Regenerating Ferric Chloride and Recovering Metal

Hello idea_factory

Why not use an Internet Search Engine?

Less than a second gave me: Google Results 1 - 10 of about 146,000 for ferric chloride regeneration. (0.27 seconds).

Kind Regards....

I can not help you with the electrolyses for recovering the brass but Ferric Chloride is made by dissolving Iron in Sulfuric Acid. The value of the dissolved Iron does not make it feasible to recover.

Mike

I'm not quite sure the post about Ferric Chloride being iron dissolved in sulfuric acid is quite right. I beleive it would be dissolved in hydrochloric acid!

But:

I have seen copper recovered by simply adding aluminum to the solution and after a period of time, the copper and aluminum swap places. Al has the higher reactivity.

Al compounds are typically easier to dispose of than Cu.

Good Luck, hope this helps

I believe Ferric Chloride can be made with ether Acid. Sulfuric Acid is mostly 93% and the HCL is 20 or 22° Bé. 36.5 percent or 38 percent. Sulfuric acid is less expensive to transport and less expensive to make.

Mike

I use small amounts of Ferric Chloride for etching copper circuit boards. If I'm not mistaken, the Cu replaces the Fe, leaving free Fe ions, which appear to oxidize and precipitate as rust deposits on the containers. For a company that does this on a large scale, I would think it might be economical to recover the copper from solution. Similarly, when etching Stainless Steel on a large scale, it might be economical to recover Chromium or other SS components.

Actually, the ferric acid FeCl3 reacts with Cu to form ferrous chloride FeCl2 and CuCl.

Then more FeCl3 reacts with the new CuCl to give again FeCl2 and CuCl2.

It doesn't end here: CuCl2 reacts with more copper Cu and forms 2 CuCl.

More FeCl3 is being taken in and copper goes through Cu -> (CuCl -> CuCl2) -> CuCl.

In the end, there is FeCl2 and CuCl.

The regeneration process is simply imitating the reaction above (FeCl3 + CuCl) by HCl + CuCl + O2(aerial), by adding hydrochloric/muriatic acid which yields H2O and the active CuCl2. Hydrogen peroxide may be added to boost the O2 intake.

In solutions without FeCl2 pollution, you'd be just watching color: if it turns brown, let it recombine with air; if it doesn't help add HCl to get a clean green solution. I don't know how a Fe/Cu-mix solution should look like.

If you want to recover the metals, you'll have to neutralize it with a base and collect the perticipated salts. This kills the batch of course.

No, I haven't tried the regeneration myself yet.