Trizocy
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Cleaning lab glassware and storing
Hello
I have been doing some experiment, but after im done, there is always rough layer of acid in the lab flask, so was wondering what is the good and
simple way to clean your glassware,pippetts, burettes etc ?
Also, i was wondering, is it okay to store my acid in garage? Since the temperature change, at night very cold, at day abit warm. Will this affect the
%?
Thanks guys!
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Chemosynthesis
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There is a sticky about this kind of thing: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=24...
What is "acid" in your context? I am assuming sulfuric acid from your post history?
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greenlight
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All of my beakers get washed with detergent and then normal water and sometimes ethanol or acetone if they have stains. All the more complex pieces
like burettes and quickfit joints get washed with water and detergent and then sprayed inside and wiped with acetone from a wash bottle.
As for the acid storage, I have had large HDPE containers of 98% sulphuric, 70% nitric and 30% hydrochloric all stored in my locked garage for years
and haven't ever had any problems even though it can get a bit hot in there. They still work just as well as when I got them.
I store a litre of each in the lab in a fridge for when I need them and the bulk in the garage.
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Texium
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How is your HDPE container with the sulfuric acid holding up? I've noticed that sometimes they tend to get rather brown and gross after a while, as
the sulfuric acid will leach impurities out of the plastic, which also potentially makes the plastic brittle and weak.
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Loptr
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Quote: Originally posted by zts16 | How is your HDPE container with the sulfuric acid holding up? I've noticed that sometimes they tend to get rather brown and gross after a while, as
the sulfuric acid will leach impurities out of the plastic, which also potentially makes the plastic brittle and weak. |
Yes! A bottle I got from ES has done this. I am considering running it through an activated column and then rebottle.
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Texium
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I store mine in what I thought was a normal glass bottle, but it turns out it's plastic lined, so it still got all gross.
Luckily it is still acceptable for stuff like esterifications where it is just needed as a catalyst and the final product will be distilled. I'd like
to get some more clean stuff at some point though, probably from Duda Diesel, because they have good deals on it. I have a clean glass media bottle
awaiting it.
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greenlight
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The HDPE has held up well but the acid has developed more of a brownish tint to it which probably means it has some impurities in it like you said.
I have a spare clean HDPE bottle to swap it to if the plastic becomes too brittle
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aga
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Whatever the storage bottle, it is a good idea to keep any potentially leaky reagent bottles in a hdpe tub of some sort, in case they leak.
At the worst, you'll have reagent degraded with dust and moths, rather than a nasty, embarrassing, maybe costly mess to clean up.
E.g. Bottom cut off a 5 litre milk container etc.
I have all my 500ml in-use acid bottles in a tub. If they all leak at the same time, well, that'd be Interesting, however their contents would not
have moved too far from where i left them.
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