Synthesis of terePhthalic Acid from coke bottles
C10H8O4 + 2 NaOH -> C8H4O4Na2 + C2H6O2
PET + Sodium hydroxide -> Sodium terephthalate + Ethylene Glycol
1: Obtain a coke bottle with the recycling symbol number 1 on it... Should say PET also in small writing under it... Wash the bottle and cut it up into small bits (smaller the better to get more surface area)
2: weight out the appropriate amount of each chemical and place it in a beaker (or non reactive container ie... steel can).
3: Place on a heat source and start to apply heat.. the Sodium hydroxide will start to boil and react with the PET very slowly... the solution may turn white but that's OK.
4: Once all the plastic has dissolved and it now just looks like a solution, you can then take it off heat.
5: Filter off any insoluble material (i happened to have a white precipitate, don't know what it is)... you can add some water if you want... it isn't actually needed)
6: Once fully filtered you can then move onto adding the acid... SLOWLY add some HCl to the solution... it will first neutralize any Sodium hydroxide that hasn't reacted... one there isn't any Sodium hydroxide left, the acid will start attacking the sodium terephthalate forming terePhthalic Acid... this will be insoluble in water and will precipitate out... this is a very exothermic reaction (not enough to boil the water but enough i couldn't touch it for more then 2 seconds)
C8H4O4Na2 + 2 HCl -> C8H6O4 + 2 NaCl
7: Boil down or evaporate until dryness... may not dry fully because of the Ethylene glycol but that wont matter for the next step... Now add some acetone to the terephthalic acid... terephthalic acid is really soluble in acetone but Sodium chloride is barely soluble in it (less then 0.00...)
8: Give it a mix around and then let it settle... you should be able to just decant off the acetone, leaving the sodium chloride behind... or you could just filter it off.
9: Let the acetone evaporate to get the terephthalic acid back... you may still of the ethylene glycol present so just wash it with a fair amounts of water to get rid of the ethylene glycol.
10: for extra purity, heat the acid up until it starts to form the anhydrous and collect it with a cold round bottom flask
This blog page is where i will be discussing upcoming experiments ill be most likely going to do as a video, as most would know, this is linked to a you tube account of mine so all post on here will be going into the making of a video
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011
How to make Potassium Nitrate/Ammonia Hydroxide
Now i love in Australia where i is really hard to buy potassium hydroxide over the counter but being reasonably cheap and for anyone to buy, I recently found some pH Up from my local hardware store, now its not alot but i picked up around 100 grams for $8.00 so i brought it. For this production of Potassium nitrate you will need 56 grams for this reaction. Because i got a bottle, it is in a solution. The hydroxide is in a 250ml bottle so is i need 140mls of solution to equal the 56 grams needed. You will also need to get your hands on some Ammonium Nitrate, this may be hard for some people to obtain depending where you are located, it is normally found as cold packs, but can also be found as a fertilizer. So weigh out 80 grams of Ammonium nitrate and 56 grams of Potassium Hydroxide, Dissolve the Ammonium Nitrate in about 250mls of water, and then dissolve the hydroxide minimal water. Now poor the hydroxide into the nitrate, it will vigorously react to form ammonia gas which is toxic and should be done out side or in a fume hood.
KOH + NH4NO3 = KNO3 + NH4OH
Or
KOH + NH4NO3 = KNO3 + H2O + NH3
Once all the hydroxide is added you can then boil down the solution, it will continue releasing ammonia gas as the ammonia hydroxide decomposes.
NH4OH = NH3 + H2O
Once no more ammonia is released you can let the solution evaporate for a pure product or just boil down... too test it, mix equal amounts of Potassium Nitrate and Sugar and ignite the mixture, it should burn with a brilliant purple flame
5 C12H22O11 + 48 KNO3 = 60 CO3 + 55 H2O + 24 N2 + 24 K2O
(***) To minimize the toxic smell ammonia gas we can easly dissolve it into water to form Ammonia Hydroxide, this can be done by doing the reaction in a gas generator. So get a a Vacuum flask and attach a hose at the end of the flask, at the other end of the hose grab a beaker and put about 50-100mls of water, this is to collect the ammonia. Now you will have to do it pretty fast but place the dry chemical int he flask and then add about 100mls of water (adding less water will cause it to heat up a lot faster and may spit a bit too much, so more water the chemicals will react under water causing less splashing) once the water is in put a cork in, the reaction will again produce a lot of ammonia which will be pushed in to the hose, out the other end into the water forming ammonia hydroxide. you can test that ammonia hydroxide is formed by getting another beaker with HCl in and put it next to it, White fumes should appear as Ammonia Chloride is produced. (***)
NH3 + H2O = NH4OH
NH4OH + HCl = NH4Cl + H2O
Ammonia Hydroxide can be used in many experiments for making Complex salts or as a solvent.
KOH + NH4NO3 = KNO3 + NH4OH
Or
KOH + NH4NO3 = KNO3 + H2O + NH3
Once all the hydroxide is added you can then boil down the solution, it will continue releasing ammonia gas as the ammonia hydroxide decomposes.
