E3S Web of Conferences (Jan 2021)

Preparation of Zinc Cyanide and Elimination of Free Alkali in Cyanide

  • Wang Siyu,
  • Wang Xiangcheng,
  • Hao Yunping

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202123301110
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 233
p. 01110

Abstract

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Zinc cyanide can be prepared by double decomposition reaction of sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide with zinc chloride. Before the preparation of zinc cyanide, it is necessary to remove the free alkali in the raw material sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide. Magnesium chloride is used to remove the free alkali in sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide. The concentration of cyanide ion in potassium cyanide solution under different conditions is measured. The results show that magnesium chloride can not only remove the original free alkali in potassium cyanide, but also promote the hydrolysis of potassium cyanide to produce new free alkali and react with it to form new precipitate. By analyzing the components of the precipitate, it is determined that the main components in the precipitation are Mg(OH)2 and MgCO3. The final conclusion: after the free alkali in cyanide is removed by magnesium chloride, the solution must be quickly put into the double decomposition reaction to reduce the further loss of cyanide ion; In the preparation of zinc cyanide, the adding order needs to be noted: the cyanide aqueous solution must be added into the zinc chloride solution to ensure the excess of zinc chloride.