White Yeti - 25-7-2011 at 11:15
This might be an ambitious project, but I would like to make my own hydrogen peroxide.
I know I can buy the 3% at a local supermarket, but there are some reactions that involve hydrogen peroxide and the 3% is just not cutting it.
Furthermore, there are no hair salons that sell 30% near where I live. Distilling this stuff will end up being more expensive than buying in bulk, so
I need to make my own.
I looked up how it's made at an industrial scale, and quite frankly, I don't think I can buy 2-Ethylanthraquinone and making it seems just as
difficult as making H2O2, except that's not even the hard part. I can make hydrogenation catalyst, but other than that, the industrial process is not
going to work well on a relatively small scale.
So, are there any other reaction pathways that would allow me to make H2O2?
Perhaps reacting water with an oxygen radical?
Preferably a process that does not involve high temperatures and pressures, if possible.
Thanks.
Bot0nist - 25-7-2011 at 11:29
This has been covered here a lot in the past. Try the search engine. It will yield many threads on hydrogen peroxide and its synthesis.
MrHomeScientist - 25-7-2011 at 11:48
There's a current one in Beginnings that I just posted on, in fact. It's pretty interesting, though I'm not sure if it's really practical.
Edit: the thread's title is 'calcium peroxide preparation'
[Edited on 7-25-2011 by MrHomeScientist]
Bot0nist - 25-7-2011 at 14:52
Maybe you have an interest in making hydrogen peroxide. If so, it can be done, and has been disscused here before, but IIRC it isn't easy. Many people
here need H<sub>2</sub>0<sub>2</sub> and most just buy 30%-35% online or concentrate the cheap store bought 3% to a more
useful percentage.
I have done both. I find it readily available online, and pretty easy to concentrate. If you can pull a vacuum and do clean lab work getting a very
high concentration is no trouble (sketchy though). It can also be easily concentrated in several ways. Most of which have been disscussed in some
recent threads.
Here is two recent ones I am aware of.
<a href="http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=15881">Recent H2O2 concentration thread 1.</a>
<a href="http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=16726">Recent H2O2 concentration thread 2.</a>
I am sure that searching phrases about hydrogen peroxide here will show many other threads about concentration.
Best of luck.
[Edited on 25-7-2011 by Bot0nist]
White Yeti - 25-7-2011 at 15:02
Thanks very much.
Sorry for posting a question that has already been asked and answered.
My apologies, I'm new at this.
Bot0nist - 25-7-2011 at 15:29
It's all good man. I wasn't having a go at you. This site has so much information in it, albiet, at tad scattered about though. If you take the time
to read what others here have posted before you, you will be able to advance in leaps and bounds in your hobby.
When I think back, it's crazy how many fun things I have done and am proud of, and how much my technique and saftey implementation has evolved since I
began lurking here. And I am just still germinating. I have a lot more to glean from the collective mind of SM, and I'm excited.
White Yeti - 26-7-2011 at 05:35
I have done a little searching around this forum, but I was a little disappointed that most of the posts concentrated on distilling H2O2. Distilling
is fine, but I would like to explore the science and try making some from scratch.
I did have this idea to make hydrogen peroxide from hydrogen radicals and oxygen, but I don't know if it will even work.
CO+ 'OH--> CO2+ H
2H+ O2--> H2O2
I need to figure out how to make OH radicals (without using H2O2) and somehow get them to interact with the carbon monoxide. Then, I need to figure
out how to make the two react completely, so that none of the CO reacts with the oxygen.
Hydrogen radicals are also produced when an electric arc strikes through H2 gas, but then the two gasses might combust together instead.
Mindchemist - 26-7-2011 at 21:31
I think that that the anthraquinone process would be the best for large scale. 2-Ethylanthraquinone can be prepared from phthalic anhydride and
ethylbenzene.
White Yeti - 27-7-2011 at 07:06
It would work best for large scale, but I know how to make phthalic anhydride and making ethylbenzene shouldn't be an enormous challenge.