Hello! I am trying to recover pure aluminum powder from metal shavings contaminated with oil and coolant. Can I simply evaporate the oil and coolant to obtain the aluminum shavings then afterwards pulverize to have it in powder form? Or will this method cause the aluminum to oxidize?
It can be effective to wash the contaminated metallic particles with petroleum ether or ligroin; which can be later distilled for recycling most of the solvent.
@Carlos Thank you, Sir! No side reactions will occur during the process (i.e. oxidation)?
Dear Raniella: The mentioned solvents are considered as not corrosive for aluminium, and they should also not react with the metal to form complex metallo-organic compounds.
Thank you so much, Sir! Will try performing the suggested procedure.
Gasoline,acetone or alcohol will help you.acetone is very effective.
You can clean the aluminum washing in a solution of non alkaline detergent type cellosolve solvent based. After that rinse with distilled water and isopropyl alcohol
Thank you so much for entertaining my question!
If I may ask, what will be the best way to purify the aluminum shavings? Factors to be considered are the cost, availability of reagents, and most importantly its yield.
Dear Benjamin,
Turning ,shaving usually contains residual cutting fluid & adherent dust etc you may use organic solvents to recover the metal from oil & dust in a closed chamber & recover the solvent & oil by distillation. air burning will oxidise aluminium to aluminium trioxide.
Regards
Dr P K Maitra
About the possible use of alcohols ― Please note that relatively low molecular weight anhydrous alcohols (including isopropyl alcohol) should be avoided for the intended application, as they may react with the aluminium particles, particularly if heated to facilitate particles drying. Low molecular weight alcohols are much less corrosive to aluminium if not dry, or if mixed with some water, and if not significantly heated (e.g. to normal boiling point). Alcohols of higher molecular weight (e.g. butyl alcohol) can be expected to be of much less concern, even if dry or heated.
Noted, Sir Carlos! Is there a recommended span of time for washing the shavings?
Dear Madam
WOOD SPIRIT OR METHYL ALCOHOL is cheap & would work better ,only you must use low pressure steam to avoid fire hazard during alcohol recovery & recycling
thanks
Dr P K Maitra
Still about the possible use of alcohols ― Rate of possible reaction with aluminium would tend to increase with particles specific surface area and temperature, but most important, it can be expected to be much higher for anhydrous alcohols of low molecular weight (up to 3 C). The reaction of such alcohols at the boiling temperature can be very vigorous; hence difficult to control by trying to limit time of exposure. It is possible to limit aluminium corrosion by adding up to about 2 wt% water to such alcohols. This appears to be a reasonable content to limit corrosion without significantly compromising the solvent's ability. Even so, it might be advisable to avoid prolonged contact time.
About the possible use of acetone ― It should not corrode aluminium.
Dear Mr Carlos
thanks for your comments. The alcohol can very efficiently remove the the residual oil of water based cutting fluid at RT presence of water in alcohol is very low , whereas the water in Al-turnings is often higher.
Regards
Dr P K Maitra
@Dr Maitra and @Mr Carlos
Thank you for your suggestions. I think I will resort into utilizing acetone as my solvent because of its availability in our laboratory.
However, based on what I have read, redistilled acetone had caused mild corrosion to aluminum tanks. But I think, it will not be a problem since I only need to purify 100g of aluminum shavings.
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