Wondering if there is a process to purify barium sulfate. I have access to 1000 gm that has a slight amber hue to it. It dose not perform well in strobe propellant. I switched it with synthesized barium sulfate (white) in the same comp and everything worked fine.
The product was purchased from a pigment supplier. I suspect it is of the mineral type accompanied with some sort of impurities?
I believe there must be an easy way to purify it rather going through the laborious route to synthesize it.
Thanks
The product you bought sounds familiar. I believe what you have is called barytes, and is a powdered natural ore of barium. It's principally barium sulfate but typically contaminated with other minerals.
"The most common gangue (contaminating) minerals are quartz or other forms of silica (chert, drusy quartz, and jasperoid), sulfide minerals (galena, marcasite, pyrite, and sphalerite), clay minerals, carbonates (calcite and siderite), and iron oxides. Organic matter can also be present at concentrations up to several weight percent."
I believe Mumbles has offered good "starting point" suggestions if you intend to try purifying the material you purchased. Otherwise, you may want to find other uses for it and purchase purer forms of barium sulfate to use in pyrotechnics.
Good luck.
WSM 