1. Convert the carbonates to chlorides:
- Dissolve the mixture of MgCO3 and CaCO3 in dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl) to convert them into the corresponding chlorides, MgCl2 and CaCl2.
- Evaporate the solution to dryness to obtain the solid mixture of MgCl2 and CaCl2.
2. Recrystallize MgCl2 from ethanol:
- Dissolve the solid mixture in a minimum amount of hot ethanol.
- MgCl2 is soluble in ethanol, while CaCl2 is not. So, upon cooling the solution, MgCl2 will crystallize out, leaving CaCl2 in the solution.
- Filter the solution to separate the MgCl2 crystals from the remaining solution.
3. Recover CaCl2 from the solution:
- The filtrate from the previous step contains CaCl2, along with any remaining MgCl2.
- Evaporate the filtrate to dryness to obtain solid CaCl2.
By following this procedure, you can separate MgCO3 and CaCO3 chemically by selectively recrystallizing MgCl2 from ethanol.