rsambo Posted November 27, 2015 Posted November 27, 2015 I have some Orpiment Chunk from USA Pyro Supply. It shows good promise and is exactly as I had expected. My question is one of options with regarding to processing. I could heat the sample but this would give me toxic volatiles and likely lots of toxic arsenic trioxide - and I'm not particularly keen. I would anticipate this could be milled as-is and then dissolved in an alkaline solution, filtered and then re-acidified to precipitate A2S3 . Ideally I would also be able to convert any pre-existing arsenic trioxide ( this is likely to be present in the sample ) to the sulfide gaining a reduction in toxicity and increasing my yield of useful product. I'm hoping someone with better chemical knowledge than I might help. Any takers ?
WSM Posted November 28, 2015 Posted November 28, 2015 I have some Orpiment Chunk from USA Pyro Supply. It shows good promise and is exactly as I had expected. My question is one of options with regarding to processing. I could heat the sample but this would give me toxic volatiles and likely lots of toxic arsenic trioxide - and I'm not particularly keen. I would anticipate this could be milled as-is and then dissolved in an alkaline solution, filtered and then re-acidified to precipitate A2S3 . Ideally I would also be able to convert any pre-existing arsenic trioxide ( this is likely to be present in the sample ) to the sulfide gaining a reduction in toxicity and increasing my yield of useful product. I'm hoping someone with better chemical knowledge than I might help. Any takers ? I would mill the orpiment chunks to powder and use it as-is. If there is arsenic trioxide present, isn't it water soluble? If I'm right, you could water wash the orpiment powder after it's milled, and then dry it for later use. Any trioxide solution resulting could be used to make Paris green or some other useful arsenic compound. WSM
rsambo Posted November 29, 2015 Author Posted November 29, 2015 yeah, you're right. The best bet is probably just to mill it and see :-)
Alchymist Posted December 24, 2015 Posted December 24, 2015 I would mill the orpiment chunks to powder and use it as-is. If there is arsenic trioxide present, isn't it water soluble? If I'm right, you could water wash the orpiment powder after it's milled, and then dry it for later use. Any trioxide solution resulting could be used to make Paris green or some other useful arsenic compound. WSM One problem is that arsenic trioxide has a ok soluability in water, but it takes forever before it goes into solution. If you want to try it should at least be boiling water. Also, take care! Its nasty stuff!! Alchymist
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