I have a solution which contain ferric oxalate and I want to reduced it to ferrous oxalate. I am doing it by photoreduction using sunlight .
Can anybody suggest cheap reducing agent ? But it must not contaminate the solution which I am going to recycle ? specially slats, etc.
Thanks CHRIS25 - 18-12-2014 at 07:01
As far as I am concerned setting the ferric oxalate under UV light is the most painless and quickest method. Don't use sunlight since most of the UV
is scattered. My cyanotypes would take up to 2 hours in this climate but less than 10 minutes under a UV. So that's the way to go. HOwever you would
need to place this , after the oxidation, in an inert an atmosphere as possible since the Iron 2 will turn back into iron 3 very quickly, if you don't
have anything inert then the best thing would simply be an air-tight container but "Filled" with the Iron 2 oxalate so as to limit volume of air
inside. By the way I have never done this, so look forward to your results.
[Edited on 18-12-2014 by CHRIS25]unionised - 18-12-2014 at 07:57
Have you considered using iron (metal) as the reducing agent?
Steel wool is cheap.
it's almost certainly worth a try unless someone here can explain why it wouldn't work. blogfast25 - 18-12-2014 at 10:34
Have you considered using iron (metal) as the reducing agent?
Steel wool is cheap.
it's almost certainly worth a try unless someone here can explain why it wouldn't work.
It should work: I've used 2 Fe(III) + Fe === > 3 Fe(II) to make ferrofluid. You just filter off the excess steel wool.
Since as ferric oxalate is poorly soluble and the Fe<sup>3+</sup> concentration fairly small, it might take a while to complete. Heat
gently?unionised - 18-12-2014 at 11:00
Good point, given how low the solubilities are, sunlight might be quicker. blogfast25 - 18-12-2014 at 11:09
Didn't even know sunlight worked, TBH.
But ionic reactions in water are usually very fast, so even low concentration of Fe<sup>3+</sup> may not be a problem. Use lots of steel
wool, I guess.
thanks any experience about other conditions
veerenyadav - 19-12-2014 at 03:02
thanks to all,
I think I should try steel wool but would anybody like to mention any think about other experimental conditions?
