Synthesis of Barite, Celestite, Anglesite, Witherite, And

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Synthesis of Barite, Celestite, Anglesite, Witherite, And American Mineralogist, Volume 59, pages 1209-1219, 1974 Synthesisof Barite,Celestite, Anglesite, Witherite, and Strontianitefrom AqueousSolutions Cnenras W. BrouNr Departmentof Geology,Uniuersity of Georgia, Athens, Georgia30602 Abstract Well-formed single crystals of barite, strontium barite, celestite, and anglesite have been synthesized in gram quantities from dilute aqueous solutions in borosilicate glass flasks by a slow precipitation procedure over a range of experimental conditions. The largest crystals were grown in a 0.03 molar HCI solution, near 95"C in a non-uniformly heated flask by combining dilute metal chloride and sodium sulfate solutions at a rate of less than 5 mllhour. The optimum metal concentrations for growing large crystals were 0.01 molar for barite, O.02 molar for celestite, and 0.03 molar for anglesite. The optimum Na,SOr solution concentrations were 0.01 molar for barites and 0.02 molar for the other sulfates. Maximum dimensions for the thick tabular single crystals were 0.8 mm for barite, 1.2 mm for celestite, and2.3 mm for anglesite, In contrast amorphous or submicron-sized precipitates resulted from the use of more con- centrated solutions, too rapid a solution cornbination rate, the use of plastic ware, the use of magnetic stirring, inadequate cleaning of glassware,and uniform heating of the flask. For the carbonates,witherite and strontianite crystals over I mm long were grown in a flask designedto be completely filled with solution. The crystals were grown by combining 0.02 molar metal chloride and sodium bicarbonate solutions at a rate near 5 ml/hr. at 80"C in solutions that were initially 0.001 molar in HCl. Unlike the sulfate minerals, a uniformly heated flask resulted in larger carbonate crystals. The crystals of sulfate and carbonate minerals had the same indices of refraction as natural minerals. The spacing and intensities of powder diffraction peaks agreed with those published in the Powder Diffraction File for the minerals, fnhoduction the mineral is synthesizedas an analytical aid. Also, Many minerals that exhibit low solubilities in since synthetic crystals have a well developed ex- aqueoussolutions are difficult to synthesizein the ternal morphology, studies of crystal growth, dis- laboratory,especially when coarse,crystaUine ma- solution, and alteration can be made (Blount and terial is needed.As an alternative,the experimental- Beckrnan, 1974). ist may haveto usenatural materials that may be im- The initial objective of the synthesis studies re- pure becauseof ionic substitutionsor small foreign ported here was to develop a reliable procedure for inclusions.In many such experimentalstudies the making gram quantities of pure, coarsely crystalline presenceof theseimpurities and the chemicaleffects barite (BaSOa) for both hydrothermal solubility and that they may causeare neglected.In somechemical phase stability studies. Similarly, procedures were systems,the effectsproduced by impurities may be then developed for synthesizing anglesite (PbSO+), negligible;however, in other systemsthe effectsmay celestite (SrSoa), witherite (BaCOa), and strontia- be very large.For example,the presenceof strontium nite (SrCO3) from acqueous solutions at conditions in barite markedly affectsthe barium concentration similar to those that are believed to have precipitated in solutions(Gundlach, Stoppel, and Striibel, lg72). the natural minerals. Normally, however, precipi- The use of syntheticminerals of known high purity tates from aqueous solutions in the laboratory are that are chemically and structurally identical to the very fine grained, poorly crystalline, and tend to be naturalminerals would eliminatethe needto correct easily broken. An extensive survey of the literature for coprecipitatedimpurities or to justify ignoring was therefore undertaken to learn what factors may their presence.There are other advantasesalso. A be important for the synthesis of these minerals. radioactiveor isotopictracer could be idded when Large crystals of synthetic barite, celestite, and l2to CHARLES W. BLOUNT anglesitehave been producedby a number of pro- precipitatesof Sr, Ba, and Pb sulfateshas been used cedures.Frequently the experimentalsynthesis con- to prepare crystalline material with an averagesize ditions are far different from those under which near 10 microns (Nancollas,1968). Blount and the natural minerals are believedto have been pro- Dickson (1968) synthesizedcelestite with the same duced.For example,Patel and Bhat (1972) grew averagegrain size,but individual grainsranged from single crystalsof SrSO+and BaSO+up to 1 mm 1 to 120 microns in length. Recently, Brower long in silica gels at 20-35"C. Thesecrystals, how- (1973) used thermal cycling to grow synthetic ever, containedlarge amountsof silica, and their barite crystalsranging from 50 to 500 microns in perfection of external form diminished with in- length. Barites containing up to 20 mole percent creasingsize. Patel and Koshy (1968a) and Patel strontium were also synthesized.Up to 2 months and Bhat (1971) developedprocedures for growing of thermal cycling were required in experimentsthat crystalsof SrSO+and BaSO+from NaCl melts at yielded 5 to 7 milligrams of solid. A considerable temperaturesbetween 700 and 900'C that measured amount of finer material appearsto be presentin up to 7 mm long and 4 mm wide.