There
are various ways to manufacture the Chlorates and
Perchlorates, the most usual being electrolysis. The key component
is the Anode. Anodes for making Chlorate and Perchlorate are Platinum and Lead Dioxide. Anodes that
make Chlorate ONLY are Graphite,
Mixed Metal Oxide (MMO) and Magnetite. Manganese Dioxide is a good Chlorate making anode. Cobalt Oxide is less useful for Chlorate production. Both Mn and Co Oxide Anodes wear out quickly in a Perchlorate cell.
Electrolysis consists of passing a DC electric current between an Anode (+) and a
Cathode (-) in a water solution of the starting salt. Various reactions take place
at the surface of the Anode, Cathode and in the bulk of the solution, the end
result being a range of substances plus your desired Chlorate or Perchlorate which must be
separated out and purified. There is a huge amount of information in Patents,
books and the scientific literature describing both Chlorate and Perchlorate processes and
processes used to make Anodes that may be viable for the Amateur. Most of this information
is not geared toward the Amateur and very often deals with aspects of the process
which are not of immediate interest to the Amateur but are very important to large
scale manufacturers or the scientist, eg. power efficiency, Tefal plots, possible/actual
reaction mechanisms etc. The biggest hurdle for the Amateur is obtaining
an Anode which is cheap, easy to obtain, and long lasting. This web page describes
ways to obtain Anodes and how to use them in the manufacture of Chlorates and Perchlorates.
