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Pyro
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you could keep the bottle in a bucket of water, that way it will stay cool. gases will be neutralized and if it cracks it will be neutralized so much
that it's practically harmless
all above information is intellectual property of Pyro.  |
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zenosx
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Just my two cents but I had issues with my `90% HNO3 until it was stored in an amber bottle with a greased glass joint. Otherwise it would tend to
creep out of the top and stain my hands with dilute acid when picked up. This is in a non-refrigerant environment, in a dark steel drawer. 70% may
store better.
A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
Albert Einstein
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Texium
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Quote: Originally posted by Pyro  | | you could keep the bottle in a bucket of water, that way it will stay cool. gases will be neutralized and if it cracks it will be neutralized so much
that it's practically harmless |
And if you were still concerned, you could even put some bicarbonate into the water bucket to ensure neutralization of vapors.
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prof_genius
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I would recommend keeping acids in underfilled plastic coated glass bottles (some Aldrich and Merck acids come in them), I would also recommend having
a strip of parafilm or some other sealing foil around the cap, for extra protection you could keep the bottle in a heat sealed plastic bag for long
term storage.
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greenlight
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I have had 10 litres of 70% Nitric acid stored in a cool cupboard in a black 15 litre HDPE (high density polyethylene) container for four years now.
The acid is fine and the container undamaged but the screw cap has had to be changed twice as it has a seal which the acid slowly eats through.
The 99% Nitric acid i have is stored in a 250ml amber glass jar with a glass stopper in the refrigerator. The glass stopper has also been wrapped
once with plumbers PTFE thread seal tape from the hardware store which holds up okay.
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DrMario
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| Quote: Originally posted by zirconiumiodide | Yeah i agree. When i first made Nitric Acid by bubbling NO2 through Hydrogen Peroxide i thought a few hours would be enough to vent it. But after
storing for just a couple of hours upon removal of the top i could here fizzing and gas was evolved. The only time i smelt NO2 during the whole
procedure of making NA! I vented often for a few days. After that it was fine - but still vent once a month or so.  |
Are you sure it was NO2 and not oxygen from the H2O2, which was building up?
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DrMario
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I'm a little bit dubious about nitric acid attacking HDPE. As far as I could see, our 69% nitric acid has never had any effect of the HDPE bottles
from Sigma Aldrich. These are 2.5 L and 5 L bottles. True, mostly the acid is used up in about a week or two, but I am sure I've seen a 2.5 L nitric
acid bottle outside the cleanroom (another lab) which stayed there for weeks, maybe months, due to lower consumption. Room temperature.
So.. what are you guys doing that your nitric acid eats through HDPE.. assuming your plastic is indeed HDPE?
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Mabus
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At my uni the fuming/concentrated nitric acid bottle was stored under sand in a metal container. Apparently it's pretty effective way of storage.
[Edited on 4-11-2014 by Mabus]
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DrMario
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What is the metal? Aluminium is, apparently, perfectly safe from nitric acid, so it could be that. In fact, I've done a few experiments in which I
treated various aluminium alloys with nitric acid, and they didn't etch at all. This is due to the fact that HNO3 by itself is unable to etch alumina
(Al2O3).
What's the function of the sand, though?
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Mabus
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IIRC, I think it's supposed to absorb the nitrogen dioxide gases that inevitable escape. Natural sand has a small percentage of carbonates and oxides,
so there's no need to add neutralizing agents.
Don't recall what metal is made of, I'll check out tomorrow.
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Metacelsus
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Concentrated nitric acid might passivate aluminum, but I would think dilute nitric acid would corrode it.
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DrMario
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Well, I've done the experiments, and the results are in: 7% HNO3 does not etch aluminium 1050 A, which is 99.5% aluminium.
I have not tested other alloys with diluted HNO3, but I have no reason to think that purer aluminium would behave any differently.
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macckone
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6061 is by far the most common aluminum alloy.
It is only 95.85 - 98.56 % aluminum, and usually more around 96 - 97%.
I don't know how it reacts to dilute nitric but it probably isn't as good as 1050A.
