Organikum - 6-12-2004 at 12:23
My semifinal way to make anhydrous chlorine from TCCA and HCl.
Setup:
- 2l Erlenmeyer on a warming plate
- 3 washbottles
- some broken glass
Chems:
- 500g TCCA
- 15-20% HCl containing 7 to 8 mole HCl
(Tip: 100ml 30% muriatic acid contains about one mole HCl)
A drying train is setup, consisting from one washbottle with MgSO4, one with conc. H2SO4 and a security bottle. All connections are made from PVC
tubing.
Into the Erlenmeyer is put two handsfull of broken glass and the TCCA, the tablets are previously broken down into pieces by some sophisticated
instrument like a so called "hammer". The HCl is precooled in the freezer (mine does about -10°C - thats ok, colder doesnt matter) and
added to the glass/TCCA and quickly stoppered.
Additional information:
Its a good idea when the stopper has a hole and is connected to the drying train by a tube. Connecting the outlet of the last washbottle of the train
to a reaction flask doesnt hurt either.
Chlorine production starts nicely, not violently but quite constant and most chlorine is produced in the first one or two hours. Then the plate under
the Erlenmeyer is warmed (WARMED not heated), to expell the rest chlorine over four to six hours more, shaking from time to time speeds things very
much up.
This produces almost exactly 6 mole Cl2 into the reaction flask, losses in the train etc. take up the rest.
This is my standard chlorination setup, it works as described.
The production of chlorine is discussed
here in length and almost all variations, so please look into this linked thread before posting here.
I opened this new thread for I believe the practical description may be helpful for some here - I was asked for it several times - and therefor might
get a little overlooked at the end of the long chlorine thread.
/ORG
[Edited on 6-12-2004 by Organikum]
Siddy - 9-10-2007 at 20:49
Sorry for my ignorance, buy why are you guys looking at that method and not doing this one:
Calcium hypochlorite reacts with hydrochloric acid to form calcium chloride:
Ca(OCl)2 + 4 HCl → CaCl2 + 2 H2O + 2 Cl2
bellow 100dC the only gas will be Cl2. it seems simple to me, but i assume there is a good reason to use TCCA instead, anyone care to enlighten me?
[Edited on 9-10-2007 by Siddy]
Sauron - 9-10-2007 at 21:37
He did tell you to read the other thread BEFORE posting. If you had done so you would know the answer.
not_important - 10-10-2007 at 07:45
MgSO4 isn't a very good drying agent for gases, silica gel might be a better choice, fairly easy to make and easy to purchase in many locations. Some
of the zeolites might react with the chlorine, so I'd research before using them.
YT2095 - 10-10-2007 at 08:45
would Dry calcium Chloride be any good?
I make my Cl2 gas in Exactly the same way as Organikum, only I use a 1L gas jar with an adapted stopper and only the H2SO4 dryer, I can attest to the
efficacy of this method 100%.
it`s just that I hate roasting MgSO4, but can buy the Dry Calcium Chloride for peanuts 
manimal - 21-1-2012 at 04:28
Pardon for resurrecting an old thread, but what is the purpose of the broken glass in the chlorine generator?
neptunium - 21-1-2012 at 07:39
for a greater surface area of contact between the two chemicals...
manimal - 21-1-2012 at 18:21
That makes sense, ie that it discourages clumping of the TCCA. Perhaps glass wool would work even better for this purpose.
UnintentionalChaos - 21-1-2012 at 18:54
There is a fantastic write up in prepublication on exactly this topic. In addition. I have run a chlorine generator this way and as long as diluted
HCl is used, there is no need to do much of anything. As the TCCA reacts, it forms a thin slurry of cyanuric acid which does not impede the reaction
of other TCCA in the mix. Only if the generator was massive would I expect issues, and I don't think glass would fix them. Stirring occasionally,
however, would.