On Jan 22, 2013, at 12:26 PM, David & Kristin Gilmore
<dandkgilm...@frontier.com> wrote:
I seem to remember someone in this group one time recommending using
acid to improve the soil for growing potatoes. Can anyone provide
details on the procedure? Or perhaps it was a joke. In any case I have
between 3 and 4 gallons of battery acid I'd like to be rid of. I have
googled the subject and found many safety warnings - such as always
adding acid to water, not the other way around - but I am coming up short
on uses for it outside of lead acid batteries. And it appears batteries
nowadays come already filled with acid and sealed.
The story is that last summer I rolled my farm tractor and hurt my
elbow in the process. By the time the elbow had recovered enough to run
a chain saw to free the tractor it had spent about three weeks on its
side, draining half the acid out of each battery cell. Judging from the
size of the battery I figured I would need 3 - 5 quarts to replenish it..
While at my local NAPA getting some other parts I found quart containers
of battery acid were about $5 each and they had only 2. But they would
sell me a 5 gallon container for I think it was $32. So that is what I
bought and used about 1 1/2 gallons. It is in a heavy cardboard box with
a plastic liner that collapses as the acid is drained out by an attached
hose.
I have the box sitting up on a dry shelf in the equipment shed. I
have never before needed battery acid and I don't anticipate needing it
again. I don't want it to leak as the result of accident. Nor do I want
stolen by some crazy person like the one that attacked the school
children in Connecticut. Any suggestions as to what to do with it?
Thanks.
Dave Gilmore, Cameron WV
.....................................................
Question:
Sir, I have a substantial quantity of sulfuric acid, about 15 gallons, which
I have been using to pickle (etch clean) copper parts that I have been
making into a boiler for a steam locomotive. I have completed the work and I
wish to dispose of the acid in a safe way. The solution is dilute in the
approximate ratio of 1:15 acid/water. I tried household bleach but only
succeeded in producing chlorine gas! A litmus test came up bright red and I
am unwilling to go on making chlorine and I am asking if there is a suitable
chemical alternative for baking soda, washing soda etc. Thanking you in
anticipation.
Replies:
You are correct that household bleach is not an appropriate reagent for
neutralizing sulfuric acid. Baking soda will work, but as you have already
probably discovered, CO2 gas is produced and this makes a messy foam. The
most direct method would be to neutralize the sulfuric acid with DILUTE
sodium hydroxide, which you can probably obtain from a hardware store or
industrial chemical supplier under the common name, "caustic soda". This
should be diluted carefully with water because the heat of dilution is
substantial. Add the diluted sodium hydroxide slowly to the dilute acid
until the endpoint is reached using litmus paper. The reaction product is
aqueous sodium sulfate, which can be safely discarded into the sewer/septic
system.
A word of caution: Do NOT use "old fashion" Draino as a source of "caustic
soda". It is a mixture of sodium hydroxide and aluminum flakes. When diluted
hydrogen is evolved, which is potentially explosive.
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00693.htm
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