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DrMario
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| Quote: Originally posted by Mabus | | IIRC, I think it's supposed to absorb the nitrogen dioxide gases that inevitable escape. Natural sand has a small percentage of carbonates and oxides,
so there's no need to add neutralizing agents. |
At least carbonate sands do contain a lot of calcium carbonate, so I can see how that would help. Is the bottle completely immersed in the sand,
though, or is the cap protruding out?
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DrMario
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| Quote: Originally posted by macckone | 6061 is by far the most common aluminum alloy.
It is only 95.85 - 98.56 % aluminum, and usually more around 96 - 97%.
I don't know how it reacts to dilute nitric but it probably isn't as good as 1050A. |
I'll do the experiment tomorrow and satisfy both our curiosities. I have many 6061 samples which I etch with a phosphoric acid-based etchant (it uses
HNO3 as an oxidant, interestingly enough).
But at least with concentrated HNO3 (69%), aluminium 6061 does not react at all.
[Edited on 4-11-2014 by DrMario]
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Mabus
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OK, so here's what I got:
-The metal container is made of steel, has some rust on the container joints, but other than that, it shows no signs of degradation.
-The nitric acid is no longer stored in the sand container, now it's the acids cabinet. The plastic lid show some signs of corrosion.
-When it was stored in the sand, the sand level was up until the bottom of the lid.
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DrMario
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And I forgot to test the 6061 etching in diluted HNO3. I had a very rubbish couple of days, crowned by an accident where a car has hit me while
bicycling (I was nicely and slowly crossing the road at a designated crossing - but the b**** was out for my blood).
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Mabus
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Oh no, that's terrible. I hope you're alright.
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DrMario
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I hope I am. There seem to be no major bones broken. I'll know more tomorrow. My work keeps me so busy, I can easily forget about the pain.
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TGT
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This summer I saved about 5 gallons of pure white fuming nitric acid from my fathers house. He use to work in a metal plating factory and when they
closed he brought it home. This was way back in 1990 or so. It was stored in a blue plastic bottle that was designed for acids, but it was now 2014
and the many years of cold winters and hot summers had changed the bottle to a light powder blue and the plastic was very brittle. Not to mention
they were stored under a pool deck with no protection from the outside other than the deck floor. I knew it had to be saved before it leaked so I
transferred the acid to amber glass bottles. I was disappointed that I only got a small amount of fuming as it was supposed to be white fuming nitric
acid. I continued filling and brought them inside to a more stable temperature. When inside I did a titration and also a weighing to judge the
percentage. To my amazement I still had slightly over 70% nitric acid and it was still clean and clear. This acid is anywhere from 25 to 30 years
old and still retains a moderate amount potency! I am sure if it was stored for the same amount of time an a cool basement in the dark it would still
be very potent. I have used it many times now with great success.
I thought this would be interesting to others as it shows how long nitric can be stored for even in the worst conditions possible. I think the
deciding factor for it to last as long as it did was that there was a whole 5 gallons and not much air in the bottle. If it were 1 litre in the same
bottle I am sure the results would have been different.
On a side note, there also was a 5 gallon bottle of Muriatic Acid of the same age. It's container was way worse condition than the nitric acids, but
the acid itself was as strong as it was when it was first placed there. I saved that too.
TGT
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DrMario
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| Quote: Originally posted by TGT | | This summer I saved about 5 gallons of pure white fuming nitric acid from my fathers house. He use to work in a metal plating factory and when they
closed he brought it home. This was way back in 1990 or so. It was stored in a blue plastic bottle that was designed for acids, but it was now 2014
and the many years of cold winters and hot summers had changed the bottle to a light powder blue and the plastic was very brittle. Not to mention
they were stored under a pool deck with no protection from the outside other than the deck floor. I knew it had to be saved before it leaked so I
transferred the acid to amber glass bottles. I was disappointed that I only got a small amount of fuming as it was supposed to be white fuming nitric
acid. I continued filling and brought them inside to a more stable temperature. When inside I did a titration and also a weighing to judge the
percentage. To my amazement I still had slightly over 70% nitric acid and it was still clean and clear. |
Could it be that you didn't actually have fuming (near 100%) HNO3, but standard 69%?
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TGT
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No, it was fuming Nitric at the time it was bottled because my father remembers well and that is the only concentration used. But it was never 100%,
more close to 94% from what my father says.
TGT
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