Sciencemadness Discussion Board

help mee Xylitol pentanitrate chemicle disposal

john 2131 - 13-9-2010 at 23:46

well basically my uncle used to play around with all these chemicles in his shed he had hundreads of them and he has passed away leaving me to dispose of all of them i have a few that the chemicle disposal will not take and some i don't know anything about this one worrys me most cause there is a large amount of it

Xylitol pentanitrate (s) in some sort of (aq) soultion the large glass contain says Do not open i was wondering if anyone knows how i can neutralize this chemical because from what i understand it can explode violently

hissingnoise - 14-9-2010 at 05:05

Xylitol pentanitrate is normally a very viscous syrup and is practically insoluble in water.
In explosive power it is similar to nitroglycerine. . .
Not knowing where you are, and assuming you are not a chemist or chemistry hobbyist, I think you should probably contact your local police and let them take it from there.

mr.crow - 14-9-2010 at 19:53

Don't call the cops, it will be a media circus. All the hazmat teams and fire trucks will show up and try to detonate your bottle in a field. Guess who gets to pay for it.

Do you think you can remove the lid safely? I don't know if it sensitizes over time.

hissingnoise - 15-9-2010 at 04:30

Quote:
Do you think you can remove the lid safely? I don't know if it sensitizes over time.

It's difficult to stabilise this explosive because viscous syrups retain nitric acid traces in their interior.
Old xylitol pentanitrate could be very unstable indeed, and I would be inclined to put safety first. . .
John, before handling the container, you could do a search for this compound on the science SEs like scirus and google scholar.
Knowing exactly what you're dealing with is important, IMO.


madscientist - 15-9-2010 at 06:23

Is a molarity (concentration) given? Anything with a big M?

I personally would do what the hazmat team would do - detonate it in some remote field. Assuming you don't have any other means of doing so, I'd dig a foxhole and lob it grenade style into a big fire, and duck for cover. Or something like that. ;)

DDTea - 15-9-2010 at 09:13

You guys are thinking like cowboys. Here we have someone who doesn't seem to have much chemistry experience, and we're suggesting ways for him to dispose of a possibly unstable explosive?

What's the worst that will happen if you DO call the fire department/HAZMAT? They'll question you a bit, remove the item in question, and then it's no longer your problem. More than likely, you won't even be billed--they don't like to punish people for being safe.

What's the worst that can happen if you try to handle this on your own? Missing fingers, hearing loss, blindness, shrapnel wounds, and a huge hospital bill to name a few possibilities.

I prefer to play it safe. I'll do the crazy shit when I'm old and don't really care if I have 10 fingers or 7.

hissingnoise - 15-9-2010 at 11:12

Quote:
You guys are thinking like cowboys.

I might think like a cowboy but I give the advice of a timorous mouse!
Ya can't be too careful. . .

madscientist - 15-9-2010 at 13:11

Quote:
What's the worst that will happen if you DO call the fire department/HAZMAT? They'll question you a bit, remove the item in question, and then it's no longer your problem. More than likely, you won't even be billed--they don't like to punish people for being safe.


A $20,000+ bill is almost assured. They don't care if you're just being safe - they're in it for the money.

As far as the police, they probably wouldn't charge him since he was the one alerting them to its presence, but legal problems are always a possibility... you never know. Police departments are squeezed for cash nowadays and property forfeitures are lucrative.

DDTea - 15-9-2010 at 15:24

I highly doubt any kind of legal problems would arise from him asking for help disposing of a dangerous chemical that never belonged to him in the first place.

What almost certainly would result in legal problems are the following:
-Doing nothing, letting the problem fester, and then having the whole shed go up in flames somehow. Fire departments *really* don't like responding to surprise hazmat fires.
-Attempting any kind of "controlled detonation." Does anyone remember the name "Redsky?"

So john: how much xylitol pentanitrate do you have? Can you give an estimate of the jar's volume and how full it is?

madscientist - 15-9-2010 at 15:57

It depends on the honesty of the police. If they're dirty (common) and desperate for cash (common), bad things can happen. I assume he inherited property seeing as he has to dispose of this stuff, so it's something he really should be aware of.

A similar scenario that comes to mind is the seizure of a vehicle when a passenger is found to carrying contraband. It doesn't matter whether the driver/owner knows about it - it's usually enough for asset seizure, which doesn't require any formal charges, hence no court hearings and no proof. It often costs more to hire a lawyer and fight for the return of property than to just bite the loss. The typical result is the vehicle being auctioned and the proceeds delivered to the police department. With the constant threat of layoffs these types of asset seizures have become common... they don't want to join the unemployment lines.

Maybe they could even finagle a way to enforce a retroactive property seizure, as perhaps whatever he left in this old lab meant it would've been seized, meaning it was "never his land to inherit"? The laws in this country are so complicated these days that it's impossible to know just what they can do. Tread carefully!

Anyway, it's up to him whether to contact them, but he does need to be aware of the issues that could unfortunately come with that course of action. At a minimum he should be consulting an attorney before contacting the police.

mr.crow - 15-9-2010 at 17:37

Here is a news video where they found a bottle of picric acid in the store room

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWK6Eoassjg

hissingnoise - 16-9-2010 at 04:26

I'm wondering why john 2131 hasn't posted further info on what he's got. . .
I hope he's still in one piece!