Hi All, really excited to have made an account to join the community! I am wondering if I can get some help in trying to solve the problem I’m facing.
I am using an aqueous calcium bicarbonate solution to try and remove aluminum sulfate from my heptane layer....at least that’s what I think I’m trying to do. I must apologize as I’m still a student.
In any case, after my two layers have separated, There is a impurity that likes to adhere to the inside of the glass of the separatory funnel (I think Calcium Sulfate) and lives in both the water and heptane layer so I’m trying to figure out how to effectively remove it because I can’t seem to remove all of it from the organic layer after I drained the water layer.
It will loosen from the glass wall if I shake the sep funnel and it will settle to the bottom but that only works for about half of it. I’ve tried filtering it through a coffee filter and it removes some of it but definitely not all of it. I’m thinking I may need to filter it through a bed of celite or a smaller filter but I’d like to ideally find a simpler solution that doesn’t require vacuum or additional chemicals or steps.
Any help would be appreciated!