Minh Pham 3-10-2012 Prelab Aluminum Introduction

Aluminum is the 3rd most abundant element in the earths crust. This experiment will demonstrate a chemical technique for recycling used aluminum. We will prepare the compound potassium aluminium sulfate dodecahydrate. KAl(SO4)2 *12 H2O. Alum is used
in paper industry, in processing pickles, in dying fabrics and in water purification as well as wastewater treatment. Aluminum is a reactive metal which reacts slowly with dilute acids. The rate of reaction is slowed by an aluminum oxide layer which protects the surface of metal. Alkaline (basic) solution attact after dissolving the oxide layer. Excess base converts the aluminum to the tetrahydroxoaluminate III ion. This ion is only stable in basic solution. Upon the slow addition of acid (H2SO4), the hydroxide will be removed. Giving Al(OH)3 fom a white flocculent precipitate. Continued addition of acid dissolves the Al(OH)3 precipitate, eventually forming the hydrated aluminum cation [Al(H2O)6]+3. One can also dissolve the Al(OH)3 precipitate by addition of alkali reforming the [Al(OH)4)]- complex. This kind of behavior, a hydroxide which is soluble in either acid or base is called amphoteric. Alums are ionic compounds which crystallize from solutions containing the sulfate anion, a monovalent cation and a trivalent cation. Common cations used are K+,Na+,NH4+,Al3+,and Fe3+. Crystals of alums may grow to considerable size given the right conditions. These crystals form as cubes or octahedral, with the crystal lattice containing a total of 12 water molecules. 6 wate molecules are bound tightly to trivalent cation, and six water molecules are bound loosely to the monovalent cation and sulfate anion

Reaction
2Al(s) + 2KOH(aq) + 6H2O(l) 2K+(aq) + 2[Al(OH)4]- + 3H2(g) 2K+(aq) + 2[Al(OH)4]-(aq) + H2SO4 2Al(OH)3 + 2 H2O(l) + H+(aq) + 2K+(aq) + SO42- (aq) 2Al(OH)3 + 3H2SO4 2 Al+3 + 3SO4-2(aq) + 3H2O(l) K+(aq) + Al+3 + 2SO4-2 + 12 H2O(l) KAl(SO4)2 Overall: 2Al(s) + 2KOH(aq) + 22 H2O(l) + 4H2SO4 2[ KAl(SO4)2 12H2O(s)] + 3H2(g) Observation 12H2O(s)

Procedure 1. Weight about 1g of Al metal & place in 250 mL beaker 2. Add 25mL 2.8M KOH to beaker. (what happen ?) 3. Wait for 5 mins and then heat the beaker gently 4. If liquid level in beaker drop down, add some to maintain volume 5. Vacuum filtered after heat to remove any undissolved material

This is done by using aspirator and Buchner funnel system 6. Rinse the reaction beaker 2x with 5mL portions of deionized Water, pouring each rinse through the filter 7. Transfer the filtrate to clean 250mL beaker. 8. Cool the solution 9. After cool down. Add 20mL 9.0M H2SO4 and stir 10. Make sure solution is clear