Fluorite
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Barium Sulfide for Hair Removal as a Barium Source – Feasibility and Purity?
I recently came across barium sulfide products marketed for hair removal on Amazon, and I’m curious about their potential as a cheap source of
barium for lab purposes. The product is quite inexpensive, and I thought it might be useful for those of us looking for a barium source.
My Idea for Conversion:
I was thinking of dissolving the barium sulfide in water and adding sodium carbonate to precipitate barium carbonate (BaCO₃), leaving sodium sulfide
(Na₂S) in solution. Would this approach work effectively? And are there any significant risks I should consider during this conversion?
How is it even a skin product? Isn’t t barium a heavy metal? or is it because it non cumulative the amount absorbed through skin would be
insignificant?
I’m aware that barium sulfide is quite toxic, especially because it can release hydrogen sulfide gas (H₂S) in acidic environments
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Sulaiman
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At test tube scale I'd dissolve the barium sulphide to check if any insoluble additives are present.
Heat a little of your barium sulphide in a flame to see a green flame rather than other colours, eg yellow
I would consider bubbling CO2 through your barium sulphide solution to get barium carbonate,
rather than adding a sodium salt.
Especially if you may want green pyrotechnics etc.
Sugar + yeast (plus nutrients) gives a good volume of CO2 at a nice rate with a useful by-product.
Maybe not a good idea where you are though 
Put a non-return (one way) valve in the CO2 line to protect your by-product from possible (but unlikely) suck-back.
(More fun than carbonate plus acid etc,)
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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clearly_not_atara
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Bubbling CO2 through BaS will definitely produce a lot of H2S gas. I would avoid it if you don't have proper safety equipment. I'm honestly surprised
that it can be sold to individuals and shipped as non-hazmat.
I would suggest slowly adding the BaS to a solution of excess zinc acetate in order to sequester any sulfides as insoluble ZnS, and then you should be
able to extract barium from the filtrate by precipitating the carbonates and extracting the zinc with a sodium hydroxide solution (as Na2Zn(OH)4
leachate).
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Sulaiman
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OK, I would re-consider bubbling
CO2 
And
I apologise for suggesting something I've not tried myself and failed to properly research.
Truly sorry - could have had a bad outcome.
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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bnull
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Hydrogen sulfide is unavoidable. The solution of barium sulfide takes up carbon dioxide from air and slowly releases H2S. That's bothersome
but normal.
Do not use hot water to dissolve the stuff since it increases the production of hydrogen sulfide, use a slight excess of zinc acetate, and do it in a
fume hood or outside (as long as your "outside" is away from animals and neighbors). As for the rest, the usual protection equipment and attention.
Edit: Typos.
[Edited on 15-10-2024 by bnull]
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
B. N. Ull
P.S.: Did you know that we have a Library?
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Morgan
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A fairly recent H2S accident in the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O31B-ItBkuE
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Fluorite
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Thanks Sulaiman for that method I was already looking for CO2 source for making potassium carbonate from the hydroxide and it’s definitely way
cheaper than the Sodium carbonate + Acid
and about the hydrogen sulfide I think bubbling it in TCCA in water would oxidize it to elemental sulfur and reduce the odor right? I’m still
definitely not doing anything indoors without a proper fume hood
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clearly_not_atara
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The issue with H2S is not odor, it's toxicity. The barium sulfide likely already smells of H2S before you do anything with it. Some release of H2S is
basically unavoidable with any method barring a very good fume trap. But the IDLH is 100 ppm (lowest reported human death at 600 ppm) so it's
generally better to avoid generating lots of the gas. It's definitely not something you can just vent (neither is HCl!). I also wouldn't be surprised
if it kills your yeast.
If you want to trap H2S, probably a strong hydroxide solution is appropriate. A solution containing zinc or copper ions will usually also work.
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Bedlasky
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I think that suggested method with Na2CO3 is probably the best. Why bother with filtering ZnS and then BaCO3 when you can turn it directly into BaCO3.
And the second reason is, that excess Na2CO3 maintain solution strongly alkaline. So no H2S formation. You can even add some NaOH solution beforehand
for better stabilization, because Ba(OH)2 is somewhat soluble, so reaction with Na2CO3 will turn it into BaCO3 anyway.
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