Sciencemadness Discussion Board

NaHSO3

barryfol2 - 28-11-2006 at 05:32

Hello,

would anyone have a link or a method for determining concentrations of NaHSO3?,

i am trying to make sodium bisulphite by passing sulphur gas stream through sodium sulphate, and elimintaing any oxygen

Thanks & Regards,

unionised - 28-11-2006 at 11:39

"i am trying to make sodium bisulphite by passing sulphur gas stream through sodium sulphate, and elimintaing any oxygen"

It won't work.

woelen - 28-11-2006 at 13:28

Making NaHSO3 can be done by passing a stream of burned sulphur (sulphur dioxide) through a solution of NaOH or Na2CO3. Passing sulphur vapor through Na2SO4 does not work, as unionised states. Sulfate ion is very inert, and it hardly can be used as oxidizer.

Bromine - 29-11-2006 at 07:37

Easyest way is by bubbling SO2 into Na2SO3 solution.

barryfol2 - 29-11-2006 at 08:06

Thanks all,

to be honest, we are not sure if we have sodium sulphite or sodium sulphate in the effluent solution we are working with, as yet.

i will be passing so2 through the solution, which now thnking about it probably is sodium sulphite as it is an oxygen deficient environment (we also get a lot of CO which might proove this)

does anyone have titration so that i can calc if i have sulphite and sulphate and if i then have sodium bisulphite following so2 addition?

i have a titration method for sodium sulphite where one adds sulphuric acid and titrates vs potassium iodate-iodide, using starch indicator,

any other ideas?

woelen - 29-11-2006 at 14:44

That titration method is perfectly OK, as long as the solutions are not too concentrated. Sulphite is converted to SO2 by adding acid and this will escape from the liquid if the concentration is too high. This will result in low measured values.

Also keep in mind that adding SO2 affects the titration effect. In fact, SO2, Na2SO3, and NaHSO3 all are equivalent in the iodate/iodide titration.

barryfol2 - 30-11-2006 at 07:22

Many thanks for the info,

regards,

cbfull - 30-11-2006 at 14:38

Not sure if I remember this correctly, but I think I remember seeing a toilet bowl cleaner having sodium bisulfite listed as the main (perhaps only?) ingredient.

Might be worth a look next time you are shopping.

unionised - 2-12-2006 at 05:24

More likely bisulphate than bisulphite.

Chris The Great - 2-12-2006 at 12:08

I've found bisulfite as a iron remover. I am pretty sure it isn't super pure, since it reeks of SO2, and pure NaHSO3 has a much, much weaker smell (ie, you need to take a good sniff to tell it's there, while I open my iron remover and it reeks without even trying to smell it).

YT2095 - 3-12-2006 at 03:06

Campden tablets contain it also, you can buy them easily enough at a Wine making shop.