Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Aluminum Chloride

DFliyerz - 24-2-2015 at 19:25

So, I've been trying to deal with this for a few days, but it keeps throwing curveballs at me. I made some aluminum chloride (not very well), and it didn't work as well as I wanted. So I decided to dispose of it by hopefully neutralizing it with sodium carbonate to aluminum carbonate (which would decompose to aluminum hydroxide) and sodium chloride. Of course, life isn't so simple.

At first it seemed to make a sort of "shell" around the carbonate, leaving a number of blobs of sodium carbonate sitting at the bottom of my beaker. I then put some in a flask, and added even more sodium carbonate. Fast forward a few days, with me breaking up the globs every once in a while, I now have a very thick gelatin in my flask. How do I deal with this, and will I have to simply get someone to dispose of it for me?

neptunium - 24-2-2015 at 19:27

how much of it do you have? if it was me ? i`d save my glassware and disolve then drain the rest of it whatever it is... why so much trouble ?

DFliyerz - 24-2-2015 at 19:34

Quote: Originally posted by neptunium  
how much of it do you have? if it was me ? i`d save my glassware and disolve then drain the rest of it whatever it is... why so much trouble ?


Well, it's a neurotoxin and an environmental hazard, so... and it's an especially big deal because I live in an area with lots of aquifers and rivers.

[Edited on 2-25-2015 by DFliyerz]

neptunium - 24-2-2015 at 19:37

neurotixine? where did you read that? no no no ! you have it swiming in sodium carbonate all this lewis acid is gone... get rid of it. no problem...

[Edited on 25-2-2015 by neptunium]

subsecret - 24-2-2015 at 19:48

Aluminum is a major component of the earth's crust, mostly in the form of oxides and basic oxides IIRC.

@neptunium: I have also heard that people who are exposed to large amounts of aluminum can develop neurological issues. I don't know the source of this information, so nobody can really testify to it's truth. It may as well be full of BS.

This might be a roundabout way to address the problem, but what is the pH of your area's soil, DFliyers? If it's alkaline, you'll precipitate any soluble Al compounds into the natural form.

Most likely, the only significant problem you'd have is Lewis acidity of the Al 3+ion, but that's just if you spilled it on yourself or poured it into a potted plant.

ElementsInEarthsCrust.jpg.gif - 20kB

[Edited on 25-2-2015 by Awesomeness]

neptunium - 24-2-2015 at 19:52

yes i heard that aluminum is bad in the brain but you`d have to be expose to massive amount for a very long time this is just not the case here..

Molecular Manipulations - 24-2-2015 at 19:54

Explain how you made this "aluminum chloride". Perhaps you mean chloride hydrate? These are two very different things. I would just throw it out, but if you want to precipitate a less toxic form that's good.

[Edited on 25-2-2015 by Molecular Manipulations]

careysub - 24-2-2015 at 22:52

Just did a little on-line reading on aluminum toxicity: it as some interesting aspects.

As the pie-chart above shows, there is a lot of aluminum around, and so humans have always been exposed to a lot of aluminum, so the GI tract seems efficient at rejecting/removing aluminum. But if that is bypassed the body has trouble getting rid of it (inhaling soluble aluminum compounds is probably a bad idea)

If aluminum builds up in your body, that is not good for you.There are several targets of toxicity, the brain is one - you shouldn't have more than 2 mg of aluminum in your brain.

On the other hand, what metals can you have build up in your body without consequence?

One thing that is surprising when you think about it is that there is no essential role for aluminum. Aluminum ions can partially substitute for some of the essential ones (not a good thing I wager), but that means there are opportunities for aluminum to replace another ion in some role - a process that could be gradual. For a ubiquitious element, I find it odd that this apparently never happened even once.

blogfast25 - 25-2-2015 at 11:00

Quote: Originally posted by DFliyerz  
So, I've been trying to deal with this for a few days, but it keeps throwing curveballs at me. I made some aluminum chloride (not very well), and it didn't work as well as I wanted. So I decided to dispose of it by hopefully neutralizing it with sodium carbonate to aluminum carbonate (which would decompose to aluminum hydroxide) and sodium chloride. Of course, life isn't so simple.

At first it seemed to make a sort of "shell" around the carbonate, leaving a number of blobs of sodium carbonate sitting at the bottom of my beaker. I then put some in a flask, and added even more sodium carbonate. Fast forward a few days, with me breaking up the globs every once in a while, I now have a very thick gelatin in my flask. How do I deal with this, and will I have to simply get someone to dispose of it for me?


You've basically been using too concentrated solutions. Try dilute the Al chloride and sodium carbonate to about 1 M before mixing.

Toxicity concerns about Al(OH)3 are a nonsense.

[Edited on 25-2-2015 by blogfast25]