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Author: Subject: Water flocculation & sodium aluminate - getting 3 layers after mixing
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[*] posted on 31-8-2018 at 17:07
Water flocculation & sodium aluminate - getting 3 layers after mixing


I'm having a really odd reaction to the sodium aluminate that was made when I dissolved some hard drive platters in a NaOH solution. I know I had excess NaOH in the solution, how much, I'm not sure, but I would guess I had 20-40% excess (about 1/2 mole) in the solution.

After the solution settled for about 24 hours, I had a 400ml solution that was thick on top 1/3 (and light grey w/ slight maroon color) and a few "spheres" of white on the bottom with the foil - and the middle was kind of cloud.

I added 150ml of hot water, stirred until it was all mixed and poured into a new container. It settled and I have 3 layers, a bottom 15% is a white cloud/thick, middle 50% is clear water/solution and top 35% looks identical to bottom cloud. There are a few drops falling from the top to the bottom, looks like a couple snow balls falling per hour.

I'm wondering how this could have reacted so differently from just adding 150ml of water and changing containers. How do the different layers form?
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[*] posted on 11-9-2018 at 12:04


How long did this last, and if it subsided, was the middle layer still hot/warm?



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