Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Getting rid of CuCl2 impure junk

lordcookies24 - 3-1-2019 at 14:32

I just made Copper chloride and filtered off the junk.

My question is wether I can just wash it down the sink since copper chloride has been known to etch metals



D6BFDB72-A01F-4886-89D4-FA198A2747FD.jpeg - 1.6MB

j_sum1 - 3-1-2019 at 15:39

I always avoid putting Cu down the sink for environmental reasons. Precipitate basic copper carbonate, filter and dispose as solid.
My preferred disposal method is to set into a block of concrete and then discard to landfill.

Amos - 4-1-2019 at 07:16

How on earth did you make it this way, copper, HCl, and H2O2? I would try adding some hydrochloric acid to both the filtrate and the precipitate and warming; it looks like you have copper oxychloride forming in your process from atmospheric oxygen, copper metal, and CuCl2 comproportionating.

lordcookies24 - 4-1-2019 at 13:26

Quote: Originally posted by Amos  
How on earth did you make it this way, copper, HCl, and H2O2? I would try adding some hydrochloric acid to both the filtrate and the precipitate and warming; it looks like you have copper oxychloride forming in your process from atmospheric oxygen, copper metal, and CuCl2 comproportionating.


yea i did make it that way, a 1000ml where i added copper, hcl, and h202. when it stopped bubbling that meaned the reaction was over so i filtered it, then i went to vocation (forgot about this project) and came home to find it completely crystallized, then i re added water to it, swirled it around and wanted to add it to a mason jar, but some weird stuff at the bottom was not dissolving, so i filtered it(as seen above) and here i am now.

draculic acid69 - 4-1-2019 at 17:35

What source of Cu metal did you use? I made CuSO4 from speaker/headphone wire once and there was definitely a grey/black sludge leftover in the blue solution that wouldn't dissolve. I suspected it to be lead or iron impurities.the sulfuric was clear 98% from chem supply chain.not sure if impurities were from acid or metal.apparently Cu wire is supposed to be extremely pure.after this experiment im not so sure though.

fusso - 5-1-2019 at 02:47

Why not precipitate the Cu2+ and save for future use? Scrap Cu takes ages to oxidize.

lordcookies24 - 5-1-2019 at 11:09

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69  
What source of Cu metal did you use? I made CuSO4 from speaker/headphone wire once and there was definitely a grey/black sludge leftover in the blue solution that wouldn't dissolve. I suspected it to be lead or iron impurities.the sulfuric was clear 98% from chem supply chain.not sure if impurities were from acid or metal.apparently Cu wire is supposed to be extremely pure.after this experiment im not so sure though.


I bought some very unexpensive copper pipe attackments shown below since I had no scrap

lordcookies24 - 5-1-2019 at 11:15

I disposed of it by mixing it with aluminium to get the copper then flushing the aluminium chloride down the drain with plenty of water, it might not be the best for the environment but I had to get use of my beaker again since I don't have much to go around.

draculic acid69 - 5-1-2019 at 17:35

I also tried using a piece of. Copper pipe but it seemed like it would take a week to dissolve in boiling h2so4 solution.