NH4OH = NH3 + H2O
Once no more ammonia is released you can let the solution evaporate for a pure product or just boil down... too test it, mix equal amounts of Potassium Nitrate and Sugar and ignite the mixture, it should burn with a brilliant purple flame
5 C12H22O11 + 48 KNO3 = 60 CO3 + 55 H2O + 24 N2 + 24 K2O
(***) To minimize the toxic smell ammonia gas we can easly dissolve it into water to form Ammonia Hydroxide, this can be done by doing the reaction in a gas generator. So get a a Vacuum flask and attach a hose at the end of the flask, at the other end of the hose grab a beaker and put about 50-100mls of water, this is to collect the ammonia. Now you will have to do it pretty fast but place the dry chemical int he flask and then add about 100mls of water (adding less water will cause it to heat up a lot faster and may spit a bit too much, so more water the chemicals will react under water causing less splashing) once the water is in put a cork in, the reaction will again produce a lot of ammonia which will be pushed in to the hose, out the other end into the water forming ammonia hydroxide. you can test that ammonia hydroxide is formed by getting another beaker with HCl in and put it next to it, White fumes should appear as Ammonia Chloride is produced. (***)
NH3 + H2O = NH4OH
NH4OH + HCl = NH4Cl + H2O
Ammonia Hydroxide can be used in many experiments for making Complex salts or as a solvent.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Samarium from Samarium Cobalt Magnets
Step 1: Dissolving the Magnet
MrHomeScientist has been doing a fabulous job of trying to extract Neodymium from Nd2Fe14B Magnets Now the other rare earth magnets someone could obtain is Samarium-Cobalt Magnets (SmCo5) so ive thought why not try extract Sm from it. Now i wont have the same methods as he used but ill try my best with getting a good product. My first Step would be obtaining the SmCo5 magnets. I dont know where i obtained these magnets, i just happened to have a few random magnets so i started testing magnets. I started off with 40mls of HCl, i then added a magnet. No reaction occurred, i then switched it with another magnet and it started to react forming a blue solution. After a day the solution was a deep blue colour. It looks like only a small bit has actually dissolved, heating it will drive the reaction to completion. The fumes coming off are a bit corrosive, i tested this out by placing some aluminum foil over the beaker, the next morning there was a giant hole int he foil
SmCo5 + 12 HCl → SmCl2 + 5 CoCl2 + 6 H2
Update: 05/11/2011 - after about 4 days, it is still dissolving and its gone from deep blue to a deep bluish purple, probably because its a concentrated colour
06/11/2011 - Fizzing stopped but magnet was still there, the 40ml solution went down to 35mls so i added 15 more mls of HCl
Question: How do we know if the colour is from cobalt?
Answer: Placed 0.5mls in a beaker and added 1ml of water, solution went from blue to red... Cobalt chloride in acetic conditions is blue while when its in water conditions it turns red
MrHomeScientist has been doing a fabulous job of trying to extract Neodymium from Nd2Fe14B Magnets Now the other rare earth magnets someone could obtain is Samarium-Cobalt Magnets (SmCo5) so ive thought why not try extract Sm from it. Now i wont have the same methods as he used but ill try my best with getting a good product. My first Step would be obtaining the SmCo5 magnets. I dont know where i obtained these magnets, i just happened to have a few random magnets so i started testing magnets. I started off with 40mls of HCl, i then added a magnet. No reaction occurred, i then switched it with another magnet and it started to react forming a blue solution. After a day the solution was a deep blue colour. It looks like only a small bit has actually dissolved, heating it will drive the reaction to completion. The fumes coming off are a bit corrosive, i tested this out by placing some aluminum foil over the beaker, the next morning there was a giant hole int he foil
SmCo5 + 12 HCl → SmCl2 + 5 CoCl2 + 6 H2
 |
| Size of the magnet |
 |
| The Solution after 1 day |
 |
| Corrosive fumes from reaction which is most likely HCl fumes |
Update: 05/11/2011 - after about 4 days, it is still dissolving and its gone from deep blue to a deep bluish purple, probably because its a concentrated colour
06/11/2011 - Fizzing stopped but magnet was still there, the 40ml solution went down to 35mls so i added 15 more mls of HCl
Question: How do we know if the colour is from cobalt?
Answer: Placed 0.5mls in a beaker and added 1ml of water, solution went from blue to red... Cobalt chloride in acetic conditions is blue while when its in water conditions it turns red
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Why Blogging?
Well This Is Why;
As you would know i have a YouTube account for visual experiments that can be done partly in detail, I also have a Facebook page for just small posts to whats happening, but what you will see here is a more in-depth procedure about what to do and what happens, I will also be posting just random things as well in case you would like to know what to do, you can message me via YouTube or Facebook what you would like to see me do or just write about, if it is interesting what you tell me, I will devote a lot of time putting effort into finding the answer, and all I want in return is a few clicks of the Google ads on my YouTube videos or on this site, the money will be going to new glassware, chemicals, video making tools and much more, I hope to see you seen.
Facebook: Like
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chemistry-Alchemist/255977507754133
YouTube: Subscribe
http://www.youtube.com/user/toothpick93
If you don't already know ScienceMadness.org is a great website for amuture chemists like me starting of, they will answer most questions you throw at them and 98% are nice about it :)
As you would know i have a YouTube account for visual experiments that can be done partly in detail, I also have a Facebook page for just small posts to whats happening, but what you will see here is a more in-depth procedure about what to do and what happens, I will also be posting just random things as well in case you would like to know what to do, you can message me via YouTube or Facebook what you would like to see me do or just write about, if it is interesting what you tell me, I will devote a lot of time putting effort into finding the answer, and all I want in return is a few clicks of the Google ads on my YouTube videos or on this site, the money will be going to new glassware, chemicals, video making tools and much more, I hope to see you seen.
Facebook: Like
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chemistry-Alchemist/255977507754133
YouTube: Subscribe
http://www.youtube.com/user/toothpick93
If you don't already know ScienceMadness.org is a great website for amuture chemists like me starting of, they will answer most questions you throw at them and 98% are nice about it :)
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