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 copper salts.
Copper sulphate is a very versatile chemical with as extensive a range of uses in industry as it has in agriculture.
Agriculture Major Uses
- Preparation of Bordeaux and Burgundy mixtures for use as fungicides
- Manufacture of other copper fungicides such as copper-lime dust, tribasic copper sulphate, copper carbonate and cuprous oxide
- Manufacture of insecticides such as copper arsenite and Paris green
- Control of fungus diseases
- Correction of copper deficiency in soils
- Correction of copper deficiency in animals
- Growth stimulant for fattening pigs and broiler chickens
- Molluscicide for the destruction of slugs and snails, particularly the snail host of the liver fluke
Agriculture Other Uses
- Seed dressing
- Soil steriliser, e.g Cheshunt compound (a mixture of copper sulphate and ammonium carbonate) to prevent ‘damping-off’ disease of tomato etc.
- Control and prevention of foot rot in sheep and cattle
- Bacteriastat for addition to sheep dips
- Disinfectant in prevention of the spread of swine erysepelas and white scours in calves
- Control of scum in farm ponds
- Plant nutrient in rice fields
- Preservative for wooden posts, wooden buildings, etc
- Ingredient of vermin repellents, e.g for application to bark of trees against rabbits
- Stimulant of latex yield on rubber plantations
- Protection against algal growths on flower pots
Public health and medicine
- Destruction of algal blooms in reservoirs and swimming pools
- Prevention of the spread of athletes foot in warm climates, by incorporation in the flooring mixture of swimming baths
- Control of bilharzia in tropical countries, as a molluscicide
- Prevention of malaria, in the preparation of Paris green for use against mosquito larvae
- Antiseptic and germicide against fungus infections
- Catalyst or raw material for the preparation of copper catalysts used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products
Adhesives Industry
- Preservative in casein and other glues
- Additive to book binding pastes and glues, for insecticidal purposes
- Additive to animal and silicate glues to give water resistance
Building Industry
- Timber preservtive and in the preparawtion of other wood preservatives, e.g oil-based copper naphthenates and water-based copper/chrome/arsenic for the prevention of woodworms and wood rots
- Ingredient of plaster to prevent fungus infection, e.g to prevent the spread of dry rot
- Ingredient of concrete, both as a colouring matter and as an antiseptic, e.g for use in and around swimming pools
- Modification of the setting of concrete
- Protection against lichens, moulds and similar growths on asbestos cement roofing and other building materials
- Control of the growth of tree roots in sewers
Chemical Industry
- Preparation of catalysts for use in many industries
- Purification of gases, e.g removal of hydrogen chloride and hydrogen sulphide
- Precipitation promoter in purifying zinc sulphate solutions
- Precipitation of alkaloids as double salts from crude extracts
- Source of other copper compounds such as copper carbonate silicate/arsenite/aceto-arsenite/resinate/stearate/tartrate/oleate naphthenate/chromate/chlorate/alginate/fluoride/hydroxide/cuprous oxide/chloride/cyanide and cuprammonium compounds
Decorate trades Industry
- Colouring glass
- Colouring cement and plaster
- Colouring ceramic wares
- Alteration of metal colours, e.g darkening of zinc, colouring aluminium
Dyestuffs Industry
- Reagent in the preparation of dyestuffs intermediates
- Catalyst or raw material for the preparation of copper ca\talysts, e.g preparation of phenols from diago compounds, preparation of phthalocyanine dyes
Leather Industry
- Mordant in dyeing
- Reagent in tanning processes
Metal and electrical Industry
- Electrolyte in copper refining
- Electrolyte in copper plating and electro forming
- Electrolyte manufacture of cuprous compounds, e.g cuprous oxide
- Constituent of the electrodes and electrolytes in batteries
- Electrolyte in the manufacture of copper powder
- Electrolyte in aluminium plating and anodising
- Copper coating steel wire, prior to wire drawing
- Pickling copper wire, etc, prior to enamelling
- Providing a suitable surface for marking out iron and steel
Mining Industry
- Flotation reagent in the concentration of ores, e.g zinc blende
- Raw material for the manufacture of copper naphthenate and other copper compounds for use in anti-fouling paints
Paint Indsutry
- Preparation of certain varnish or paint dryers, e.g copper oleate, copper stearate
- Preparation of certain pigments, e.g copper chromate, copper ferrocyanide, copper phthalocyanine
Printing Industry
- Etching agent for process engraving
- Electrolyte in the preparation of electrotype
- Ingredient of printing inks
Synthetic rubber and petroleum Industry
- Preparation of catalysts used in cracking certain gaseous and liquid petroleum
- Fractions
- Preparation of cuprous chloride, used in the purification of butadiene and in the separation of acetylene derivatives
- Preparation of catalysts used in chlorinating rubber latex
- Purification of petroleum oils
Textiles Industry
- Preparation of copper compounds for rot-proofing canvas and other fabrics
- Rot-proofing sandbags
- Mordant, especially in calico printing
- Cuprammonium process for the production of rayon
- Production of aniline black and diazo colours for dyeing
- ‘After coppering’ to increase the fastness of dyes
- Catalyst in the manufacture of cellulose ethers and in cellulose acetylation
Miscellaneous
- Improving the burning qualities of coke
- Laboratory analytical work
- Ingredient of laundry marking ink
- Dyeing of hair and horn
- Ingredient of hair dyes of the phenylene diamine or pyrogallol type
- Preparation of chlorophyll as a colouring material for foodstuffs
- Imparting a green colour in fireworks
- Activator in the preparation of active carbons
- Preservative for wood pulp
- Preservation of fishing nets and hides on trawls
- Obtaining a blue-back finish on steel
- Treatment of carbon brushes
- Ingredient of the solution used for preserving plant specimens in their natural colours
- Impregnation in fruit wrapping papers to prevent storage rots
