Chemical Common Substitute Source Matrix

[bswartzwelder]

Kem-Tek 2 gallon pack available at The Home Depot for $11.98. It is the 31.45% stuff.

Butcher, is Sodium Nitrate also called saltpeter? I have only ever heard of Potassium Nitrate called saltpeter.

 

[Geo]

saltpetre is potassium nitrate.also salt peter, nitrate of potash and KNO3.

 

[Captobvious]

SODIUM HYDROXIDE (LYE)

Scientific Name: Sodium Hydroxide
Chemical Composition: NaOH
Common Name: Caustic Soda, Lye

Product Composition Retail Source Department Price/Unit

Roebic Crystal Drain Opener 100% NaOH(s) Lowe's Plumbing $12.99/2lbs
- MSDS: http://www.roebic.com/pdf/hdcryMSDS.pdf

Please forgive the necro-bump but according to the MSDS here it sounds like plastic buckets would be safe, but not sure if these would be considered "organic" in nature which therefore would not be safe to store NaOH until needed to neutralize solutions such as decontaminated spent AP or HCL. Been searching for a while now on this one and from what I can tell it's safe in stainless steel for sure, it'll make glass go wonky (therefore not safe) and the different metals it reacts to such as Aluminum, tin, etc. I'd rather not store it in my stainless steel pot until needed as I don't consider that to be a really safe storage solution.

Would be really interested to hear how the vets handle storage of NaOH (Caustic Soda) til needed.

 

[butcher]

sodium hydroxide dry prills you can buy them in steel 55 gallon drums, and for the NaOH (caustic soda) solutions you can buy it in HDPE plastic barrels, I would store it in the container you bought it in, unless for some reason the container was not suitable for storage.

 

[Captobvious]

sodium hydroxide dry prills you can buy them in steel 55 gallon drums, and for the NaOH (caustic soda) solutions you can buy it in HDPE plastic barrels, I would store it in the container you bought it in, unless for some reason the container was not suitable for storage.

Butcher, perhaps I should rephrase slightly. The other day I was cleaning up aluminum heatsinks (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQq5XhTH46E one of samuel-a's videos) and while it worked great now I have a stainless steel pot (deep soup pot maybe a few inches deep with solution) of caustic soda that I'm going to use to neutralize solutions with. Would this be safe to store in a plastic bucket (typical plastic painters buckets you get at the hardware store) until I'm ready to use it to neutralize waste solutions? Yes I can neutralize it as is and discard, however I'm a "use the whole buffalo" type and would rather not waste it if possible.

 

[Geo]

warm to hot sodium hydroxide may react to the polymer resin if concentrated enough.the more concentrated and/or warmer, the greater the reaction.

 

[Captobvious]

warm to hot sodium hydroxide may react to the polymer resin if concentrated enough.the more concentrated and/or warmer, the greater the reaction.

In this case it was never heated, but long story short, not safe in plastic buckets then is what I'm taking away from this, yes?

 

[Geo]

subjective.there is no really right answer to that without knowing concentration and storage conditions. i believe a plastic container would be safer than glass. dont store in plain steel either.its ok to perform task in steel but i wouldnt store it in a steel container. concentrated sodium hydroxide will dissolve glass if heated. sodium hydroxide is a very strong base that acts like an acid to organics.316 stainless steel or better will store caustic soda with no problem.

 

[Captobvious]

subjective.there is no really right answer to that without knowing concentration and storage conditions. i believe a plastic container would be safer than glass. dont store in plain steel either.its ok to perform task in steel but i wouldnt store it in a steel container. concentrated sodium hydroxide will dissolve glass if heated. sodium hydroxide is a very strong base that acts like an acid to organics.316 stainless steel or better will store caustic soda with no problem.

Ok good to know, I think for now I'll just keep it in the Stainless steel pot in a safe place until I need it. Currently waiting on my ph test strips to arrive so I'm not certain of the concentration, etc.

 

[butcher]

I use a 5 gallon plastic paint bucket, the bucket hold a solution of over saturated sodium hydroxide, I soak memory cards fingers removed (or other circuit boards in) to remove the solder mask (green covering over circuit board traces) this also helps to break down the solder so the surface mount chips can be scraped off easily.
I do not heat, just let it sit till done, my buckets are checked periodically to see how they are holding up, acids and caustics and just plain sunlight can make them brittle over a fairly long period of use, all and all these buckets hold up pretty well, I get good use out of them, the sunlight may do more damage in the long run, but also I am sure the acid or caustic will also help to deteriorate them over time.

This caustic soda is reused, when memory cards have loosened chips and the solder mask is loose or bubbled, I pour caustic soda into another 5 gallon pail, allowed to settle, and decanted back into the main bucket for removing solder from surface mount circuits and solder mask, I may add a little more fresh NaOH to keep the solution over saturated.

The memory is rinsed in water (minimum water), this rinse water is settled before using the alkali rinse water to treat other waste solutions to raise the pH of those acid solutions, the memory rinsed in some slightly acidic waste water solution, rinsed, and then scraped to remove chips, loose solder mask, and powered solder traces, then they are put into another 5 Gallon pail, which I add my used copper chloride solution and copper is dissolved from the boards.


This type barrels will work great also for storage, (or cut in half to use as containers to do processing in), they also have these in smaller sizes, you may be able to find some used barrels or containers locally where a local company buy’s chemicals in these.
http://www.bayteccontainers.com/rcwb55.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=37814825897&utm_content=pla&gclid=CJGt35DVrLYCFYx_QgodbnAATw

 

[Captobvious]

Good info Butcher, thanks!

So if I'm to understand this correctly, once you remove the fingers, you'll use the caustic soda to remove the solder and mask at the same time? If so you may have just made my life so much easier. Also do you secure your lids tight or loose on your buckets? I would assume to be loose, but just want to clarify.

 

[butcher]

The memory fingers were trimmed from the memory and processed in the copper II chloride leach (acid peroxide) to remove gold foils, these foils are processed for gold, from 2.25 pounds of close cut memory fingers I got 6 grams of gold, about 2.6 grams of gold per pound of close cut memory fingers.

The remaining memory had traces of gold plate and the memory integrated chips, and the copper, I wanted to remove, the caustic soda solution broke down the solder and loosened solder mask and chips (with NaOH the bucket lid just sits loosely on top to keep rain and critters out), most of the solder mask bubbled or flaked off, the solder basically, the tin dissolves in the caustic soda, the lead most likely just disintegrates, and chips could be pried loose, at this point they were removed and neutralized the chips were removed, the copper also removed with copper II chloride solution, from this I will get the copper back as powder (for reuse), and will also have a fun time getting back that trace of gold from the insoluble powders, the integrated memory chips will be added with the other Integrated chips I store in buckets with filter papers and other traces to be recovered later.

 

[Captobvious]

note to self, stop wasting time scraping off chips from memory sticks with a heat gun lol, thanks for the info Butcher!!! :mrgreen:

 

[4metals]

Just re-discovered this old thread that may prove useful to many, so I figured it would be a good thread to bump. While I was at it I bookmarked it as well so it is easier to find. Ease of finding threads is something that gets harder by the day.