[AR] Re: H2O2 from Sodium Carbonate Peroxide (Sodium Percarbonate)
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2016 17:50:56 -0400 (EDT)
On Thu, 1 Sep 2016, Robert Steinke wrote:
Wikipedia says sodium percarbonate is "a laboratory source of anhydrous
hydrogen peroxide" so there must be some way to get it out without
decomposing it, maybe not by dissolving it in water. Might not be
practical for rocket quantities though.
What seems to be done, based on a quick look, is to do a reaction that
uses peroxide in an organic solvent, which can dissolve the peroxide out
of the sodium percarbonate to react, while leaving the sodium carbonate
behind. (H2O2 doesn't have to be very soluble in the solvent if there's a
chemical reaction that's consuming it as fast as it dissolves.)
One paper mentions using tetrahydrofuran. The thought of THF with H2O2
dissolved in it is enough to make your blood run cold. THF is dangerously
prone to forming explosive peroxides just from exposure to air, *without*
dissolved peroxide! And THF is also highly flammable, so even if it
doesn't react with the peroxide, what you get is a peroxide/fuel mixture!
Unless there's a reaction consuming the peroxide as fast as it dissolves,
this totally flunks the Obituary Test. Do Not Try This At Home. :-)
The other solvent choice that seems to be common is chlorinated solvents.
Aside from some of them being carcinogenic and others being hard to find
because they're banned as ozone destroyers, they probably don't dissolve
very much peroxide -- fine for running a continuous peroxide-consuming
reaction, not so fine if your goal is to extract intact peroxide.
I don't say it's impossible to do something with it, but unless there's
some clever trick that I haven't thought of, it doesn't seem promising as
a route to pure peroxide in a bottle.
Henry
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