Sciencemadness Discussion Board

The many way to hydrogen peroxide

plante1999 - 27-10-2012 at 04:34

There are many process to make Hydrogen peroxide. this is a short compilation of one found in ullmann"s Enc. of industrial chemistry and some other old reference like Manifacture of chemical by electrolysis:

-Barium peroxide process
-Azobenzene process
-Anthraquinone process
-Isopropanol oxidation process
-Persulphates process

I have tried the Barium peroxide process and the persulphate process and I,m working to try the three others to put in the lab scale industrial synthesis H2O2 volume.

Barium peroxide is hard work with large amount of reagent for a small quantity of peroxide. 200g of barium peroxide yield only about 34g H2O2! In the process barium oxide is heated in an air flow at 450-500 degree Celsius to make barium peroxide. Then the peroxide is reacted with 5% Sulphuric acid to get a large amount of dilute hydrogen peroxide solution.

In the persulphate process, bisulphate is electrolysed to yield a persulphate salt. The persulphate salt can then be hydrolyzed under reduced pressure or with conc. sulphuric acid. Making H2O2 with the persulphate is quite hard but making the persulphate is easy.

Now Im trying the three other processes. Isopropanol react with oxygen in the presence of peroxide to yield acetone and hydrogen peroxide making this reaction an auto-catalytic reaction. One mol of isopropanol theoretically yield 1 mol of acetone and one of peroxide. This process must be conducted in the cold.

The two other require reduction of the organic compound and subsequent oxidation with air to get H2O2. Azobenzene require sodium-mercury amalgam. Anthraquinone need raney nickel or palladium catalyst to reduce it.

Does anyone already tried any of these process?

blogfast25 - 27-10-2012 at 05:45

Considering how low cost commercial hydrogen peroxide really is I doubt many have dabbled with its synthesis here.

The barium method requires investment in a (fairly expensive) barium compound as a starting point. And then recovery of the barium from BaSO4 isn't easy-peasy either...

I think organic peroxides would be more interesting, given they are far less availble and not OTC at all...

plante1999 - 27-10-2012 at 06:03

Well Azobenzene can be made by zinc dust reduction of nitrobenzene and anthraquinone can be made using ethylbenzene and phtalic anhydride. As for the isopropanol process only very little investment is needed. I'm favoring the Azobenzene since it doesn't tend to form too hydrogenated product.

blogfast25 - 27-10-2012 at 08:36

Do you have a link/outline for the azobenzene process?

plante1999 - 27-10-2012 at 09:27

Under 4.4.3 there is a short mention of the process but Reading all the document give more info.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/96150771/Hydrogen-Peroxide-Product...

Reduction using mercury-sodium amalgam. Oxydation with air in NaOH sol. to make sodium peroxide that can be used to make the peroxide or kept as it.

[Edited on 27-10-2012 by plante1999]

[Edited on 27-10-2012 by plante1999]

condennnsa - 28-10-2012 at 06:34

Quote: Originally posted by plante1999  

Isopropanol react with oxygen in the presence of peroxide to yield acetone and hydrogen peroxide making this reaction an auto-catalytic reaction. One mol of isopropanol theoretically yield 1 mol of acetone and one of peroxide. This process must be conducted in the cold.



wait a minute, so if I bubble air in isopropanol I will end up with acetone and h2o2?

plante1999 - 28-10-2012 at 06:39

Yes but the isopropanol need to be very cold and you should add some hydrogen peroxide to the isopropanol to catalyze the reaction.

Hydrogen peroxide is H2O2 not h2o2.

[Edited on 28-10-2012 by plante1999]

elementcollector1 - 23-3-2013 at 21:39

http://www.essind.com/ace/ace-peroxide-concentrate.html
Can't find the concentration of this, and the MSDS isn't helping. Anyone bought this before, or know the concentration of peroxide?
(It was $20 where I live, so probably not buying it even if it is really concentrated).

blogfast25 - 24-3-2013 at 06:01

Quote: Originally posted by elementcollector1  
http://www.essind.com/ace/ace-peroxide-concentrate.html
Can't find the concentration of this, and the MSDS isn't helping. Anyone bought this before, or know the concentration of peroxide?
(It was $20 where I live, so probably not buying it even if it is really concentrated).


That stuff is heavily formulated and not recommended for chemical experimentation.

9 % H2O2 is readily available from pharmacies here and 35 % from eBay. Both very cheap. Your Ace stuff probably comes at a premium.

Fantasma4500 - 24-3-2013 at 10:23

i think ill agree on that.. i doubt it will be very good for other things where you need crude endproduct such as making dichromate, which could use NaClO anyways and perhaps forming insoluble organic stuff (if you know what exactly im talking about)
if you canbuy it cheaply then you could react it with MnO2 and with some calculations back and forth and abit of setup you should be able to calculate out of the gas you get (oxygen preferable) how concentrated it is..

MrHomeScientist - 25-3-2013 at 05:56

Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25  
That stuff is heavily formulated and not recommended for chemical experimentation.

9 % H2O2 is readily available from pharmacies here and 35 % from eBay. Both very cheap. Your Ace stuff probably comes at a premium.


Another good source is the pool supply store - around here, Leslie's pool supply sells "chlorine-free oxidizer" that is 27% H2O2. I believe it's called Baquashock. It must have some stabilizers in it to reduce decomposition by sunlight, but I've used it before with few problems.

Manifest - 25-3-2013 at 13:16

I looked at Wikipedia around the Isopropyl method, it doesn't say anything about making H202

Also what peroxide do you add to the isopropyl? and is this used as a catalyst?

Manifest - 25-3-2013 at 13:25

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25  
That stuff is heavily formulated and not recommended for chemical experimentation.

9 % H2O2 is readily available from pharmacies here and 35 % from eBay. Both very cheap. Your Ace stuff probably comes at a premium.


Another good source is the pool supply store - around here, Leslie's pool supply sells "chlorine-free oxidizer" that is 27% H2O2. I believe it's called Baquashock. It must have some stabilizers in it to reduce decomposition by sunlight, but I've used it before with few problems.



Are you that guy on Youtube? My brain is telling me well duh right now, but anyways love your videos.

Thanks for contributing to the Educational side of Youtube.

hyfalcon - 25-3-2013 at 13:52

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  


Another good source is the pool supply store - around here, Leslie's pool supply sells "chlorine-free oxidizer" that is 27% H2O2. I believe it's called Baquashock. It must have some stabilizers in it to reduce decomposition by sunlight, but I've used it before with few problems.


I picked up a 4 gallon case at the local pool supply for less then $60.00. Seems to work fine for precious metal recovery.

MrHomeScientist - 26-3-2013 at 06:54

Quote: Originally posted by Manifest  
Are you that guy on Youtube? My brain is telling me well duh right now, but anyways love your videos.

Thanks for contributing to the Educational side of Youtube.


Yes I am! It seems my fame is spreading :) Glad you enjoy my videos. Now that spring and warmer temperatures are around the corner, I hope to come out of hibernation and post some more stuff. It's neat to see people recognize me from my other work!

Recently some new people moved in a couple houses down from mine, and I went to go introduce myself. The first thing they said to me was "Hey you're that scientist aren't you?" They must have already talked to my other neighbors, who know not to be too alarmed if they see smoke and fire behind my house.
All my dreams are coming true :D