Module:4

Dr. N. K. Patel
Lecture:20 Sodium thiosulfate

Module: 4
Lecture: 20
SODIUM THIOSULFATE

INTRODUCTION

Sodium thiosulfate, Na2S2O3 is a colourless crystalline compound which

is more familiar as the pentahydrate, Na2S2O3.5H2O, an efflorescent,
monoclinic crystalline substance also called sodium hyposulfite or “hypo.”

Sodium thiosulfate is produced industrially from liquid waste products of

sodium sulfide or during sulfur dye manufacture. An aqueous solution of
sodium sulfite is heated with sulfur or by boiling aqueous sodium hydroxide
and sulfur resulting into sodium thiosulfate on laboratory scale.

John Herschel was developed the use of sodium thiosulfate as

photographic fixer in 1819. John discovered the sodium thiosulfate to be a
solvent for silver halides.

Commercially sodium thiosulfate is produced using air oxidation of

sulfides, polysulfides and hydrosulfides. It is also obtained as by-product in
manufacturing of sulfur dyes and sulfur black. It is also produced using
reaction of sodium sulfide with sulfur dioxide and soda ash or caustic soda.

Aqueous solution of sodium thiosulfate is generally neutral.

Decomposition of sodium thiosulfate produces sodium sulfite and sulfur at
under neutral or at slightly acidic condition. Alkaline solution decomposes to
sulfate and sulfide in the presence of air.

MANUFACTURE

1. From soda ash sulfurdioxide

Raw material

Basis: 1000kg sodium thiosulfate from soda ash and sulfur dioxide
Soda ash 385kg

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Lecture:20 Sodium thiosulfate

Sulfur dioxide 235kg

Sulfur 118kg

Reaction

Manufacture process

Soda ash solution of 260Be was allowed to percolate downward

through a series of absorption towers countercurrent to sulfur dioxide gas. The
absorption towers were generally lead-lined, packed with wood slats, and
supported by acid-proof brick. The solution leaving the bottom of the last
tower was chiefly sodium bisulfite which contains 22% SO.
Water

Soda
ash
Soda
ash Sulfur

Dissolving
tank
Steam out

Steam in Iron pot

Waste
gases Water
vapour Slurry + water

Absorption
tower
Steam in
Sulfur Steam
dioxide out
Centrifuge
Evaporator Sodium
Crystallizer thiosulfate

Mother liquor

Figure: Manufacture of Sodium thiosulfate from soda ash and sulfur dioxide

Block diagram of manufacturing process

Diagram with process equipment

Animation

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Dr. N. K. Patel
Lecture:20 Sodium thiosulfate

The solution was run into ceramic lined cast-iron pot fitted with an
agitator. Sufficient soda ash was added to convert the bisulfite to neutral
sodium sulfite. Then sulfur was added, and the contents of the kettle were
heated to boiling. The resulting solution of sodium thiosulfate was pumped to
a steam-heated evaporator, where it was concentrated to 510Be. The hot
liquor from evaporator was then cooled, crystallized, and centrifuged in the
conventional manner. Sodium thiosulfate crystals are effloresent and must be
packed at once in moisture-tight containers.

2. From sodium sulphite and sulfur

Sodium thiosulfate is prepeared from Sodium sulfite and sulfur as the

starting materials in many plants. The design and lay out the plant is same as
soda ash and sulfur dioxide method.

3. From by-product sodium sulfide

In the manufacture of sodium sulfide, a by-product sulfide-carbonate

liquor is obtained which contains 8% sodium sulfide, 6% sodium carbonate.
Which may be converted to sodium thiosulfate by reaction with sulfur
dioxide.

Sulfur dioxide was reacted with excess of sodium sulfide to yield sodium
sulfite, in such a case the sulfite may be converted to the thiosulfate by
treatment with sulfur. Accordingly the plant used to produce sodium
thiosulfate from by-product sodium sulfide is almost identical with that
described using soda ash, sulfur dioxide, and sulfur.

4. From by-product of sulfur-dye manufacture

The fusion product from the manufacture of sulfur dyes by fusion of

sulfur, caustic soda, and certain organic compounds, is leached with water,
and the leach liquor is filtered to remove the insoluble dye. The filtrate chiefly
contains most of the original sulfur and caustic soda in the form of sodium
thiosulfate. This filtrate may be concentrated and crystallized to yield sodium
thiosulfate of good quality.

Analytical and test methods

Sodium thiosulfate in its aqueous solution was formed a white

precipitate with HCl and evolution of SO2 gas was detected by its

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Lecture:20 Sodium thiosulfate

characteristic odour. The solution of sodium thiosulfate produces a dark violet

colour on addition of ferric chloride solution.

Health and safety factors

The LD50 of anhydrous sodium thiosulfate for mice is 7.5±0.752g/kg. It

has low toxicity, so it can be safely used in veterinary medicine. Under the
Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, sodium pentahydrate is affirmed as a
GRAS indirect and direct human food ingredient.

Engineering aspects

Newsprint are made with low-yield sulfite reinforcing pulp. Cooking the
pulp could produced thiosulfate, which was then finds its way onto the
machine. The more modern sulfonation processes might produce
thiosulphate, but this has not been commonly observed.

The Powell River Company was one of the earliest users of

hydrosulphite as a brightening agent in the 1940s. Even zinc hydrosulfite were
in newsprint from the darker coastal wood species. When inland mills started
to use zinc hydrosulfite to prevent the adverse environmental affects of zinc
in the effluent. So the industry then used sodium hydrosulfite which is
significantly less stable than the zinc salt in the mildly acidic water then
commonly used for newsprint manufacture.

It has a tendency to break down so self-reduction reaction occurs at

pH 4.5. One of the decomposition products is thiosulfate. So a change in
brightening agent introduced a new anion into the machine white water,
one whose corrosiveness was unexpected.

PROPERTIES

 Molecular formula : Na2S2O3

 Molecular weight
 Appearance
 Odour
 Boiling point
 Melting point
:158.11gm/mole(anhydrous),
248.18gm/mole (pentahydrate)
: White crystals
: Odourless
: 1000C (pentahydrate) decomposition
: 480C (pentahydrate) when rapidly
heated

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Lecture:20 Sodium thiosulfate

 Density : 1.69gm/ml (pentahydrate)

 Refractive index : 1.489
 Solubility : Soluble in water, ammonia and slightly
soluble in alcohols

USES

 Sodium thiosulfate is used as antichlor in bleaching of paper pulp

 In manufacture of leather and for extraction of silver from ores
 As mordant in dyeing and printing textiles and reducer in chrome
dyeing and bacteriological water assessment
 As bleaching bone, ivory and straw
 Important reagent in analytical chemistry
 For making chlorine level low in swimming pools
 As solute in supersaturation experiments
 In treatment of calciphylaxis in hemodialysis patients with end stage
renal disease
 In extraction of Gold

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