Cobalt Sulphate (cobalt Sulfate) Features And Uses
Cobalt sulphate is a water soluble bivalent cobalt salt. Acute poisoning by ingestion is rare with no reported cases in at least the last 30 years. Outbreaks of chronic cobalt intoxication (manifest as cardiomyopathy) occurred in Belgium, Nebraska and Quebec in the 1960's among heavy beer drinkers when a cobalt salt was added to beer as a foam stabilizer (Kesteloot et al, 1968). Occupational cobalt contact dermatitis has occurred from cobalt sulphate in varnishes, paints (Zenorola et al, 1994) and humidity indicators (Sertoli et al, 1978). Cobalt sulfate is any sulfate salt of either divalent or trivalent cobalt. Anhydrous cobalt sulfate appears as red monoclinic crystals that melt at 96.8C and become anhydrous at 420C. It is soluble in water, slightly soluble in ethanol, and especially soluble in methanol. Cobalt sulphate heptahydrate dehydrates on heating (41.5C) to the hexahydrate and to the monohydrate at 71C.
USES
1.Removal of atmospheric pollutants in waste gases.
2.Humidity indicator.
3.Manufacture of vitamin B12.
4.Storage batteries and electroplating.
5.Drier for varnishes and lithographic inks.
6.Used in pigments, ceramics, enamels and glazes.
7.It is used the preparation of pigments, as well as in the manufacture of other cobalt salts.
8.Cobalt(II) sulfate is used in storage batteries and electroplating baths, sympathetic inks, and as an additive to soils and animal feeds.
9.In the past, cobalt(II) sulfate was used to improve the stability of foam in beer and to treat some forms of anemia not responsive to other treatments.
FEATURES
1. Cobalt sulphate is a topical irritant and a recognized cause of occupational contact dermatitis.
2. Simultaneous allergies to nickel and cobalt are frequent.
3. Cobalt sulphate is a potential eye irritant but there are no reports of acute eye toxicity in man.
4. There may be no or minimal symptoms after small ingestions. Nausea, vomiting and/or abdominal pain are likely after more substantial ingestions and there is a risk of gastrointestinal corrosion from concentrated solutions which are acidic.
5. In the past congestive cardiomyopathy occurred after the consumption of large quantities of beer to which cobalt sulphate/chloride had been added as a foam stabilizer.
NATURAL OCCURENCE
Rarely, cobalt(II) sulfate is found in form of few crystallohydrate minerals, occurring among oxidation zones containing primary Co minerals (like skutterudite or cobaltite). These minerals are: biebierite (heptahydrate), moorhouseite (Co,Ni,Mn)SO4.6H2O, aplowite (Co,Mn,Ni)SO4.4H2O and cobaltkieserite (monohydrate).
Cobalt is a hard, lustrous, grey metal, a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27.
Although cobalt-based colors and pigments have been used since ancient times for making jewelry and
paints, and miners have long used the name kobold ore for some minerals, the free metalic cobalt was
not prepared and discovered until 1735 by Georg Brandit.
Cobalt is found in various metallic-lustred ores for example cobaltite (CoAsS), but it is produced as a by-product of copper and nickel mining. The copper belt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia yields most of the worldwide mined cobalt. Cobalt is used in the preparation of magnetic, wear-resistant, and high-strength alloys. Cobalt blue (cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4) gives a distinctive deep blue color to glass, ceramics, inks, paints, and varnishes. Cobalt-60 is a commercially important radioisotope, used as a tracer and in the production of gamma rays for industrial use.
Cobalt is an essential trace-element for all multicellular organisms as the active center of coenzymes called cobalamins. These include vitamin B-12 which is essential for mammals. Cobalt is also an active nutrient for bacteria, algae, and fungi, and may be a necessary nutrient for all life.
Cobalt sulphate heptahydrate dehydrates on heating (41.5C)to the hexahydrate and to the monohydrate at 71C.
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