Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Unclogging a glass frit

draculic acid69 - 20-8-2019 at 21:45

Ok I've used my sintered glass filter for the first time thinking that it would be great for filtering my freshly boiled plant extract and for the first minute it was,then it slowed down,then it almost stopped.anyway hours later I have a finally filtered solution and a frit full of dirt dust and small particles of plant matter clogging it up.are there any tips to get it clean I've tried hot water which helped and ethanol got the green out now I just need to get the brown out.should I try h2so4,or nitric acid? Don't have thf or peroxide

markx - 20-8-2019 at 22:23

Piranha solution would make quick work on that problem, but since you do not have peroxide available I would suggest to give nitric a try.
Harsh cleaning products based on sulfonic acid may also work....at least I have had success with them unclogging glass frits that were gummed up with organic plant residue.

draculic acid69 - 20-8-2019 at 22:47

Can the 3% h2o2 be used for this

j_sum1 - 20-8-2019 at 23:01

I think that 3% peroxide is likely to be too low to have any real effect. But no harm in giving it a try. Some local pharmacies sell 6% which is more promising. Either way, be prepared to invest a little time.
Nitric acid is a possibility. That would be my next choice.
Or anything that will break down cellulose. Schweitzer's reagent has been suggested for this before.
You might get success with concentrated oxalic acid or a different reducer. Sodium sulfite is sold to accelerate the decomposition of tree stumps.

Chemetix - 20-8-2019 at 23:13

If you are careful about how slowly you heat it up you can leave it in a bunsen flame and it should burn off anything organic, I do this for chemists who have activated carbon stuck in their filters. I have a kiln that goes to 560C and that usually does it, but when I couldn't be bothered running a kiln for a single item they need quickly, the bunsen trick works.

Welders "pickle " is a 30% solution of HNO3 and 2-5 % HF. If used outside with good skin protections and safely glasses it's safe enough, and it takes just about anything inorganic away. It's fairly benign on glassware but leaving it on slightly etched or corroded glass overnight or hot will start to etch into the glass a small amount.

draculic acid69 - 20-8-2019 at 23:52

Won't be trying that welders stuff HF scares the shit out of me.ill get a bottle of the 6% peroxide and give that a try.im not sure it's 100% organic I'm sure a good amount of it is literally dirt and bcoz the lawn is so dry every step I take brings up a cloud of dust and i haven't yet come up with a way to successfully filter this stuff out.im guessing diatomaceous earth would be the way to go.lesson learned.

nimgoldman - 1-9-2019 at 21:55

I use hot nitric acid, since it is such a strong oxidizer and attacks even metals (sometimes I filter stuff containing copper and silver).

You can concentrate your peroxide, I believe ~10% might work too. Be careful, since addition of H peroxide to sulfuric acid will heat it up a lot because of the water. Also swirl/stir the Piranha constantly and never add more than say 25% v/v of hydrogen peroxide to prevent explosions.

Also note the glass will heat up a lot, maybe pre-heat it to prevent cracking of the thermal expansion.

I always do this inside a Pyrex dish.