Advanced search

Answers


Is it possible to seperate salt and sugar?

Back in school we were told how you can seperate salt and (powdered) pepper using static electricity. Someone asked if there was a way to seperate salt and sugar. The teacher didn't know. Since then, no one I asked has come up with anything better than sorting the crystals by shape under a microscope. Melting temperatures are very different, of course, but sugar caremelises before melting decently. Both are soluble in water. But maybe there still is a way? What about solubility in organic liquids?

sssss
 (no votes)

submit an answer
  • Member status
  • none

Categories: Domestic Science.

Tags: chemistry, salt, sugar.

 

Report abuse


7 answer(s)


Reply

Jon-Richfield says:

There are many approaches and I don't know which would be most attractive as a commercial process, but the most obvious seems to me to be the use of ion-exchange "resins", because the salt is ionic and the sugar is not. Pass a solution of the mix over first one acid resin that would pick up the sodium, then over another alkaline resin to pick up the chloride. Repeat until the sugar is pure enough.  If you happen to want to recover the salt (and resin) again, then release the sodium and chloride with acid and alkali and reconstitute the salt as required. The same process would clean up the resin. 

Ion exchange resins are a very large range of substances that can be used for some surprising separations and purifications.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

sssss
 (1 vote) average rating:2

Tags: chemistry, salt, sugar.

top

posted on 2010-01-15 13:44:04 | Report abuse


Reply

MikeAdams#367 says:

Sugars are fairly soluble in alcohol (think liqueurs), but salt is generally insoluble. Shake the mix with absolute alcohol (you want no water since then the salt will dissolve). Filter and the salt will remain in the filter: the evaporate off the alcohol to recover the sugar.

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: chemistry, salt, sugar.

top

posted on 2010-01-15 19:31:06 | Report abuse

Reply

Jon-Richfield says:

Not to give you a misleading impression of the degree to which my abstemious nature has hampered my knowledge of the practices of those who indulge, but sucrose is only marginally soluble in alcohol; "taking it with sugar" entailed first dissolving the sugar in hot water before stirring it into spirit. And that spirit typically was less than 50% ethanol anyway. (Wimps!!!)

Dry sugar is barely soluble in dry (absolute) ethanol.  Possibly by heating it under pressure one could dissolve it before it underwent thermal decomposition, but I never have tried that. 

Either.

Possibly MeOH? Glycol?  Dunno. The latter does not sound like a very practical extraction solvent.

For heaven's sake, DON'T try that at home!

Go well,

 

Jon

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: chemistry, salt, sugar.

top

posted on 2010-01-16 15:25:16 | Report abuse


Reply

Jon-Richfield says:

Hmmm...

Belatedly it occurs to me  to wonder how well sugar dissolves in supercritical carbon dioxide. I suspect that it does, and that salt does not. If so, it would be a far cleaner process for anyone who can afford the apparatus.

Then again, did anyone mention dialysis?  In particular electrodialysis? Dissolve the lot in water in a semipermeable bag, then apply an electric field that could remove the sodium and chlorine ions. This should not affect the sugar. Problem solved.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: chemistry, salt, sugar.

top

posted on 2010-02-12 13:14:31 | Report abuse


Reply

Paul_Pedant says:

You can use a strong electromagnetic field to separate sodium chloride, whose ions exhibit a right-handed electrical moment, from sugar, which is ambidextrose.

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: chemistry, salt, sugar.

top

posted on 2010-02-12 17:06:03 | Report abuse


The last word is ...

the place where you ask questions about everyday science

Answer questions, vote for best answers, send your videos and audio questions, save favourite questions and answers, share with friends...

register now


ADVERTISMENT