rrkss
Hazard to Others
Posts: 193
Registered: 18-12-2009
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Safely Storing H2SO4 (35%)
I have a container of battery electrolyte and only need a very small amount (less than 1 ml) as a catalyst for a fisher esterification reaction but if
I cut open the container as the instruction says, I can't reseal the electrolyte safely. Would storing it in a Nalgene HDPE container work since I
see the electrolyte is stored in a plastic bag. This container has almost 6 liters of dilute (35%) H2SO4 in it so you can see my problem. Another
option would be storing it in a container used to store distilled vinegar but I want to make sure that the acid does not destroy the plastic creating
an unsafe situation.
I realize glass bottles are ideal but all the bottles I've seen for sale for acid storage are upwards of $100. This is out of my budget due to the
holidays.
[Edited on 18-12-2009 by rrkss]
|
|
|
bbartlog
International Hazard
Posts: 1139
Registered: 27-8-2009
Location: Unmoored in time
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
HDPE resists sulfuric acid fairly well. The distilled vinegar bottles I have are also HDPE and so should also work. I don't know how big your Nalgene
HDPE container is, but if it's possible to put the vinegar bottle inside the HDPE container I would put the acid in the vinegar bottle and then put
that in the larger container, just for peace of mind.
There's a list of chemicals and their effect on LDPE and HDPE on this page: http://www.calpaclab.com/pages/chart.html (you need to scroll down a bit). They show no problems with 60% sulfuric acid after 30 days. 98%
sulfuric acid proved to be a problem, though.
As an aside, while HDPE resists plain old 31% HCl quite well, it won't resist HCl plus NiCl2 for extended periods of time. I partly dissolved some
nickels in HCl (keeping the solution first in an old bleach bottle, then in an HDPE vinegar bottle). Over time (weeks), the solution ate into the
plastic, making it noticeably thinner and softer. I noticed this and transferred the solution to a glass container before anything unfortunate
happened, but it just goes to show that mixtures can pose additional hazards beyond those of the component compounds.
|
|
|
rrkss
Hazard to Others
Posts: 193
Registered: 18-12-2009
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Thanks for your reply. I think I will do that. Get a 2 gallons of distilled vinegar, dispose of the vinegar, rinse it very well with water followed
by Reverse Osmosis water to remove impurities from the tap water. Then after the containers air dried, transfer the H2SO4 into the vinegar containers
and store them in a polyethylene tub with a lid on the bottom shelf of my chemical cabinet.
Do you think this will be suitable for longer term storage (more than a year). Because I honestly don't see myself going through this large quantity
of H2SO4 anytime soon.
|
|
|
bbartlog
International Hazard
Posts: 1139
Registered: 27-8-2009
Location: Unmoored in time
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
That sounds like it should work well. Polyethylene is also resistant to sulfuric acid. I'll have to have a look at my (plastic) bottle of Rooto
(concentrated sulfuric acid) when I get home, and see what sort of plastic they use...
|
|
|
rrkss
Hazard to Others
Posts: 193
Registered: 18-12-2009
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
ok sounds like a plan. I'll probably dilute the acid further since I need to store 1.5 gallons while two vinegar containers is 2 gallons. So add the
acid to a 1/4 gallon of water in each container (chilled of course in ice). That should bring the acid to around 27% concentration. Its unfortunate
that the MSDS does not give the exact concentration but rather a range of 30%-39%.
[Edited on 18-12-2009 by rrkss]
|
|
|
poisoninthestain
Harmless
Posts: 18
Registered: 2-3-2009
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I never had a problem storing even con. H2SO4 in only glass mason jars years ago. Works just fine.
|
|
|
rrkss
Hazard to Others
Posts: 193
Registered: 18-12-2009
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I've been storing the 30% H2SO4 in HDPE jugs so far without any incident. My concentrated stuff is stored in glass bottles though I don't keep more
than 125 mL of concentrated stuff on hand at any moment.
|
|
|
The_Davster
A pnictogen
Posts: 2861
Registered: 18-11-2003
Member Is Offline
Mood: .
|
|
Brewing stores sell large glass carboys that work. You do not need special acid storage bottles, those just have a plastic coating on the outside to
provide integrity in case of a spill. Just store this in a large bucket just in case.
|
|
|
hissingnoise
International Hazard
Posts: 3940
Registered: 26-12-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Pulverulescent!
|
|
(After several years looking at it, I just noticed that Aquisition is missing an 'i'.)
BTW, rubber bungs in contact with 98% H2SO4 deteriorate slowly over time.
They become hard, brittle and blackened.
Tight-fitting plastic caps seem to be better.
[Edited on 31-1-2010 by hissingnoise]
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
