Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Obtaining pure Hydrogen Peroxide

Picric-A - 6-5-2008 at 02:01

ok, this is just a theory so it may not be right.
Sodium percarbonate releases H2O2 when dissolved in water.
sodium percarbonate is readily available in shops as 'OxiClean' or other non chlorine based bleaching products.
If you were to make a solution of sodium percarbonate and distill it to pass off H2O2 vapors into water you could get quite concentrated soloutions of H2O2 easily and cheaply.
The only downside of this is the distilling of H2O2 which is dangerous. As long as you didnt use anything that could be oxidised, eg rubber stoppers this method could work wonders. Especially as i do not have an easy supply of H2O2.
please post your comments.
thanks,


Edit by Chemoleo: Corrected atrocious spelling...NO excuse, any browser offers spell-checks these days!

[Edited on 17-6-2008 by chemoleo]

woelen - 6-5-2008 at 03:59

This method of making pure H2O2 does not work, because H2O2 decomposes when it is heated, especially in the alkaline environment with the carbonate. The boiling point of H2O2 at standard pressure is not a real boilingpoint, it is an extrapolation from data at lower pressure. Before this "boiling point" is reached, the H2O2 has decomposed already.

Distillation of H2O2 is possible (but dangerous), only at low temperatures and reduced pressure. So, you'll need a vacuum distillation setup.

not_important - 6-5-2008 at 05:57

As is commonly said, use the search engine, or just browse this topic area, and you'll find

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=10113

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=1325

Hydrogen peroxide will happily decompose without anything to oxidise, when concentrated or heated enough. Solvent extraction might be used, but if you can't get H2O2 you likely can't get the solvents.

Picric-A - 6-5-2008 at 07:21

sorry about that guys, i should of done more research on it before i posted

ShadowWarrior4444 - 6-5-2008 at 13:54

Actually! This gives me an idea, perhaps. What would occur if ultrasonically atomized water were passed through Sodium Percarbonate? Could keeping the reaction chamber at reduced pressure and slightly elevated temperature facilitate the distillation of H2O2 before it decomposes due to the basic environment?

cbfull - 16-6-2008 at 18:09

Don't forget that if the peroxide doesn't decompose, it's going to stay put while the water just vaporizes away.

You'd be better off leaving a bucket of 30% peroxide open for several days in a very dark room.

Another thing to consider, is that oxiclean product is not pure sodium percarbonate. They dull it down with sodium carbonate, which is a big waste if you ask me. I use a high purity sodium percarbonate from an online store in my dishwasher and you wouldn't beleave how well it works. My cups are no longer tea and coffee stained!

arevelacao - 17-6-2008 at 10:35

What about the ultrasound sonolysis of water to yield purest H2O2??