Question

I work in the oilfield and deal with various chemicals. One of the chemicals we work with is roughly 60-100% ammonium acetate and 10-30% acetic acid. The designed pH is between 5.0 and 5.5. My question is: what compounds could contaminate this to cause it to crystallize? Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

One of the chemicals we work with is roughly 60-100% ammonium acetate and 10-30% acetic acid. The designed pH is between 5.0 and 5.5. What compounds could contaminate this to cause it to crystallize?

Answer: The crystallization of such reagent may be caused by several reasons:

a) seized impurities and foreign solid particles (e.g. dust) are becoming the centers of crystallization;

b) great temperature decrease results in the beginning of crystallization;

c) material of container slowly reacts (corrodes) with the chemical and this causes the crystallization (if the container isn't made from chemically inactive polyethylene or polypropylene).