Barium Carbonate

Introduction

Barium Carbonate has a molecular formula, $(BaC{O}_3)$. It is an inorganic chemical compound. It is tasteless and odourless. Like or similar to most of the other alkaline earth metal carbonates, it appears as white salt and it is insoluble or poorly soluble in water solution but, it is soluble in most of the acids, except sulphuric acid. It is one of the very important barium compounds commercially or economically. Although it is not soluble in pure water it is partially or slightly soluble in water saturated with carbon dioxide $(C{O}_2)$. It is used for the formation of rat poisons. It is also used in paints, ceramics, rubber, plastics, e.t.c industries. It is also used for the formation of refractive indices of the glasses.

What is Barium Carbonate?

Barium carbonate is an inorganic chemical compound with molecular or empirical formula, $(BaC{O}_2)$. It is tasteless and odourless. It has a white salt appearance like most of the alkaline earth metal carbonates. It is poorly or insoluble in pure water but it is partially soluble in the water saturated with carbon dioxide $(C{O}_2)$, it is also soluble in most of the acids like nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid, but not soluble in sulphuric acid. Naturally, it occurs as the mineral is called witherite. It has several commercial or industrial uses. It is one of the most important barium compounds.

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Physical Properties of Barium Carbonate

Following are the all possible physical properties of barium carbonate−

• Solubility: As we have discussed in the above paragraphs that barium carbonate is insoluble in pure water but it is soluble in the water−saturated with Carbon dioxide $(C{O}_2)$ and it is soluble in most the acids except sulphuric acid.

• Specific Heat: It has a specific heat of around 0.1448.

• Appearance: It generally appears as white crystals or white salt powder.

• Complexity: It has an atom complexity of around 18.78.

• Covalently-Bonded Unit: It has in total two covalently-bonded units.

Chemical Properties of Barium Carbonate

Following are some of the chemical properties of barium carbonate−

• Calcium salts (these are soluble salts ) can easily react with the barium carbonate to form to give Barium sulphate that remains in the solution as precipitate and calcium carbonate. The chemical reaction for the same has been shown below:

$$BaC{O}_3+CaS{O}_4\to CaC{O}_3+BaS{O}_4$$

• Barium carbonate can also react with hydrochloric acid $(HCl)$ to form or give Barium chloride$(BaCl)$, Water$(H_{2}O)$ and carbon dioxide$(C{O}_2)$. The chemical reaction for the same has been depicted below

$$BaC{O}_3+2HCl\to BaC{l}_2+H_{2}O+C{O}_2$$

Barium Carbonate Structure

This is a 3-D representation of the Barium carbonate molecule.

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This is the empirical representation of the same barium carbonate that is a combination of $B{a}^{2+}$ and $C{O}_3^{2-}$

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Various Uses of Barium Carbonate

Following are the all possible uses of Barium Carbonate -

• As it is founded to be white insoluble salt, it is widely used in the Ceramics industry for the formation or generation of a wide variety of ceramic products.

• It is also used as a raw material for the other barium products like Barium oxide $(BaO)$ and Barium peroxide $(Ba{O}_2)$.

• Barium carbonate is also used widely for the formation of rodenticide (rat poison). Due to its whitish salt-like or flour-like appearance, it attracts rats towards it.

• Some other major commercial uses or applications of barium carbonate are for the formation of the refractive index of the glasses, in oil-drilling industries, photography, enamel formation, magnetic materials formation, paint and brick formation and in a large number of chemical industries.

• It also plays a major role in the manufacturing of electronic ceramics (which are used in a large amount nowadays), PTC thermistors, capacitors and various other types of electronic equipment.

• Barium carbonate also plays an important role in the production or generation of magnetic components and fibre optical glasses.

Production Method of Barium Carbonate $(BaC{O}_3)$

Various Production Methods for the formation of Barium carbonate are the Carbonation method, Metathesis method, Poison Nepheline Conversion method, Dry Granulation method and Wet Granulation method. Now, we will discuss each one of them one by one

• Carbonation Method- The process for the production of $(BaC{O}_3)$ with the carbonation process involves the following steps:

  • First of all carbon dioxide gas is passed through the solution of barium sulfide $(BaS)$ such that it can carbonize.

