Bubbling Chlorine through a mix of Ferrocyanide/Ferricyanide/Bromide

[Athiril]

Hi,

So I've been reading bubbling chlorine gas through a solution of potassium ferrocyanide is a production method of potassium ferricyanide. But I wanted to ask if there were other reactions that occur, ie: does the chlorine gas react with dissolved potassium ferricyanide? Or dissolved chlorine gas create a reaction with ferricyanide (such as to release HCN gas).

I have a solution of potassium ferricyanide and potassium bromide, other times it'll be sodium chloride instead of KBr. I use this for bleaching, in turn it gets reduced.

It would be practical and cheaper to oxidise it back to potassium ferricyanide for more (but not indefinite), than to keep buying more (~$40+/kg here). I've already done similar things such as passing SO2 gas through a solution.


So rather than a straight solution of potassium ferrocyanide, it would be a mix of potassium ferricyanide, a chloride or bromide salt as well.


So I wanted to know if there were any other reactions that would take place that would leavy possibly undesirable products in my solution.

 

[wilsont23274]

The chlorine gas reacts with the potassium ferrocyanide to produce potassium ferricyanide and hydrochloric acid. The hydrochloric acid may react with the chloride or bromide salts, but the reaction would be dependent on the pH of the solution. If the pH is low, then the chloride or bromide salts will react with the hydrochloric acid producing chlorine gas, bromine gas, or hydrogen chloride gas, which can be toxic in high concentrations. However, if the pH is higher, then the reaction should not occur. Additionally, the chlorine gas may react with the dissolved potassium ferricyanide to form potassium chlorate, but this reaction is highly unlikely due to the low solubility of potassium chlorate in water.