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Author: Subject: Chemical storage
Copper
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[*] posted on 24-12-2015 at 19:43
Chemical storage


There are many topics relating to the storage of acids and other chemicals, and I have summarised the options below. However, there are still a few things I am not sure about. One is about the storage of azeotropic concentrated nitric acid. Is a reagent bottle (glass) with a plastic (normal) cap sufficient, or will the cap corrode? Also, can HCl fumes penetrate the plastic lid of a glass reagent bottle? And is the setup enough to contain a spill (see general storage description below)? Is the fragility of the glass lowered through the measure (see below again)? Thank you for your help

Safe (ex. CuSO4) – HDPE
32% Hydrochloric acid
• Glass reagent container in HDPE container or zip-lock bag– airtight (non-permeable to HCl corrosive vapours), fragile
• HDPE jerrycan – (permeable to HCl vapours), not fragile
98% Sulfuric acid
• Glass reagent container in HDPE container or zip-lock bag – airtight (chemically most resistant), fragile
• HDPE jerrycan – impurities may go into and contaminate sulfuric acid, weaken plastic, but not fragile
68% Nitric acid
• Glass reagent bottle with ground glass stopper, stopper wrapped in PTFE tape to make airtight seal in HDPE container or zip-lock bag – most chemically secure, but fragile and clumsy to open, may leak when opened (stopper may be very tight)
• Glass reagent bottle (normal) in HDPE container or zip-lock bag – chemically OK, fragile, more convenient than previous method, but lid may be attacked by HNO3 vapours
• HDPE jerrycan – chemically non-resistant, may leak, plastic may be destroyed
20-30% Ammonium Hydroxide
• ? – I do not know what to store it in, it degrades both plastic and glass
Sodium hydroxide, aqueous >5M
• HDPE jerrycan – chemically more resistant, not fragile
• Glass (Any) – concentrated sodium hydroxide may degrade glass

General storage description
• Solid or aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium carbonate is placed onto the bottom of a large container used to store acids.
• Liquids in glass containers are placed into a HDPE container and/or zip-lock bag, which is placed into the large container.
• Liquids in plastic container are placed in a large zip-lock bag and into the container.
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jsc
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[*] posted on 6-1-2016 at 12:59


As a rule, no.

Usually plastic caps for chemistry have a teflon coated paper washer to create an air-tight seal, thus the vapors never reach the plastic. You always want an air-tight seal because you do not want noxious vapors floating around. Also, some vapors, like iodine in particular will cause rusting like a son of a bitch. You can rust out a whole basement of tools by leaving a loose bottle of iodine there.

Most inorganic acids do not attack plastics, although see a compatibility chart because some plastics are more degradable than others.
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Texium
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6-1-2016 at 19:55

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