Monosodium urate as an electrochemical electrolyte?

wolf99

Hi Folks

Im an electronic eng, so chem is really not my forte, so baby steps here

I am looking at different electrolytes possibilities for an electrochemical process and wondered if a solution of monosodium urate would work?
Most of the info on the web on this and other urea related stuff relates only to biology and health implications, so Im struggling to fill the gaps in my knowledge in terms I can understand.

I know a good electrolyte is ionic and will usually have a single direction arrow disassociation reaction eg for NaCl: NaCl -> Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq). QED, ths lots of free ions for a good amount of current conductivity.

How does monosodium urate fare in the ionic column? Can it be obtained/manufactered from urea or uretic acid? Would uretic acid make a better electrolyte solution?

Thanks

krd

wolf99 wrote: »

Hi Folks

How does monosodium urate fare in the ionic column?

Can it be obtained/manufactered from urea or uretic acid? Would uretic acid make a better electrolyte solution?

Thanks

I'm far from any kind of expert in chemistry. But, from what I can tell, monosodium urate is the crystallised form of uretic acid.

If you want to manufacture it, you piss in a cup and then evaporate the fluids. The crystals, probably salty (I really haven't ever tried it) will contain monosodium urate. In solution, it will turn back to uretic acid.


What are you up to?

There was a time gunpowder was manufactured by collecting human urine, and passing it through ash. They even used to have a law in France making it illegal to through your piss away.

wolf99

Hi krd, thanks for your reply.

Im looking at industrial electro-chemical machining processes. NaCl and NaNO3 are the norm before the strong acids come in for more exotic metals.

Based on my research (wikipedia :rolleyes:) Im guessing that the reason the two sodiums are used is because they are ionic and thus have a high amount of free ions in an aqueous solution.

I was loooking at my list of salts and acids that are used and though "hey, corrosive acids... urea...(or eureka)" as a freely available and easy to dispose of solution thats potentially even greener than other sodiums.

thus I actually turned to trying to establish if it is actually suitable as an EC process electrolyte.. if it has a comparable conductivity I guess is the real question.

As I say looking on search engines doesnt really help in this case as its all about gout and kidneys or cat-nip. :rolleyes:

Thanks

krd

wolf99, I've nearly forgotten all my chemistry. Just vague remnants remain. I look at this thread to stir my memory.

Just by looking at the wikipedia page. I think you may or may not have some other interesting problems with it. It doesn't seem to be that soluble, you may have problems in your device with recrystallisation - with clumps of the stuff around your electrodes acting as insulators.

The solubility for Sodium Nitrate is 730 g/L (0°C), 921 g/L (25 °C), 1800 g/L (100 °C). Which means you can put a hell of a lot of salt in the water before it saturates - crystals will not form easily.

Though.....The Urate, may give you everything you need for your process. (it may not) It depends on your application.

I know there are equations for calculating the conductivity of a solution with the electrolytes in it - and equations to work out what your solution is giving you. I can't remember what there are.

wolf99

Ok thanks for pointing that out krd, that basically puts a stop to that idea! thanks anyhoo

mandrake04

http://www.nico2000.net/Book/Guide1.html