I was looking at various sulfates and it looks like iron sulfate is not soluble in alcohols but absorbs water readily in it's anhydrous form and lower
hydrates. It seems like it would be much easier to produce "dry" iron sulfate vs copper sulfate which you have the pentahydrate and anhydrous forms
(it can be difficult to get pure anhydrous w/o some decomp in some conditions).
So, does anyone know if FeSO4 can be used to dry ethanol?DraconicAcid - 19-8-2016 at 17:02
You don't need anhydrous copper(II) sulphate to dry alcohols- the monohydrate would probably work fine.RogueRose - 19-8-2016 at 20:45
Why not find out? Let us know!AJKOER - 20-8-2016 at 03:24
Possibly a bad idea depending on what one is going to do with the tainted dry alcohol, assuming exposure to some oxygen and strong light in a vessel
allowing UV exposure (like clear thin plastic) over time.
I am thinking that one could turn this into a nice demonstration experiment on a Photo-Fenton reaction especially if you add some NaCl and an acid to
the mix to speed things up. Multiple layers may become visible and a change in odor as your alcohol is broken down.
My comments could apply to many other transition metal salts (like copper) as well.
Caution: Some of these breakdown products are not people friendly!
[Edited on 20-8-2016 by AJKOER]NEMO-Chemistry - 20-8-2016 at 03:30
