Zinc Sulfate - Production and Reactivity

Production and Reactivity

Zinc sulfate is produced by treating zinc with aqueous sulfuric acid:

Zn + H2SO4 + 7 H2O → ZnSO4(H2O)7 + H2

Pharmaceutical grade zinc sulfate is produced from high purity zinc oxide:

ZnO + H2SO4 + 6 H2O → ZnSO4(H2O)7

In the laboratory, it can also be prepared by adding solid zinc to a copper(II) sulfate solution:

Zn + CuSO4 → ZnSO4 + Cu

In aqueous solution, all forms of zinc sulfate behave identically. These aqueous solutions consist of the metal aquo complex 2+ and SO42- ions. Barium sulfate forms when these solutions are treated with solutions of barium ions:

ZnSO4 + BaCl2 → BaSO4 + ZnCl2

With a reduction potential of -0.76, zinc(II) reduces only with difficulty.

When heated over 680 C, zinc sulfate decomposes into sulfur dioxide gas and zinc oxide fume, both of which are hazardous.

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