Getting Aluminium Chloride from Aluminium & Hydrochloric Acid

[c_d]

Hi,

If I mix aluminium (tin foil) with hydrochloric acid I get the following reaction:

2Al(s) + 6HCl(aq) -> 2AlCl3(aq) + 3H2(g)

So I end up with aluminium chloride disolved in the water.

If I boiled the water would I be left with pure aluminium chloride? I'm thinking the water will boil away leaving the AlCl3, which should be a white powder.

 

[Gokul43201]

Hi,

If I mix aluminium (tin foil) with hydrochloric acid I get the following reaction:

2Al(s) + 6HCl(aq) -> 2AlCl3(aq) + 3H2(g)

So I end up with aluminium chloride disolved in the water.

Not really. AlCl3 will hydrolyse rapidly forming Al(OH)3.

 

[quetzalcoatl9]

i believe that aluminum trichloride is soluble in dichloromethane, and could be extracted. (not 100% sure about this though - you may want to double check the Merck index of other suitable source).

 

[seattle_rust]

Nah, once you get the H2O clustered around the Al3+, it's tough to get it out of there. As with the FeCl3 thread, I think you might be able to do so by mixing the hydrated chloride with ammonium chloride, and then heating that.

The bst way is to start with Al metal and treat it with dry HCl (gas) or dry Cl2. Once you let hydroxies in, they're going to want to stay - extraction isn't going to work.