  • Then the barium carbonate in the form of slurry will be obtained from this process and is then further subjected to desulphurization wash.

  • Further, it is passed through vacuum filtration and then dried at approx 300 degrees Celcius.

  • And, finally, a process called pulverization will take place before barium carbonate products can be obtained.

  • The chemical reaction involved here is

$$BaS+C{O}_2+H_{2}O\to BaC{O}_3+H_{2}S$$

• Poison Nepheline Conversion Method- Here, in this process soluble barium salt is generated by reacting witherite (a mineral consisting of barium carbonate) with an ammonium salt $(N{H}_{4}OH)$.

Then the resultant ammonium carbonate is restored or recycled. This ammonium carbonate is further added to the soluble barium salt obtained earlier. The resultant barium carbonate is then filtered out and dried to obtain barium carbonate-based products.

The chemical reaction involved here is

$$BaC{l}_2+N{H}_{4}HC{O}_3+N{H}_{4}OH\to BaC{O}_3+2N{H}_{4}Cl+H_{2}O$$

• Metathesis Method- In this method, barium sulfide $(BaS)$ and ammonium carbonate $((N{H}_4{)}_{2}C{O}_3)$ undergo a metathesis reaction that results in the formation of barium carbonate. The final products or end products are then washed, filtered and dried to obtain bismuth products.

The chemical reaction involved here is

$$BaS+(N{H}_4{)}_{2}C{O}_3\to BaC{O}_3+(N{H}_4{)}_{2}S$$

• Wet Granulation Method- Here, one of the very known precipitation systems is used to filter to throw out a cake containing barium rich in water in the process of formation. The required material is then passed or moved through the action of rotating blades and the materials are rapidly mixed. It is then further kneaded or mixed to form semi-dense particles. These wet particles are then put into the rotary kiln’s direct fire and finally we get the particles of barium carbonate.

• Dry Granulation Method- Here barium carbonate is obtained from the heavy precipitation(exceeds normal amount) that is seived and placed within the warehouse(place to store raw materials) of raw materials.

Conclusion

Here, in this article, we come to know about barium carbonate which is an inorganic chemical compound that occurs in white crystals or as a whitish salt powder. It is colourless and odourless. It is insoluble in pure water but soluble in the water-saturated with some amount of carbon dioxide and it is also soluble in most of the acids except sulphuric acid. Further, I discussed the physical and chemical properties of barium carbonate which include its solubility, complexity, specific heat, covalently-bonded atoms, and capability of reacting with other metals or salts. We have also gone through the structure of barium carbonate, its various uses and all the possible methods for its formation briefly.

FAQs

Q1. What is Barium Carbonate?

Barium Carbonate is an inorganic chemical compound, with molecular or empirical formula $(BaC{O}_3)$. It has white salt or white crystal-like appearance. It is colourless and odourless. It is insoluble or poorly soluble in water but soluble in most of the acids like nitric acid and hydrochloric acid except sulphuric acid.

Q2. Barium carbonate contains how many covalently-bonded units?

Barium carbonate contains in total two covalently-bonded units.

Q3. What do you mean by covalently bonded units?

Units or atoms formed due to the formation of covalent bonds which are formed by the equal sharing of electrons from both the participating atoms are termed covalently bonded units.

Q4. Mention some uses of Barium Carbonate.

Barium carbonate finds several uses in the commercial industries. And, some of them are ceramics, paints, bricks, rat poisons, oil drilling, magnetic components formation and many others.

Q5. What are the methods used for the production of Barium Carbonate?

Following are some of the major methods used for the formation of Barium Carbonate-

• Carbonation method
• Metathesis method
• Poison Nepheline Conversion method
• Dry Granulation method
• Wet Granulation method

References

• A Process for the Purification of Barium Carbonate. - Patent GB ... Retrieved 2022, from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/patent/GB-190930339-A

• Barium carbonate Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barium%20carbonate

• Chemosensors | Free Full-Text | Promising Novel Barium Carbonate One ... Retrieved 2022, from https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/10/6/230/htm

• The effect of PVP: BaTiO3 interlayer on the conduction mechanism and ... Retrieved 2022, from https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1402-4896/abeba8

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