What chemical can I use to break down sulphur stains?
I have terrible terrible stains in my toilet due to Sulphur in our water. What chemical can I use to break these stains down? Please help, I am at my wits end! Thanks!
Answer:
I doubt it's sulfur, it is most likely iron and other heavy metal oxides plus calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide deposits. To dissolve them any acid would do, many commercially available products to remove rust contain phosphoric acid, you can try that. If it is sulfur or sulfides, then you could use nitric acid, to oxidize them, however you will be generating toxic fumes, so you need a well ventilated area. If you smell rotten eggs, stop the cleaning as you're generating H2S, which is very toxic.
In such a case, you can try to use a basic solution to dissolve the sulfides (which would take a while as iron(II) sulfides are very insoluble, so you need to use a lot of base to tip the equilibrium) and then do the acid cleaning to dissolve the hydroxides (here, either HCl or HNO3 will do).
You can try to clean it with vinegar, you'll still remove lime and some of the iron salts, but the cleaning may not be very effective.Ksp Question. Need fast help! Please!?
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Answer:
I doubt it's sulfur, it is most likely iron and other heavy metal oxides plus calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide deposits. To dissolve them any acid would do, many commercially available products to remove rust contain phosphoric acid, you can try that. If it is sulfur or sulfides, then you could use nitric acid, to oxidize them, however you will be generating toxic fumes, so you need a well ventilated area. If you smell rotten eggs, stop the cleaning as you're generating H2S, which is very toxic.
In such a case, you can try to use a basic solution to dissolve the sulfides (which would take a while as iron(II) sulfides are very insoluble, so you need to use a lot of base to tip the equilibrium) and then do the acid cleaning to dissolve the hydroxides (here, either HCl or HNO3 will do).
You can try to clean it with vinegar, you'll still remove lime and some of the iron salts, but the cleaning may not be very effective.