-PbSO4crlstals the photographsin this paPer. of a poorer quality up to 2 mm long were grown Laitinen (1960) summarizedprevious studies on in NazSO+melts in a similar manner. While the the nucleation,growth, properties,and contamina- (011) and (102) faceswere recognized,photo- tion of BaSO+and other precipitatesused for gravi- graphs show the crystals to be quite irregular with metric analyses.While aimed at improving analytical a poorly developedmorphology. Moreover, the faces procedures,their studiesalso provided the type of of crystalsgrown by this procedureshowed a den- basicdata neededfor synthesizinghighly pure sul- dritic pattern which was not observedin any of the fates, as large and dense crystalline grains that samplesof natural material. This pattern was be- resist breakageand display a crystallinestructure lieved to have been produced by a rapid precipita- identicalto the correspondingnatural minerals.The tion of dissolvedmetal sulfatethat took placewhen two most important aspectsof these prior studies the flux solidified (Patel and Bhat, l97l). X-ray are the efforts ( 1) to reducethe numberof nuclea- diffractionmeasurements and hardnesstests gave the tion sites to promote the formation of a coarser same results for both natural and melt-grown crys- precipitateand (2) to reducecontamination by in- tals. The melt-grown crystals also showed fewer creasingcrystallinity. dislocationson etchedcleavage surfaces than natural The number of nucleationsites can be reduced materials (Patel and Koshy, 1968a, 1968b). in a number of ways. Nielsen (1957) found that A large amountof researchwork hasbeen under- careful cleaningof glasswareusing steam generated taken in efforts to improve aqueous precipitation from distilled water resultedin nearly a 10 fold progeduresthat are employedfor the determinations reductionin the numberof crystalsformed. Liteanu of barium and sulfate.The crystalsof BaSO+that and Lingner (I970a,1970b) used a hot alkaline are usually produced by rapid precipitation pro- Eore solution to accomplishthe same purpose. ceduresfrom aqueous solutions are small, l-20 Substancesthat catalyzethe nucleation of the pre- microns (Liteanu and Lingner, 1970a, l97Ob; cipitate also must be avoided.For exampleBricker Lieser, 1969). Crystalsproduced in this way are and Myers (1969) reported that Teflon catalyzed also easily broken yielding much finer material the precipitation of BaSO+.Pretreatment of the (Nielsen,1957; Fischer and Rhirlehammer,1953). solutionsused for the precipitationis alsoimportant. These precipitatesare therefore not suitable for O'Rourke and Johnson (1955) and Bogen and many types of experimentalstudies. Precipitates of Moyer (1956) both observedthat eitherfiltering or SrSO+and PbSO+have similar properties.Long aging the BaClz solutionsfor 24 ot more hours digestionperiods in hot aqueoussolutions have been reducedthe number of crystals l0-fold compared usedto recrystallizeand coarsenprecipitates. Mager to freshly preparedsolutions. They suggestedthat and Lieser (1972a,b,c) studied recrystallization aggregatesof incompletely dissolved BaCl2 may rates and the aging of SrSO+precipitates and con- have servedas nuclei for BaSOr crystals'The use cluded that the effects resultant from aging did of dilute solutionsis necessary.Liteanu and Lingner not stop even after a very long time. NazSO+that (1970a,b) studied the eftects of many different was occluded during the precipitation continued to experimentalconditions on BaSO+precipitates ob- be releasedas recrystallizationcontinued. Aging of tained using their rapid precipitation procedure. STNTIIES/S OF SULFATE AND CARBONATE MINERALS l2l1 Dependingupon the experimentalconditions, the Burkhard (1973) dissolvedaqueous precipitates averagegrain sizevaried between 1.2 and 6 microns. of barium and strontium sulfates in concentrated The largestgrains were producedin glasswarethat sulfuric acid and reprecipitatedthe solid by slowly had been carefully cleaned and by using dilute evaporatingthe acid at 160'C. (Ba,Sr)SOasolid solutions(below 0.001 molar) that had been aged, solution crystalsover the whole rangewere prepared filtered,or boiled prior to use. Mealor and Town- including pure
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