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lacrima97
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Chemical Storage Containers
What do you guys store your chemicals in? I have stored the more unreactive powders and such in simple ziplock bags, but I really don't like doing
that...It seems a bit to "un-professional".
Erlenmeyer flasks seem like they would be best for liquid storage, but then the rubber stopper problem comes up. If your chemical reacts with
the stopper, you end up having pieces of rubber in your liquid.
I am seriously getting tired of storing things in ziplock bags, and I have advanced to the point where I can't even use them anymore for a lot of
things.
What do you guys use to store your chemicals in?
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Darkblade48
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Most dry chemicals can be stored in HDPE jars of some sorts. Even the more reactive dry chemicals (i.e. potassium permanganate) can be safely stored
in HDPE jars as long as they are kept away from their incompatibles.
As for liquids such as acids and bases, again, HDPE bottles are usually good for most acids. If you have nitric acid, or concentrated sulfuric, you
may want to buy a glass bottle with a teflon coated plastic cap, and that should be enough.
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lacrima97
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Ah, I appreciate the help. I found some very nice HDPE bottles on ebay. Cheap too.
Thanks.
EDIT: Fuck Ebay.
http://www.specialtybottle.com/
[Edited on 12/18/2005 by lacrima97]
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Lotek_
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^hey lacrim!
i found the following jars off ebay. i use them for solid storage(and if i absolutly need to, liquid reaction containers). http://www.rctparadox.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/CNXT...
they have a teflon seal inside the lid.
good link.
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Lotek_
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yea. im the lab ive got h2o2, NaOH, and acetone in 3% h2o2 bottles. the real reason i use them is because of their nice size but they do provie light
shielding.
they make for very nice fridge bottles. i keep a bottle of most of my reagents in the fridge aswell as one on the bench because for many synths its
really nice to start out with cooled reagents.
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chemoleo
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Cyroxos, your post screwed up html formatting of this thread. Why? Because you attempted to put a picture into the signature. Please DO NOT use
pictures in signature.
This was the last message by Cyroxus.
| Quote: | ^ Yea, those are quite nice. Also, Lotek had a good idea of recycling used H2O2 bottles and such. I belive those are HDPE as well.
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Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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Chris The Great
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I use empty H2O2 bottles as well. I transferred some of my 35% H2O2 to a really dark one because I find its hard to pour it out of the 4L jug, and I
store it in the back of my chems to protect it from light to it is hard to get at.
They work great for storing liquids.
Now, I just need to get containers for solids, all mine are stored in ziplock bags and it really bigs me.
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Lotek_
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Chris The Great
I use empty H2O2 bottles as well. I transferred some of my 35% H2O2 to a really dark one because I find its hard to pour it out of the 4L jug, and I
store it in the back of my chems to protect it from light to it is hard to get at.
They work great for storing liquids.
Now, I just need to get containers for solids, all mine are stored in ziplock bags and it really bigs me. |
:\ yea that thought was getting to me when i was settign my lab up. luckily i found an auction for these cool little jars. have a teflon lid seal.
they are great for solids.
look on ebay. i got 12 of em for like 10 bux.
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Nick F
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The only good bottles I've found for nitric are glass with ground glass stoppers. The container I bought it in (black HDPE) started to kinda leak
(minute holes developed, and the acid very slowly oozed out and formed drops on the outside of the bottle), and even glass bottles with screw-on HDPE
caps seem to leak a bit of vapour. If they stay unattended for any length of time, a slight condensation of acid builds up around the neck, near the
cap.
Similarly with iodine, ground glass seems to be the only thing that it won't diffuse through!
But for most things, HDPE is cool.
One important rule (which unfortunately I am not adhering to at the moment  ) is
never store mercury in glass or other fragile containers. Mercury is so dense that even a small drop will cause the container to break, and it'll
spill everywhere, which is very very bad. I have some fairly thick-walled polypropylene bottles which I think I will put it into, it shouldn't diffuse
out too quickly. Then preferably put the container with the mercury in it inside a larger container with powdered sulphur at the bottom, to help mop
up any vapour which does escape. I learnt that here  .
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neutrino
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I store my more corrosive chemicals (Br<sub>2</sub>, I<sub>2</sub>, conc. HNO<sub>3</sub>, etc.) in large vials or
dark glass bottles whose caps have Teflon disc inserts. I have posted on making these a number of times, just look around.
These stoppers are completely leak-proof if made correctly. Nothing can diffuse through Teflon and almost nothing will react with it (except strong
reducing agents and styrene monomer). I have stored a small sample (~.5mL) of a liquid with a vapor pressure of 2.5 atm at room temperature in a small
vial with one of my Teflon-lined stoppers for several months now and all the liquid is still there, absolutely no leakage.
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Lotek_
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OT: whats the deposit that forms on out outside of leaky NaOH bottles? its white and kinda hard on the outside btu still wet inside.
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The_Davster
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Sodium carbonate from the NaOH reacting with the air.
I use glass vials for storage of anything I prepare as I do not usually work on a scale which requires much larger. I also have some of those antique
reagent bottles with the pennyhead ground glass stoppers for storage of concentrated or dilute acids.
I am going to be needing some HDPE bottles though, becuase I got some chems in bags from the pottery store recently.
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woelen
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Most of my solid chems I store in HDPE bottles. Liquids I store in special lab bottles (a friend of mine works in a lab and he frequently brings empty
bottles). These bottles have acid and chlorine resistant caps. Very nice.
For some chemicals I take special measures. Some chemicals are extremely hygroscopic or air sensitive (oxidation). These, I store in a HDPE bottle,
which I in turn wrap in a closed small plastic bag, which in turn is put in a larger HDPE bottle. The plastic bag helps a lot against thermal cycling.
