[TheForge] Electrolytic rust reclaiming

Tue Oct 29 15:43:01 2002

Well, yes and no.  The voltage to convert Fe(III) to Fe(II) is a lot =
smaller than that needed to convert Fe(II) to Fe(0), but the latter is =
still not all that large.  By standards of the power industry, the =
voltages needed to reduce metals are trivial. =20

Now that doesn't necessarily translate into a feasible means of converting =
rust to iron.  All I mean to say is that it's not the voltage per se that =
is the obstacle to this reduction.

Bruce
NJ

>>> [email protected] 10/29/02 02:19PM >>>
At 12:53 10/29/02 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm no expert on this.  I'm only applying my knowledge of chemistry.
>
>Iron III oxide is red.  Iron II oxide is black.  Rust is iron III =
oxide,=20
>Fe2O3.  Scale is iron II oxide, FeO.  I SUSPECT the black is FeO.

This is consistent with what my brother-in-law the family electro-chemist=
=20
says.  The red oxide (rust) gets converted to free oxygen and black =
oxide=20
(same as fire scale).  The further reduction of this black oxide to =
iron=20
requires a lot more energy than you use in the electrolytic rust =
reduction=20
process ... he says you pretty much have to go through the smelting =
process=20
to get rid of the remaining oxygen atom and leave the iron behind.

The good part about the black oxide residue is that it's light and not=20
tightly bound to the surface and brushes/wipes/washes off quite easily.

Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI
ABANA, UMBA, GoM, MODA, ARG

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