ferrous sulphate

[andees78]

hello
am trying to make ferrus sulphate for the first time.
i diluted 98% sulphiric acid with same amount of tape water and added steel wool. now a have a pale green solution with some black particles swiming. i filtered that with an empty clean tea bag. the solution was clear at the beggining now started to precipitate black at the bottom.
where do i go from here?

thanks

 

[Anonymous]

most likely the carbon from the steel. let it settle.
If you get some small transformers, the laminations from them are for all practical purposes pure iron.

Jim

 

[andees78]

hello
thanks jim.
how long should i continue adding iron?
what do i do after i have the green solution?

 

[HAuCl4]

You can use the green solution directly to precipitate the gold, make sure you have plenty.

You can leave a bucket with sulphuric acid and a piece of metal and the stuff will just magically appear while you sleep or wait for your next refining.

If you want the crystals of the ferrous sulphate, you can put it in a large surface flat vessel and put it in a warm place to evaporate the water till the crystals drop.

 

[andees78]

thanks HAuCl4 ,

 

[andees78]

hello everyone

-i did a small experiment of making ferrus s.
-i had the pale green acid with dissolved steel wool. then i wanted to saturate the solution so i can use it to precipitate.
so i added more steel wool.
-this morning after two days from adding the steel, found some steel not dissolved. thought about adding water and acid to the glass. poured like 40 ml of water, and just when i poured the acid, a big pale green crystal formed which i thing is ferrus s. :idea:
-how did this happen?
-can i repeat this always but filtering the solution before adding the water then the acid?

 

[Harold_V]

poured like 40 ml of water, and just when i poured the acid, a big pale green crystal formed which i thing is ferrus s. :idea:
-how did this happen?

It isn't likely the crystal formed when you think it did. When you leave a saturated solution idle, crystals will grow without your assistance. Adding water actually retards the action, so I'm thinking that when you added the water, you disturbed the solution enough to expose the crystal, which had been growing.
Congratulations! That's exactly what should have happened, although you should filter the solution after it's been made, then allow it to grow the crystal(s). That way you don't risk including any of the contamination that may be present when you harvest the crystal(s) that form.

Harold

 

[andees78]

thanks harold

 

[andees78]

sorry harold. i just want to really understand what am doing.
when you said adding water acually retards the solution, does that mean raising the pH. i read in a wiki topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystallization
that one of the ways to form crystals is to change the ph. so adding water raises the ph and adding acid lower the ph.
then i must be doing one of those only, must i add water to the saturated solution or add acid. or both?

 

[qst42know]

sorry harold. i just want to really understand what am doing.
when you said adding water acually retards the solution, does that mean raising the pH. i read in a wiki topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystallization
that one of the ways to form crystals is to change the ph. so adding water raises the ph and adding acid lower the ph.
then i must be doing one of those only, must i add water to the saturated solution or add acid. or both?

Adding water shouldn't change the pH, even tap water should be very near neutral. Consider your solution may have cooled some from when it was actively reacting.

Warm your solution adding just enough water to dissolve the crystals. Get it filtered. And then when chilled your crystals will reform. If they don't, evaporate some water and they will.

 

[andees78]

hello

i made some ferrus sulphate crystals. and left them in an open container. they have turned from green to white. would it still do the same job?

 

[Oz]

hello

i made some ferrus sulphate crystals. and left them in an open container. they have turned from green to white. would it still do the same job?

The simple answer is no they will no longer work. You need to protect ferrous chloride crystals from the air or they will decompose (your grey to whitish crystals).

 

[andees78]

thank oz. did you mean ferrus sulphate? but how do i get the crystals dry after i siphon out the remaining solution?
note: i make the crystals by rapid cooling a saturated solution.
thanks

 

[qst42know]

This is some interesting reading for producing ferrous sulfate crystals.

http://www.crscientific.com/ferroussulfate.html

It looks to be a bit of a balancing act managing temperature, pH, and oxygen.

 

[andees78]

thanks

 

[butcher]

I evaporate the the filtered green solution of ferrous sulfate to green crystals on a hot plate in a coffee pot, removing crystals from solution as they form (leaving them wet) putting them in small plastic bottle with lid.

 

[Irons]

hello

i made some ferrorus sulfate crystals. and left them in an open container. they have turned from green to white. would it still do the same job?

Oxygen in the air oxidizes the Iron from +2 to +3 Ferric Iron. The Iron, which is the active ingredient, is oxidized from +2 to +3 by the Gold Chloride, thus, Iron already oxidized wont work. Once you make the Ferrous Sulfate, keep it in a sealed glass bottle. Plastic such as Polyethylene will allow oxygen in through the walls of the container. All reducing agents should be kept in a sealed container, protected from air and moisture.
If you have a saturated solution with crystals on the bottom, you will always know how much to use, just pour off what you need and add more water to dissolve the crystals remaining.

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

 

[butcher]

Good tip Irons, thanks, I did not Know the plastic would breathe, and allow in air, I will use glass, from now on.

I suppose the reason my ferrous sulfate crystals do not oxidize is they remain acidic, still wet, as I do not dry them to completion, and there is still some thick clear green acidic liquid above them.

 

[Irons]

Good tip Irons, thanks, I did not Know the plastic would breathe, and allow in air, I will use glass, from now on.

I suppose the reason my ferrous sulfate crystals do not oxidize is they remain acidic, still wet, as I do not dry them to completion, and there is still some thick clear green acidic liquid above them.

They can still oxidize if acidic. The good thing about using a saturated solution is that you can pretty accurately calculate the amount of ferrous ion, since it will be in a known concentration for a given temperature, but crystals can exist in several hydrated forms which makes calculation very difficult without a titration.

If you use very heavy plastic bottles such as the Nalgene HDPE lab bottles, the Oxygen transmission will be limited but still occur.

Ideally, one should do like what is done with Stannous Test Solution and put a bit of the metal in with the saturated solution to keep all the metal in a reduced state. I bought some pure Iron powder on fleabay for just such purpose.

 

[Bashar]

i done my gold powdering ferrous sulphate . But powder is in brown colour , how can i make it shine and yellow powder ?