When it gets colder, then the air shrinks and the bag also shrinks, when it gets warmer, the volume of the air in the bag increases and the bag
expands. This helps a lot against cycling fresh air all over again into the bottle when temperature fluctuates. In this way I have kept my Na2S,
Mg(ClO4)2, and a few other very sensitive chemicals very good for a long time. I have separate small bottles for my working amounts, the bottles with
bags and so on contain larger stock amounts.
Iodine and p-benzoquinone I store in triple bottles. They make everything brown in the neightbourhood. I tried glass bottles, plastic bottles. It is
horrible. With the triple bottles Only the first and second bottle become brown, the third outer one still is OK.
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lacrima97
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I got some #5 polypropylene containers today for storing the more unreactive/stable chemicals in. I also got some paper sticky labels that I am going
to print info about the chem on, and stick those labels to the container.
For the liquids that don't eat at rubber, I am collecting 8oz dr.pepper bottles. They accept a #2 stopper perfectly, and I will store most liquids in
there. A few will be wrapped in something to keep out light if the material is light sensative.
The last thing I will get will probably be a few HDPE jars for the more troublesome chems, and a few reagent bottles for the rubber eating acids.
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lacrima97
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Perfect bottles
Guys, I have a problem.
I get these 240ml Dr.Pepper drinks all of the time, and they come in a very nice glass bottle, which I have found out takes a #2 stopper perfectly.
The problem is, I don't like the fact that these bottles have dr.p and nutrition facts and all that shit on it.
It is some type of paint on the bottle. I have tried scratching it off with a knife, dissolving it in acetone, and this paint will not come off.
Does anyone know what im talking about, and/or have any ideas on how to get this damn paint off? This would be the perfect solution to storing
liquids, becuase I just don't have the money to be buying expensive bottles.
Thanks a lot. 
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DeAdFX
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I use "stock container" 90% of the time Ie if it came in a glass bottle it stays in a glass bottle.
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neutrino
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It doesn't come off with a knife? That is no ordinary paint!
My advice would mainly be scraping, preferably with steel wool. Burning it off would require an annealing oven (soda-lime glass is notoriously prone
to thermal stress and must be annealed unless heated very evenly and slowly, which would be difficult at these temperatures). Chemical means would
mainly involve dissolving it, after all they had to put it on there somehow... Try some more solvents, if you have any.
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lacrima97
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Alright, I'll give several solvents a try. Steel wool doesn't work either. Thanks neutrino.
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Rabidwolf
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ammo boxes make very secure places to store any chem.
and all the boxes i've seen have a rubber seal around the lid that makes it pretty much air/water-tight
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Lotek_
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i wouldnt wanna put any chem in a metal box...
the idea is to go for beign as inert are you can(exept mabye making a teflon cube)
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Rabidwolf
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lol,
after i posted i saw the potential it had to being interperted as you did.
i ment the ammo box used as a water/air tight container for storage of smaller vessels filled with misc. chemicals.
considering an ammunition box is spacifically designed to be a box that can safely store and protect a sizeable ammount of explosive meterial, i'd
highly recommend a few to safely store various energetic materials, and componets related thereto.
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jimwig
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a lot of containers might be acceptable for long term storage but I have always been concerned about the possible leakeage via the gasket material.
therefore cutting a approipriate shaped gasket from something like thin Teflon
would give a much added life to the vessel.
just an idea
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Magpie
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My habit is to leave the chemical in the container in which I receive it. If it is a plastic bag I usually overpack this in a recycled food jar. I
agree that the gasket material may not be appropriate. Jimwig's idea of making own Teflon gaskets is a good one where this extra effort and expense
is warranted.
I like the Quorpak bottles. They can be bought with either polyethylene or Teflon gaskets in various sizes. It seems like there are always a lot of
good buys on bottles on eBay. But check the freight before buying.
If the material is particularly hard to contain I use ground glass stoppered bottles.
[Edited on 6-1-2006 by Magpie]
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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woelen
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Within a few weeks I hope to receive 2 ampoules, each having 250 ml of bromine (pro analysi)in them. These are all-glass ampoules from an old GDR lab,
which, once broken, cannot be sealed anymore. The ampoules are intended for use in a lab, where the contents is used at once in a synthesis reaction.
Of course, I will use the bromine in much smaller parts, in a lot of nifty experiments .
So, I need a bottle of 250 ml, in which I can store the bromine, once the original container is broken. I already had some bromine before, which I had
isolated myself, but I never stored it for more than a few days, because it leaks away from its container and it eats the cap. I would be really
pleased if one of you can give me a location of a supplier, who can sell bromine-resistant bottles and who ships these bottles internationally. These
bottles also should be such that the bromine does not slowly leak/diffuse out of the bottle over the course of months or years.
A question, a little bit off-topic: I had to pay EUR 30,- (appr. $35) per ampoule of bromine (appr. 250 ml -- 800 gram). This is not particularly
cheap, but do you think I have been ripped off or is this a fair price? I myself have the impression that this is a fair price, although I have not a
real good idea about the price of bromine. I purchased NaBr from the same seller for appr. $15 for one kilo, which is a good price to my opinion. I
decided to buy the ampoules anyway, it is a one-time offer and it is a very interesting chem to have.
[Edited on 6-1-06 by woelen]
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chromium
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I suppose that best container you can have is bottle or flask with ground glass stopper but i do not know what grease to use if content is bromine.
Another way is to repack this bromine into your own ampoules. Its not as hard as it may seem. You can use long test tubes or small flasks or just
suitable glass tubes as material for ampoules.
[Edited on 6-1-2006 by chromium]
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