RogueRose - 12-10-2017 at 19:57
I have some sulfuric acid that has contaminates of copper and iron sulfate (possibly some minimal others like chromium sulfate). I was wondering if
there is any way to clean this up without distillation?
SWIM - 13-10-2017 at 07:35
I suspect that getting copper or iron to precipitate in some insoluble form would be pretty much impossible as H2SO4 attacks most, if not all of those
compounds.
This posted below is a shot in the dark, as I'm not too experienced with electrolysis other than The basic stuff like making hydrogen or chlorine or
copper plating (half-assed job that didn't bond properly to the steel).
But maybe if you diluted it enough you could use electrolysis pull at least most of the metal out of solution and then boil it down again.
However, even if this does work, unless the contaminants are there in large amounts and you just want to get it somewhat more pure you may run up
against some limit to the deposition because of the low ion levels in the dilute acid.
I know electrolysis can give you very pure metals, but I'd be surprised if it can be used to make the solution very pure by removing those metals
completely. But it would be great if I'm wrong.