Improvement of Stability of Hydrogen Peroxide using Ethylene Glycol

Hydrogen peroxide, Ethylene glycol, Citric acid, Stability, Copper, Ergun’s test Abstract: Owing to its high oxidising power and environmentally friendly nature, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is commonly used in environmental and hydrometallurgical applications such as treatment of cyanidation effluents and leaching of metals from ores/concentrates/waste materials. However, H2O2 rapidly undergoes catalytic decomposition particularly in the presence of metal ions such as copper. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of certain additives on the improvement of stability of H2O2. The influence of addition of ethylene glycol (2.5-20 mL/L) and citric acid (4.8-80 mM) on the stability of H2O2 in the absence/presence of copper was tested. The time-dependent data were statistically analysed using Ergun’s test. No effect of ethylene glycol was observed on the stability of H2O2 in the absence of Cu while a substantial improvement (up to 33%) was noted in its presence. The addition of citric acid in the presence of copper negatively influenced the stability of H2O2.