Ferric Chloride 40%

Ferric chloride appears colourless to an orange to brown-black solid. It is slightly soluble in water and it is noncombustible. Ferric chloride has a faint hydrochloric acid odour.

Uses:
Ferric Chloride is used to treat sewage, industrial waste, to purify water, as an etching agent for engraving circuit boards, and in the manufacture of other chemicals. It is also commonly used in offshore oil drilling.

The chemical is highly reactive with other soluble metals and elements in the water; thus, it is used for coagulation. In the process the iron anions attach to the negative element ions in water to form a precipitate or suspended solid. These solids can then be removed from the water during filtration. This is a common method of purifying drinking water to as high as 85% purity.

Ferric Chloride is used in wastewater treatment plants to precipitate phosphorus. This is a major element found in sewage that leads to eutrophication of large water bodies.

Eutrophication is the process of enriching the water bodies with nutrients from outside the ecosystem. It often leads to the imbalance of the ecosystem as algae and other aquatic plants invade the water body in large numbers due to the presence of enough nutrients.

Ferric Chloride is also used to treat sewage, this prevents the production of hydrogen sulphide. Hydrogen Sulphide is a highly corrosive and poisonous gas that is produced after microbial breakdown on organic materials where oxygen is absent.

Ferric Chloride is used in sludge conditioning. This is the process by which solids in sludges areas are treated with chemicals in order to dewater it. These chemicals create compounds that sediment in or precipitate in the sludge allowing water to be removed without losing any of the metal elements.