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Electrolysis of NaHCO3
hanzdolo:
I'm new to chemistry and first I'd like to say, NO, I'm not trying to plate out sodium metal, in an aqueous solution, that's just ridiculous, lol(though I did see something on KOH but the product was less than desirable).
I am however trying to knock CO2(g) Off and synth NaOH. Is that even possible?
The way I see the reaction carrying out is:
NaHCO3 + H2O :rarrow:
@Anode: CO2(g) + O2(g) + 2H+ ,
@Cathode: NaOH + H2(g) + OH-
Is that correct?
Borek:
--- Quote from: hanzdolo on January 18, 2019, 01:45:33 PM ---Is that even possible?
--- End quote ---
You will be electrolyzing water, only products will be H2 and O2. All other ions are just spectators (helping in charge transfer though).
I would expect HCO3- to slowly convert to CO32-. Not because of the electrolysis though, just because it is much more stable.
hanzdolo:
--- Quote from: Borek on January 18, 2019, 02:57:30 PM ---
--- Quote from: hanzdolo on January 18, 2019, 01:45:33 PM ---Is that even possible?
--- End quote ---
You will be electrolyzing water, only products will be H2 and O2. All other ions are just spectators (helping in charge transfer though).
I would expect HCO3- to slowly convert to CO32-. Not because of the electrolysis though, just because it is much more stable.
--- End quote ---
Wow, totally not what I expected. I figured being when I react the solution with MgSO4 I get an immediate precipitate (unlike NaHCO3, which I have to heat or wait very long for the reaction to reach equilibrium), I was in fact producing NaOH, but I guess I was wrong.
It did give me a mild chemical burn when it got on my hands, but it was more like a H2O2 burn (I know H2O2 is unlikely).
Would a high voltage (12V with 83A available) have any strange effects?
I'm not arguing the point as you are far more knowledgeable in this area (my field is Engineering, Electrodynamics, I'm loving Chem though), I'm just trying to get answers to some strange occurrences.
Yesterday it very briefly smelled of ammonia, but when I came back an hour later to take a sample and try reacting with copper hydroxide to see if it would form the tetraamine complex, the ammonia smell was gone. It also smelled of O3 when started the electrolysis @12V.
once I'd noticed, I brought it down to 6V, but it did run at 12V for a few hours before I'd noticed.
chenbeier:
I think the problem is your power supply, normaly you would have currents about 1-2 A . But 83 A will work like a welding iron . You get sparks and smell of Ozone.
What is the concentration of your solution and its conductivity. What kind of electrodes are you using?
hanzdolo:
--- Quote from: chenbeier on January 19, 2019, 12:05:47 PM ---I think the problem is your power supply, normaly you would have currents about 1-2 A . But 83 A will work like a welding iron . You get sparks and smell of Ozone.
What is the concentration of your solution and its conductivity. What kind of electrodes are you using?
--- End quote ---
PbO2 anode and a copper cathode. 454g NaHCO3/3.5L H2O.
I'snt higher current density better?
I have shunt resistors tied to the ground of all my cells. I'm looking at 14.8A right now on ione of them.
I'm currently using an atx PSU from an old gaming machine. I wan't to spin a PSU for electrolysis, but I still haven't learned which parameters have to be controlled.
.
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