Richard C

What are the boiling points of water versus glycerol?

Glycerol BP is 290°C. MP is17.9°C, but crystallizes at a much lower temp.

You could try and "salt out" the glycerol. Adding ammonium sulfate to the solution would remove the water interacting with the glycerol and essentially "dry it out". Not guaranteed to be 100% effective, but may get you as high a return as 70%-80% of water. However you're going to have a hard time isolating all the glycerol from the solution.

 

May I ask what you're going..more info helps me help you.

 

~EE

In a severe drought situation, we are running out of water. I'm looking at possible ways to get potable water out of the atmosphere for daily consumption when (if) the taps run dry.

You could explore molecular sieves or silica gel. The correct pore size would remove water, leaving the glycerol. The water could be reclaimed by heating.

I've also seen a reference to crystallising the glycerol out by freezing.

Freezing out sounds like a better option. Do you have any idea at what temperature Glycerol starts to crystallize?

Thanks for comments received. I have been away from home, traveling. Now I can start actually trying a few things. Had to order Ammonium Sulphate, - waiting. I'll start by trying to get atmospheric water into some Glycerol then see firstly how the freezing out may go.

I've read a few of your past posts, but didn't quite get the answers I need at present. I like to fidget with science projects, so this is not supposed to be rocket science, just hobbying around the back yard. Organic chemistry is also not my forte. In my present project, after desiccation of a volume of air with glycerol, I need to recover the water as well as re-use the glycerol. What would you suggest is the best & cheapest way to achieve this?