vmelkon
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Nosalt and potassium bitartrate
I had bought Nosalt, 311 g.
The ingredients list KCl as first, then potassium bitartrate, adipic acid, SiO2, mineral oil, fumaric acid.
I dissolved in water, filtered to remove the SiO2.
I crystallized some of it by boiling away the water and there is a lot of sharp crystals. A lot! Damn, it is a lot!
Is this potassium bitartrate?
I can see some cubic crystals as well.
I can see the mineral oil floating on top.
So, is Nosalt like 50% KCl?
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MrHomeScientist
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That's very interesting. I use NoSalt as well and did the same procedure as you to purify it. I don't remember seeing any sharp (needle-like?)
crystals. From what I remember, I just got KCl cubes right off the bat and the additives seemed minimal. Got pictures?
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plante1999
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Canadian no salt is 95-99% KCl, the bitartate is not a concern at all and is only in a very tiny fraction of the product. If you conssider using it in
a cell, general purification procedures would be perfect. Using a cotton wool to filter will remove the oil.
-------------------------
I won't post as often as some may have observed. I'm getting quite restrained about chemistry, and I want to finish up what I started.
I never asked for this.
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vmelkon
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Not sure what the deal is with mine. I'm in Quebec.
Here is a photo.
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plante1999
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you may want to do a titration using silver nitrate or any other test to see the KCl purity.
Nice to know someone else from Quebec.
I never asked for this.
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blogfast25
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Potassium bitartrate is the salt of a weak biprotic acid.
Acc. this source:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac60010a017
... a 0.03 M solution of potassium bitartrate in water at 25 C has a pH of about 3.6, significantly lower than 7.
So drain of your supernatant liquid and wash your crystals with cold deionised water, then recrystallize the presumed KCl. If the new supernatant
liquid has a pH significantly below 7 it probably still contains potassium bitartrate.
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Texium
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Yesterday I purchased some under the brand name NuSalt, which only has a <1% additive of potassium bitartrate, much more pure to start with than
NoSalt.
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hyfalcon
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By a bag of "no salt" water softener pellets. Heck of a lot cheaper and without the contaminants.
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Zyklon-A
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I bought a some 'Nu-Salt', and it said "ingredients: Potassium chloride, contains less than 1%of cream of tartar, silicon dioxide, and natural flavor.
I didn't even bother purifying it, as I had no need to use more than 99% pure KCl.
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vmelkon
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Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25  | Potassium bitartrate is the salt of a weak biprotic acid.
Acc. this source:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac60010a017
... a 0.03 M solution of potassium bitartrate in water at 25 C has a pH of about 3.6, significantly lower than 7.
So drain of your supernatant liquid and wash your crystals with cold deionised water, then recrystallize the presumed KCl. If the new supernatant
liquid has a pH significantly below 7 it probably still contains potassium bitartrate.
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I don't have a means of measuring pH. I have methyl orange powder and some litmus powder (I think it is dead).
I added some more water, warmed and let it cool overnight. Some nice bunch of cubic crystals with no sign of needle crystals. This is weird, I was
expecting the K bitartrate to crystallize first.
I pulled out the cubic crystals and heated the solution to evaporate some more water. Now, the needle crystals and cubic are appearing.
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vmelkon
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I don't recall seeing anything that said potassium chloride.
Most things are mixes. I have seen NaCl, CaCl2, MgCl2 and urea for snow. I bought some cheap NaCl + CaCl2 mix for snow a long time ago. I wanted the
CaCl2. had to convert to CaCO3 and then back to CaCl2 to have some pure CaCl2.
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