Crystallization of homemade sodium acetate

Step 7 Adding activated charcoal

After the solution has cooled to near room temperature (or lower), add two cups of activated charcoal directly to the solution and stir gently for several minutes. Let it sit for a while, maybe ten minutes or so, before moving to the next step.

(In the first picture, I'm using a 1/4 c. measure - while this should be more than enough for the liquid in the pot, after I took the picture I decided to trade charcoal for speed, and ended up adding two cups, rather than setting up a funnel with a coffee filter to hold the charcoal, through which the solution could be poured.)

Comments

[pc5]

maybe you had trouble seeding "supersaturated solution" because it wasnt supersaturated, if u attempted to seed after using the activated charcoal, which may adsorb your desired product? Just an idea.

I'm skimming, appreciate the cool instructable :)

--PC

[Kaber]

Would it work just as well to just pour the solution into a coffee filter with charcoal already in it? (as you mentioned). Was your method just to save time or was there another benefit?

[indigoandblack]

It would be better to add the charcoal and stir it up for a while - the longer the solution is in contact with the charcoal, the more unwanted impurities are absorbed.

[Tania303-614]

OK I´m a little confused, did you add the 2 cups of charcoal directly into the pot and then just stirred? Please reaspo as soon as possible!! Its for a science project!!

[indigoandblack]

Yep, that's correct - directly to the solution. That's the reason for all the filtering: it gets rid of the solids and the extremely fine carbon dust.