The Halogen Elements by Greg Roza

Author:Greg Roza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Finding and Refining Iodine

Iodine is the sixty-fourth most abundant element on Earth. The manner in which iodine is refined depends on where it is collected. The first important commercial sources of iodine were saltpeter beds in Chile. Chilean saltpeter—or sodium nitrate (NaNO3)—contains several iodine compounds.

To separate the iodine, saltpeter is boiled in water and then cooled. This creates saltpeter crystals and a solution rich in iodate ions (IO3-). Next, the solution is divided into two parts. Sodium hydrogen sulfate (NaHSO4) is mixed with one part, which changes the iodate ions to iodide ions (I-). The solutions are combined again. The iodide ions change the iodate ions to iodine.

As with other halogens, iodine is collected from many brine wells around the world. The process used to refine iodine from brine is very similar to the process used to refine bromine. Seawater could potentially be another source of iodine, but the concentration of iodine in seawater is too low to collect economically.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.