Sodium Chlorate + Barium Chloride Double Decomposition

[AndyPyroNoob]

Hi,

 

I have started a new Chlorate cell today. Upgraded my coffee jar 1 litre of brine to a bucket that holds 10 litres

 

I am making Sodium Chlorate and will make some Barium Chlorate from it eventually( In like 6 weeks when it should be nearly finished lol)

My question is that after I do the Double Decomposition using the Sodium Chlorate and Barium Chloride in solution, my Barium Chlorate will precipitate and then I get harvest my BaClO3. But what happens with the left over brine?

 

I assume that when I reuse the brine there will still be traces of Barium Chloride in there and when I start my Electolysis I may get crystals forming being that of the BaClO3? Which I guess then I could harvest some more and extract that little bit more.

What if I then continue with eletrolysis and instead of adding BaCl ,I add KCl to get some KClO3?

Will this 2nd batch of chlorate be contaminated with Barium Chlorate? Or do people who use Sodium Chlorate have 2 different brine solutions? One for Barium Chlorate and the other for Potassium Chlorate?

 

Thanks

AndyPyroNoob

 

P.S. I didn't think this should be in the huge (Per) Chlorate thread. I am half way through reading it for the first time.

[Crazy Swede]

Have you really checked the solubilities?

 

Barium chlorate has a rather high solubility and the sodium will be a pain to wash off anyway.

[AndyPyroNoob]

So do people generally make BaClO3 straight from Batium Chloride solution?

The difference in solubility is about 27g/100ml BaClO3 vs 105g/100ml for NaClO3 @ about 25 degrees C

 

NaCl sits at about 36g/100ml @25 C

 

So I should use sodium chloride purely for the KCl compounds? (Eventually also Ammonium Perchlorate)

[sefrez]

I've not done any barium chemistry, but while I think its possible to crystalize BaClO3 from a NaClO3 solution, cleaning it of sodium would be difficult. I believe taking BaCl straight to BaClO3 - having no sodium participation - is the more effective way.

 

Even for KClO3. I use KCl in the cell. No metathesis reaction with sodium required. KClO3 does crystalize as the electrolysis proceeds, but I have room at the bottom of the cell for them to collect. Once done, I collect them, rinse them with saved last batch recrystallization solution*, and recrystallize them (this solution* is saved for the next batch.)

 

That might sound a bit confusing. What I am trying to say is that I pull out the already crystalized KClO3 from the cell solution and rinse them off before performing a second crystallization. But instead of rising them off with chilled H2O, I use the chilled solution remaining from previous recrystallization of which contains mostly KCl and KClO3. It is already saturated in KClO3 and so works as a good rinse before recrystallization - where I add new H2O and of which will ultimately be used for next rinsing. After using it as a rinse, I try to cycle as much of it as I can back into the cell. Essentially, It is a closed loop where my output is quite pure. Beautiful sodium free flame test on final KClO3 product. Chloride levels also tested showing less than 0.01% contamination and therefore >99.9% KClO3 if no other contaminates are present.