Making 98% Concentrated Sulfuric Acid from Epsom Salt - DIY

Gotta love electrochem. I'm making zinc powder in a cell right now and my next divided cell is going to be for the reduction of nitroguanidine to aminoguanidine.

I believe the liquid level in the anode chamber decreases mostly due to simple osmosis through the semipermeable clay pot, since the cathode compartment is full of strong salt solution and the anode compartment is very dilute.

Nice work, thank you. Thanks for going through all the reactions. It's so easy to treat electrolysis like a recipe, learning by rote and just repeating what has worked before. It makes it hard to spot problems when things go wrong. The most favorable reaction at any given moment can change due to temperature, voltage, contamination, chinese electrodes, etc. Knowing what should be happening is not enough, you need to know everything that can happen, and under what circumstances.

like the t-shirt. as an engineer i'd probably say the glass has an air/water c.o.p of 0.5 but yes, it is definitely full.

I have watched several electrochemical sulfuric acid production videos, but in my opinion, this is by far the best video. Very well organized and the description and tables shared really brought the process together. Thank you so much for your time and work, this is awesome. Keep it up. Cheers!!

its really interesting how metal etching, making a battery, metal plating and now chemical purification are so similar

In our setup using sodium sulfate (Na₂SO₄) with a Nafion 117 membrane, the process involves separating sodium ions (Na⁺) from sulfate ions (SO₄²⁻) through the membrane. Here’s how this process generally works: Nafion 117 Membrane: Nafion 117 is known for its selective permeability, allowing certain ions to pass through while blocking others based on their size and charge. In our case: Sodium ions (Na⁺), being relatively smaller, can pass through the Nafion 117 membrane. Sulfate ions (SO₄²⁻), being larger, are less likely to pass through the membrane effectively. Electrochemical Setup: In an electrochemical cell or setup with Nafion 117 membrane: When a voltage is applied across the cell, sodium ions (Na⁺) migrate through the Nafion membrane towards the opposite electrode. Meanwhile, sulfate ions (SO₄²⁻) are mostly retained on the other side of the membrane due to their size and charge. Product Formation: On the side where sodium ions (Na⁺) migrate, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) can form if water is present, due to the alkalinity of sodium ions reacting with water. On the side where sulfate ions (SO₄²⁻) remain, sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) can form through appropriate chemical reactions, often involving water and hydrogen ions (H⁺) resulting from other processes. Purpose and Applications: This setup can be utilized for various applications where selective separation of ions is required, such as in electrolysis processes for generating sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid separately. Therefore, in our experimental setup with sodium sulfate and Nafion 117 membrane, the membrane allows for the selective passage of sodium ions (Na⁺) while restricting sulfate ions (SO₄²⁻), facilitating the separate production of sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid on opposite sides of the membrane. This process is based on the membrane's ability to control ion transport, which is crucial in various electrochemical and separation applications. Key Points: Low Solubility: Magnesium hydroxide has low solubility in water, forming a suspension rather than dissolving completely. Formation: It can precipitate out of solution when magnesium ions (Mg²⁺) react with hydroxide ions (OH⁻): Magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)₂) reacts with sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) to produce magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄) and water (H₂O). Your process can be further optimized, because I suspect that MgOH and Sulfuric Acid are being manufactured on the one side, and sulfuric acid on the other side, and then MgOH and Sulfuric acid cancel each other out converting back to Magnesium Sulfate, etc. I suggest reversing the polarity, and using Sodium Sulfate, because Na+ is small enough to pass which will create Sodium Hydroxide within the flower pot leaving behind sulfuric acid that can be distilled to the desired concentration and purity. ~ Cheers

Amazing explanation professor. Very informative and the math breakdown was easy to follow. Looking forward to more content!

Wow, very knowledgable! Thank you! 👍

Great video. One request - for the sake of those less careful and experienced such as yourself, it would be good if you wore and discussed protective equipment such as butyl gloves and eye protection. You may have quite young viewers. Otherwise, very well presented. I subscribed.

That end result was crazy, considering how it was made. Thank you.

Ah yes youtube, i was beginning to run out.

Thanks for sharing!

thanks brother I really enjoyed watching your video. Please keep making videos like this

It's the unglazed pot that makes the difference and did this some years ago when the interest was for a home-made lead/acid battery. I guess we only produce the concentrated sulphuric when really necessary. As an aside, for the battery acid, if we leave whatever concentration we have open to the air, atmospheric moisture will produce an equilibrium giving (from memory) S.G. 1.33 and 1.28 is optimum for a battery as the acid/water mixture has greatest conductivity. Interested in your channel, keep up the good work!

very good video! Thanks very much! the reddish hue likely results from dissolved Fe3+ from the clay pot

Electro chemistry is cool, I didn’t realize that until I started watching your videos

this is really cool, ive seen alot of videos of people making sulfuric acid by electrolysis but they never concentrate it

Thank you, teacher.

Very entertaining and informative, thank you for sharing this with us today.