Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Decomposition of FeCl3 on heating

Crypto - 25-12-2013 at 04:25

Hydrated ferric chloride decomposes on heating but what is the decomposition product and what gas is released? I stumbled on two different answears and I don't know which one is correct. One says that FeCl3 decomposes to FeCl2 and releases Cl, and the other that it undergoes decomposition to Fe2O3 and releases HCl.

Random - 25-12-2013 at 05:20

Only way I can see HCl being released is through FeCl3 hydrates.

Zyklon-A - 25-12-2013 at 07:19

Ya, Almost all chloride hydrates that decompose, give off HCl.

Zyklon-A - 25-12-2013 at 10:01

2 FeCl3:6H2O-->Fe2O3+6HCl

Crypto - 26-12-2013 at 05:34

Wikipedia says that at 280 °C, hexahydrate undergoes partial decomposition to FeCl2 + Cl2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(III)_chloride

blogfast25 - 26-12-2013 at 07:14

What you obtain does indeed depend on temperature and duration of heating. In general, what you obtain is a 'mess': it maybe mainly Fe2O3 but often will still contain water and chloride, possibly also FeCl2.

Heating FeCl3 hexahydrate just isn't a very useful thing to do.