[dudeman]

Well just to let you guys know about my acid I will tell you about the time I tried to distill it. The acid never came over. I had a few ml of water come over but that took about a hour. There is a yellow color aswell. My idea to heat to 150c was because my hot plate has to be hotter than the temp I want to get my solution to because it is meant to cook food on. Is there any other way to dry my hcl?

Would it be possible to pump hcl gas into a solvent that has lithium metal suspended in it? Or maybe even pass the hcl gas right over the lithium?

[typhoon2028]

Wouldn't this work?

1.)  lithium metal added to water to make LiOH (lithium hydroxide) and hydrogen gas

2.) bubble CO2 gas into LiOH solution.  This should yield Li2CO3 and LiHCO3.  Li2CO3 has limited solubility and should start to precipitate.

[Borek]

Is there any other way to dry my hcl?

No such thing as dry hydrochloric acid.

[nj_bartel]

HCl in dioxane?

[Borek]

I know what you mean. Still, I was mostly aiming at the dudeman misconceptions about hydrchloric acid - it is not comparable to sulfuric nor nitric acid that can be prepared as pure ("dry") substances that can be relatively easily used in lab.

[dudeman]

Is there any other way to dry my hcl?

No such thing as dry hydrochloric acid.

Dry hcl (hydrogen chloride) gas IS possible right? So how could I use the dry hcl gas to react with the lithium metal?

I will not give you any more ideas of my own. Please tell me your solution?

[dudeman]

I just learned that hydrogen chloride (the gas that once dissolved in water creates hydrochloric acid) is also soluble in alcohol and ether.

Does lithium metal react with ethyl alcohol?

EDIT!!!

The above information is fail. hydrogen chloride reacts with ethyl alcohol forming ethyl chloride and water...

Would ethyl chloride react with the lithium to form lithium chloride? I'm sure ethyl chloride could be made anhydrous.

This is my main problem... I need a reactant that can be made anhydrous to prevent losses. Any ideas?

[nj_bartel]

Ok, your setup could be something like

HCl gas generator and "dry" HCl solution prep - roundbottom filled with sodium chloride.  add conc. sulfuric acid.  Cap roundbottom with a rubber stopper that has a bent glass pipe through it.  Put open end of glass pipe into diethyl ether (it's not gonna be completely dry, but close enough).  Gently heat roundbottom.  Let gas bubble through ether for a few minutes.

Use the HCl in ether solution to prep lithium chloride.

Now, why do you need dry HCl again??

[dudeman]

Ok, your setup could be something like

HCl gas generator and "dry" HCl solution prep - roundbottom filled with sodium chloride.  add conc. sulfuric acid.  Cap roundbottom with a rubber stopper that has a bent glass pipe through it.  Put open end of glass pipe into diethyl ether (it's not gonna be completely dry, but close enough).  Gently heat roundbottom.  Let gas bubble through ether for a few minutes.

Use the HCl in ether solution to prep lithium chloride.

Now, why do you need dry HCl again??

Well I need it to be dry don't I? Because lithium metal reacts with water to make something different than lithium chloride. If there is any water at all the lithium could react with it which would be a waste of lithium.

So I can get ether to hold the hydrogen chloride? I was put off of the idea when I learned that ethyl alcohol reacts to become ethyl chloride. I will use this method and do some research on it.

[nj_bartel]

Say it reacts with water.  You form Li(OH)2.  This is going to react with HCl to form Li(Cl)2

[Borek]

You form Li(OH)2.  This is going to react with HCl to form Li(Cl)2

Oops. More like LiOH & LiCl

[nj_bartel]

Oui!   

[mewrox99]

This all sounds over complicated.

Won't this simple synthesis work.

Throw Lithium Into Water.

Bubble CO2 into LiOH solution.

Heat solution to turn bicarbonate to carbonate.

[nj_bartel]

I think adding to HCl then adding carbonate sounds easier than that

[dudeman]

Hey guys! Dudeman here....

So I ordered 250 grams of lithium chloride "brine" from some pyrotechnics shop on ebay and was hoping that you guys could tell me how to purify this stuff... It's already pretty pure. It's a pure white odorless powder that completely dissolves into water.

I already had some sodium carbonate and this also completely dissolves into water.

Ive done a test run so far and it seems to really work! I put a little bit of each into separate beakers and added 10ml of water to each then pour the lithium chloride into the sodium carbonate. It took about five seconds for the reaction to take place. All of a sudden the liquid went white and then it a layer started to form at the bottom. I decanted the liquid and added a bit more water. Decanted then added some acetone. Decanted added more acetone. set aside to dry. The solid precipitate would not dissolve into the acetone. The only test that I have found that I could use to see if this is in fact lithium carbonate is to burn it but I don't have a heat source strong enough to ignite it. Adding hcl to see it bubble off CO2 is pretty pointless since sodium carbonate reacts the same way.

It's late got to go!