What is Copper Sulfate?
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Copper sulfate is a term that can refer to either of the following chemical compounds – cuprous sulfate (Cu2SO4), or cupric sulfate (CuSO4). However, the latter is the preferred compound described by the term ‘copper sulfate’. The systematic name for CuSO4 is copper(II) sulfate, but it is also referred to as blue vitriol, Roman vitriol, the vitriol of copper, and bluestone.
The most common form of copper sulfate is its pentahydrate, given by the chemical formula CuSO4.5H2O. This form is characterized by its bright blue colour. However, it can be noted that the anhydrous form of this salt is a powder that is white in colour.
The CuSO4 molecule consists of an ionic bond between the copper cation (Cu2+) and the sulfate anion (SO42-). An illustration describing the structure of a copper sulfate molecule is provided below.
Uses of Copper Sulphate
Copper sulphate, blue stone, blue vitriol are all common names for pentahydrated cupric sulphate, CuSO45H2O, which is the best known and the most widely used of the copper salts. Indeed it is often the starting raw material for the production of many of the other copper salts.
Today in the world there are more than 100 manufacturers and the world’s consumption is around 275,000 tonnes per annum. It is estimated that approximately three-quarters of this is used in agriculture, principally as a fungicide, but also for treating copper-deficient soils.
Uses
Copper sulphate is a very versatile chemical with as extensive a range of uses in industry as it has in agriculture. Its principal employment is in agriculture, and, up to a generation or so ago, about its only uses in industry were as a mordant for dyeing and for electroplating. Today it is being employed in many industrial processes:
- The synthetic fibre industry has found an application for it in the production of their raw material
- The metal industry uses large quantities of copper sulphate as an electrolyte in copper refining, for copper coating steel wire prior to wire drawing and in various copper plating processes
- The mining industry employs it as an activator in the concentration by froth flotation of lead, zinc, cobalt and gold ores
- The printing trade takes it as an electrolyte in the production of electrotype and as an etching agent for process engraving
- The paint industry uses it in anti-fouling paints and it plays a part in the colouring of glass.
Indeed, today there is hardly an industry which does not have some small use for copper sulphate. In the table below, some of the many uses of copper sulphate are listed.
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