Enthalpies of reaction of calcium chloride and sodium oxalate in an aqueous NaCl solution

Abstract

The heats of mixing of dilute aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and sodium oxalate with additions of 1–5 wt % NaCl at 298.15 K and the heats of dilution of calcium chloride solutions were measured. Increasing the sodium chloride content in a solution noticeably increases the time of precipitation of calcium oxalate. A fine precipitate of CaC2O4 formed in solutions containing 3 and 5 wt % NaCl is difficult to remove from the parts of a calorimeter cell. The enthalpies of precipitation of CaC2O4 depend slightly on the content of the “background electrolyte,” whereas the enthalpies of dilution, owing to ion association, significantly decrease in magnitude and become positive in a 5% NaCl solution. The “standard” enthalpy of precipitation in water, determined by extrapolation of the experimental values to the zero concentration of the background electrolyte, differs noticeably from the enthalpy of precipitation in water.