out as your solution turns cloudy. You want it to turn dark and stay dark otherwise you have more gold to come out, but of course your stannous tests will provide you a check.

Here's what you need to buy. Available in 25Kg bags, and it's almost wet when it comes. You're going to use a lot of it so don't be buying small bags if you're doing more than a few grammes per year. It keeps well in a plastic container that's sealed. Any good chemical supplier will know what you mean when you ask for it green and crystalline and damp.

There's really no drama using this stuff lads IF you buy the right thing. :D

Edit for reference link - look at the picture. https://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Fj27KVXXXXXPXFXXq6xXFXXXo/Ferrous-Sulphate-FeSO4-7H2O-Iron-II-Sulfate.jpg_350x350.jpg

Hope that helps

Jon
 
My opinion was just based on my the difficulty of getting it fresh. I thought I was making a mistake somehwere in the process, and my only mistake was the materials I was using to drop the gold. So I always had to cement it out.
 
Hello!
Usually i use a solution of 400g of FeSo4 in 1 liter of e water ( hot).
can I use FeSo4 7H2O?
If yes, how much do i need compared with anydrous?
Thanks
 
If it's Ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) => Fe2+ you can use anhydrous or heptahydrate.

151.91 g/mol (anhydrous)
278.02 g/mol (heptahydrate)

You have to use 84% more of the heptahydrate, but it depends if you have excess nitric.
 
Thank you!
So if i use heptaidtate i must use 84% more...
But if i have an excess of HNo3, what can I do?
Grazie
 
Assol said:
But if i have an excess of HNo3, what can I do?
Grazie
Remove the excess nitric by slow evaporation to syrup, then addition of a small amount of HCl (best done with a little sulfuric in the solution to prevent crusting, and only enough HCl to get some of the nitrates to convert to chlorides -dont dump in a liter or anything crazy-)
Repeat that agonizingly long process a few times until no brown cloud comes from the HCl addition.

Or

Get some sulfamic acid, dissolve it in water. Add the aqueous solution to your pregnant mother liquor while it is hot, add it slowly, in small increments, until no more effervescence occurs. Stir it a few good stirs to release the bubbles and you're good to precipitate.

Of course, if you didnt add sulfuric before doing this, a filtration before precipitation may be required to remove lead sulfate.
 
Thank you for your help!!!
If I make the solution of sulfamic and water, how long does the solution keep stable? (Days?)
I can propose the same question making the solution of FeSO4...(in my experience I do it every time)...
I dont understand what is appening whit my chemical store... i bought some pure tin (Sn) to make the stannous chloride for the soution test and doesn't work... Any suggestion?
Grazie!!!!
 
Assol said:
Thank you for your help!!!
If I make the solution of sulfamic and water, how long does the solution keep stable? (Days?)
I can propose the same question making the solution of FeSO4...(in my experience I do it every time)...
I dont understand what is appening whit my chemical store... i bought some pure tin (Sn) to make the stannous chloride for the soution test and doesn't work... Any suggestion?
Grazie!!!!

I just buy the jar of crystals (sulfamic), add water, and stir it like a madman, then add pipettes of the saturated sulfamic solution. Ive never had any decomposition problems (that Im aware of), but I dont try to dissolve the pound of crystals with half a cup of water... I just add the water, stir, and add it a few mL at a time. Thats it.

I presume, of the copperas solution is in a sealed container and cannot get air or direct sunlight, it will stay good for awhile. I had some made up for a few weeks before using it, worked fine.

Just buy some solder and use it to make stannous. Cheap and easy. (And readily available everywhere)
 
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