Reduction of Copper Oxide with Hydrogen

I made copper metal from copper oxide by reducing the latter with hydrogen. Oxides of less reactive metals can all be reduced using hydrogen and I will show this process with a more interesting metal oxide in future.

[@DanielSMatthews]

You can tell how far the reduction has gone by passing the output through a CaCl trap resting freely on a sensitive scale as the increase in weight is proportional to the amount of oxygen removed from the copper oxide, however you need to dry your input H2 stream too. Thanks for the videos, we appreciate the work you put into them.

[@TomsLab]

That's a smart idea! I think I'll try that next time I do a hydrogen reduction.
I'm happy you like my videos :), there should be more great ones to come in the future.

[@ScienceWithJames]

Seems like a great way for making metal powders. I have a pretty good amount of copper carbonate, which you could then decompose into copper oxide. Then you could use this apparatus to make copper powder. Powders sure are a lot more useful than the copper wire I'm using now.
Just make sure you let the apparatus fill completely with hydrogen to avoid a fire/explosion. Thanks for the video.

[@TomsLab]

Yes, it is a great way to make metal powders, hydrogen produced from aluminum foil is very cheap. Iron oxide and all the metal oxides below it on the activity series can be reduced by hydrogen, but zinc and above cannot. I'm not sure about chromium.
I was scared at first about lighting the hydrogen, I think the upper explosion limit is 95% or so. The inside had a volume of around 300 mL, so after 3 L of hydrogen were pushed through I felt pretty comfortable. Lol yeah an explosion would be bad :)

[@DanielSMatthews]

Hydrogen can be evolved from a urea solution via electrolysis at (?) 0.37 volts, so lower power requirements than the usual methods.

[@TomsLab]

I never knew that! Now that I looked it up it's actually really cool, hydrogen is evolved at the cathode, nitrogen is evolved from the anode, and the electrolysis is done in a basic environment so Na of K carbonate is left in solution. This could be a perfect source of inert gas. if the voltage is kept below 1.2 volts or so then there shouldn't be any water electrolysis. If the gas stream is passed over platinum catalyst then any oxygen present would be removed. I was going to make a glovebox and this could take the place of a nitrogen tank. Hmmm I'm already imagining a 5 gallon bucket filled with urea solution with a bunch of large plate electrodes in parallel. Anyway, thanks for that!

[@qpalzmwoskxn7660]

as we know lead is more reactive than hydrogen then how can the hydrogen can replace lead from lead oxide

[@qpalzmwoskxn7660]

as we know lead is more reactive than hydrogen then how can the hydrogen can replace lead from lead oxide?

[@pascalyou9845]

Is hydrogen flowing through the tube during cooling to prevent the copper from reacting with air ?

[@TomsLab]

I think it was, and even if I didn't I would recommend that

[@combuffgaming8492]

Amazing

[@PeterPete]

why did you not show the copper metal you produced at the end of the video? Perhaps why is that you never got any copper metal! I wish people would show what they set out to achieve in their videos!

[@zylascope]

Thanks!

[@TheCerberusInferno]

can we reduce copper oxide using butane gas ? if yes at what temperature?

[@TomsLab]

That sounds feasible, I don't know about a temperature but heating gradually with a torch or Bunsen Burner usually works.

[@TheCerberusInferno]

@@TomsLab Ok, thanks Tom

[@piyush1624]

What'll we get if we heat copper (I) oxide with hydrogen?

[@mehtabzakir4234]

Hydrogen displaces copper from its oxide

[@user-bz4fe5kz4j]

شكرا

[@Optimistic69]

Lol