Shelf life of acid chlorox

[warrendya]

I was wondering about the shelf life of the HCL-Chlorox solution. I made a little more than I needed and noticed it will fizz when mixed, and within 20 minutes some white crystals begin to preciptate out of the unused solution. I also recall hearing in Steve's Dissolving Finger Foils videos he commented at the end about letting the mixture sit so the SMB wouldn't have to fight the chlorine. Is this a mix when you need it and use it fast solution?

 

[eagle2]

Yes, it won`t keep at all. The fizz is chlorine gas escaping. From a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the temp of the solution.

I wouldn`t throw it away. Carefully pour the HCl off away from the white precip. Then the next time you want to use HCl - Cl2 just add more bleach to it.

 

[lazersteve]

The solution should be made in the same vessel as the material to be dissolved. It sounds like the way your prefaced your question that you are making it in a separate container then adding it to the precious metals. This defeats the purpose of making the chlorine in solution.

The idea is to using the gas as it is evolved to dissolve the precious metals that are in the reaction vessel. If you mix them in a separate vessel the evolved gas becomes wasted in the air. If performed in the reaction vessel the evolved gas immediately attacks the metal to be dissolved.

Once SMB is added to the solution should, and it tests barren to stannous chloride, the leftover solution should be properly disposed of.

Steve

 

[warrendya]

Yep, I did mix it up in a separate container. Thanks for the advice, won't do that again.

So exactly what is precipitating out of the unused HCL-CL? If I had to guess, I'd say Na from the sodium hypochlorite and Cl from the the acid = NaCl?