Practically Perfect Precipitation

PRACTICALLY PERFECT PRECIPITATION

PURPOSE: to demonstrates the concept of precipitation and how precipitation works as a treatment method for hazardous waste. CAUTION: Be careful with the boiling water and hot containers to avoid burns. Even though vinegar is a weak acid and the hydrogen peroxide is diluted, they are still harmful and can damage your eyes and skin.

M A T E R I A L S NE E D E D
hot plate beakers to boil vinegar and water large beaker for a water bath two Erlenmeyer flasks steel wool (rinsed of soap) or steel scouring pads filter paper funnel ice medicine dropper or straw 250 ml vinegar drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide graduated cylinder 1 tea bag 250 ml water

BACKGROUND

Precipitation is used to remove hazardous substances from a solution. By adding a chemical to react with the hazardous material, we can have it precipitate or fall out of solution. Once it is out of solution, the solution can be filtered to remove the precipitate - the precipitate is the solid. In a wastewater treatment plant precipitated metals settle in the bottom of a tank and form a sludge. The water is removed from this sludge by a large filter press which squeezes the water out. The resulting cake from the filter press may be treated further to reduce the mobility of the metals. A chemical precipitation process is diagramed on the next page. What types of hazardous wastes undergo precipitation? -liquids containing metals, specifically arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium and zinc.

Practically Perfect Precipitation

CHEMICAL PRECIPITANTS

SETTLING AGENTS

Schematic of a Wastewater Precipitation System

WASTEWATER EFFLUENT

BAFFLES PRECIPITATION TANK SLUDGE SETTLING TANK

What happens to the precipitate? -the precipitate containing the metal is disposed of as a hazardous waste. Sometimes the metal can be recovered from the precipitate and used again. What happens to the liquid once the -if the liquid doesn't contain can be discharged to the sewer and analysis or reused in some metal is removed? any other hazardous waste, it system after proper testing other process.

Why does something precipitate? -in chemical precipitation a soluble substance is made insoluble by some chemical reaction or change in composition. Are the same chemicals used to precipitate the metals out of solutions? -no, several different chemicals can be used. Some chemicals work better with certain metals than others do. Some chemicals work better at different pH's. The chemical used depends on which metal is in the waste. Is precipitation used only in wastewater and hazardous waste treatment? -no, precipitation is a commonly used technique in chemistry. Sometimes the chemist is precipitating something she wants, other times she is precipitating out something she doesn't want. It is often used to reduce the hardness of water by precipitating out calcium and magnesium.

Practically Perfect Precipitation

PROCEDURE To make the ferric acetate: 1. Pour 250 ml of vinegar into a beaker and add the steel wool or a scouring pad. Put the beaker into the water bath and bring the solution to a boil. Continue to boil for about 5 minutes. Put the filter paper in the funnel and place the funnel in the Erlenmeyer flask. Cool down the solution then filter. Use a medicine dropper or a straw to transfer a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide to the solution in the flask. Observe the reddish brown or grey color change: the hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the iron.

2.

3.

4. 5.

6.

The iron came from the steel wool or scouring pad and was oxidized by the hydrogen peroxide. The oxidized iron reacted with the acetic acid in the vinegar to form ferric acetate.
7. Label this solution ferric acetate.

To treat the solution. 1. 2. Boil some water. Put the tea bag in a beaker and pour 250 ml of boiling water over it. Pour 250 ml of the tea into the ferric acetate solution. Observe what happens to the solution. Do you see a precipitate fall out of solution to the bottom of the jar? If not, add more tea to the ferric acetate until you see a precipitate.

3. 4.

The tea contains tannic acid. This acid combines with the ferric acetate to form a salt, ferric tannate. The ferric tannate is a precipitate and falls out of solution.
5. Filter the solution to collect your precipitate.
3

Practically Perfect Precipitation

QUESTIONS Several different chemical precipitants are effective in removing metals from liquids. Wastewater treatment plants use chemical precipitants to remove metals from the water in our sewage system. Three of the common precipitation reactions are listed below. M always stands for a metal. Calcium hydroxide precipitation M++ + Ca(OH)2

M(OH)2

Ca++

Ferrous Sulfide precipitation M++ + FeS MS + Fe++

Sodium Carbonate precipitation M++ + Na2CO3 MCO3 + 2Na+

Using the models try these reactions.

1. Cu++

Ca(OH)2

2. Zn++

FeS

3. Pb++

Na2CO3

4. AgSO4

Ca(OH)2

Practically Perfect Precipitation

5. Ni(OH)2

FeS

6. CdCl2

Na2CO3

7. What happens if wastewater treatment plants dont precipitate the metals in the wastewater?

8. How do you think that these metals get into the sewer system?