H2SO4 Accident

[xyz]

As of writing this, I have just spent the last hour and a half cleaning up 200mL of 98% Sulfuric Acid from all over the wall, floor, and several shelves in my lab, using 10 litres of water and 500g of NaHCO3. I was lucky that I was already wearing my "lab clothes" (the ones with lots of burns and acid holes in them already:)) and didn't end up wrecking any good clothes. My lab clothes have a few more small holes now, but fortunately I didn't get any on my skin while cleaning it up.

I was also lucky that nothing important was damaged by the acid (but it was an absolute bitch to clean up). I am glad that I keep all my other chems in well sealed containers, the last thing I want is for it to react with a nitrate and make an acid that is much nastier to clean up. My lab has concrete floors instead of carpet which is another thing I am very glad of right now.

The way I managed to get into this predicament was by having the abovementioned acid inside a small plastic bottle that managed to hold the acid for several hours before the bottom was eaten away. I had assumed that all plastics were safe from H2SO4 and that only HNO3 attacked plastic:o, this was because my H2SO4 came in a plasic container, I have used plastic containers for it before, and I have never read anything about it attacking plastics.

Anyway, it appears that a few types of plastic can be attacked by H2SO4, which is something that I should have known but didn't. I hope that someone else can learn from this dumb mistake as it is always better to learn from someone else's mistake than make the same mistake yourself.

[vulture]

Concentrated H2SO4 attacks almost al plastics because it's acts as an oxidizer in concentrated solution. Dilute H2SO4 (85%< IIRC) isn't that much of an oxidizer anymore.

The only things that will resist conc H2SO4 for a reasonable amount of time are HDPE, PTFE and other chlorinated/fluorated plastics I guess.

[Cyclonite]

xyz I had the same thing happen to me but in the back of a car, I guess you didnt see my post. It was about 3 or 4 weeks ago.



A few days ago I "found" 5 gal of 98% H2SO4, I had no place to keep it so I poured .5L of it in a plastic bottle. Big mistake, the H2SO4 ate through the bottle and onto the upholstery of the vehicle I was using. All the acid iv used came in plastic, I guess it was a different type. That took a while to clean up.

[xyz]

vulture, yes, I am fairly sure that the plastic container it came in was HDPE.

Cyclonite, It is one of the worst things to have to clean up isn't it. It is fluid enough to flow into all the small spaces and through small gaps but it is also sticky enough to stay on things and eat into them. I didn't see your post as my IP was banned accidentally for 3 weeks and I only got back onto the forum a week ago.

I will be using glass or HDPE from now on.

[Tuatara]

I wouldn't trust plastic at all, not even the plastic containers the acid was supplied in. The 68% Nitric I bought came in a plastic jerry can. Bloody thing developed a pinhole in the bottom and I lost 5 litres through the hole that got eaten in the floor. All my acid is in glass now! (I'm fortunate enough to own 5 ten-litre pyrex stock bottles)